331 BC

The Battle of Gaugamela

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	5th century BC – 4th century BC – 3rd century BC
Decades:	360s BC  350s BC  340s BC  – 330s BC –  320s BC  310s BC  300s BC
Years:	334 BC 333 BC 332 BC – 331 BC – 330 BC 329 BC 328 BC

331 BC by topic

Politics

State leaders – Sovereign states

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Year 331 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar.

Macedonia

• Alexander leaves Egypt and leads his forces towards Phoenicia. He leaves Cleomenes of Naucratis as the ruling nomarch to control Egypt.
• October 1 – Alexander of Macedonia wins the Battle of Gaugamela (near ancient Ninevah) over the Persian King Darius III. Darius turns his chariot and flees. Alexander chases the Persian forces to Arbela. Darius escapes with his Bactrian cavalry and Greek mercenaries into Media.
• Alexander encounters for the first time war elephants.
• Alexander becomes the master of the Persian Empire. This ends the Achaemenid dynasty. Babylon and Susa open their gates to him. In the capital, Susa, Alexander gets huge treasures amounting to 50,000 gold talents.

Greece

• Agis III of Sparta leads some of the Greek cities in a revolt. He holds Crete against Macedonian forces. In the Peloponnesus he routes a force under the Macedonian general Coragus. Athens stays neutral, but he is joined by Elis, Achaea (except Pellene) and Arcadia, with the exception of Megalopolis.

Italy

• Alexander of Epirus takes Heraclea from the Lucanians, and Terina and Sipontum from the Bruttii.
• Tarentum turn against Alexander of Epirus when they realize that he wants to make a kingdom of his own in southern Italy. Alexander is defeated and killed in the Battle of Pandosia on the banks of the Acheron.

Roman Republic

• The Gallic tribe of the Senones and the Romans enter a period of friendly relations which lasts the rest of the century.

Deaths

• Alexander I of Epirus, Aeacid dynasty king of Epirus (b. c. 370 BC)
• Vahe, legendary king of Armenia and last of the Hyke dynasty

331 BC Media

• 

  Alexander the Great is portrayed at the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE) on a mosaic found on the floor of the House of the Faun in Pompeii. He is astride his famous horse Bucephalos and wears a breastplate decorated with the head of Medusa.