208 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• The Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio defeat the Carthaginians under their commander Hasdrubal Barca at Baecula in Baetica. As a result, Hasdrubal Barca decides to cross the Pyrenees with his remaining troops into Transalpine Gaul, with the intention of joining his brother Hannibal in Italy.
• The Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus is killed in battle while fighting Hannibal inconclusively near Venusia, Apulia.
• Hannibal destroys a Roman force at the Battle of Petelia.

  Seleucid Empire

• Antiochus III advances into Bactria, which is ruled by the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I, and defeats Euthydemus at the Battle of the Arius. After resisting a siege of his capital Bactra by the Seleucids, Euthydemus obtains an honourable peace by which Antiochus promises Euthydemus' son Demetrius the hand of one of his daughters.

  China

• The Chinese general Zhang Han of the Qin Dynasty pacifies a peasant rebellion led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and then lays siege to the rebel city of Julu.