331 BC Facts for Kids

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

331 BC in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	331 BC CCCXXX BC
Ab urbe condita	423
Ancient Egypt era	XXXII dynasty, 2
- Pharaoh	Alexander the Great, 2
Ancient Greek era	112th Olympiad, year 2
Assyrian calendar	4420
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−923
Berber calendar	620
Buddhist calendar	214
Burmese calendar	−968
Byzantine calendar	5178–5179
Chinese calendar	己丑年 (Earth Ox) 2366 or 2306 — to — 庚寅年 (Metal Tiger) 2367 or 2307
Coptic calendar	−614 – −613
Discordian calendar	836
Ethiopian calendar	−338 – −337
Hebrew calendar	3430–3431
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−274 – −273
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2770–2771
Holocene calendar	9670
Iranian calendar	952 BP – 951 BP
Islamic calendar	981 BH – 980 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2003
Minguo calendar	2242 before ROC 民前2242年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1798
Thai solar calendar	212–213
Tibetan calendar	阴土牛年 (female Earth-Ox) −204 or −585 or −1357 — to — 阳金虎年 (male Iron-Tiger) −203 or −584 or −1356

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

Events

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.

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.

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.

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

The Battle of Gaugamela
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.