281 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	4th century BC – 3rd century BC – 2nd century BC
Decades:	310s BC 300s BC 290s BC – 280s BC – 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC
Years:	284 BC 283 BC 282 BC – 281 BC – 280 BC 279 BC 278 BC

281 BC by topic
Politics
State leaders – Sovereign states
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments – Disestablishments

**281 BC in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	281 BC
Ab urbe condita	473
Armenian calendar	N/A
Bahá'í calendar	-2124 – -2123
Bengali calendar	-873
Berber calendar	670
Buddhist calendar	264
Burmese calendar	-918
Byzantine calendar	5228 – 5229
Chinese calendar	[[Sexagenary cycle\|]]年 (2356/2416) — to — [[Sexagenary cycle\|]]年 (2357/2417)
Coptic calendar	-564 – -563
Ethiopian calendar	-288 – -287
Hebrew calendar	3480 – 3481
Hindu calendars
- Bikram Samwat	-224 – -223
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2821 – 2822
Holocene calendar	9720
Iranian calendar	902 BP – 901 BP
Islamic calendar	930 BH – 929 BH
Japanese calendar
Korean calendar	2053
Thai solar calendar	263

Events

The Battle of Corupedium in Lydia is the last battle of the Diadochi, the rival successors to Alexander the Great. It is fought between the armies of Lysimachus, King of Thrace and Macedonia, and Seleucus, ruler of Eastern Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Babylonia and Iran. Seleucus kills Lysimachus during the battle.
Following the Battle of Corupedium, Lysimachus' widow, Arsinoe, flees to Cassandrea, a city in northern Greece, where she marries her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos. This proves to be a serious misjudgement, as Ptolemy Keraunus promptly kills two of her sons, though the third is able to escape. Arsinoe flees again, this time to Alexandria in Egypt.

Seleucus takes over Thrace and then tries to seize Macedonia. However, he falls into a trap near Lysimachia, Thrace, set by Ptolemy Keraunos, one of the sons of Ptolemy I and Arsinoe II's half brother, who murders Seleucus and takes Macedonia for himself.
Cineas, a Thessalian serving as chief adviser to King Pyrrhus of Epirus, after visiting Rome attempts, without success, to dissuade Pyrrhus from invading southern Italy.

Seleucus is succeeded as ruler of the Seleucid empire by Antiochus. He is immediately beset by revolts in Syria (probably instigated by Ptolemy II of Egypt) and by independence movements in northern Anatolia.
Although he has only a few bases in Greece, Antigonus II Gonatas lays claim to Macedonia. His claim is disputed by Antiochus I.

Lysimachus, King of Thrace and Macedon (b. c. 360 BC)
Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria and Iran and founder of the Seleucid dynasty (b. c. 354 BC)