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Millennium: 1st millennium BC
Centuries: 7th century BC – 6th century BC – 5th century BC
Decades: 610s BC 600s BC 590s BC – 580s BC – 570s BC 560s BC 550s BC
Years: 589 BC 588 BC 587 BC 586 BC 585 BC 584 BC 583 BC 582 BC 581 BC 580 BC
Categories: Births – Deaths – Architecture
Establishments – Disestablishments
Events and trends
- 589 BC—Apries succeeds Psamtik II as king of Egypt.
- 588 BC—Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon begins siege of Jerusalem; the opera Nabucco sets the date at 587 BC.
- 587 BC—Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians, ending the Kingdom of Judah. The conquerors destroy the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem and exile some of the land's inhabitants.
- 586 BC—Death of Zhou ding wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- 28 May 585 BC—A solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Thales, while Alyattes II is battling Cyaxares. This leads to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
- 585/584 BC—Astyages succeeds Cyaxares as King of the Medes.
- 585 BC—Zhou jian wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- 585 BC—Fall of the Kingdom of Urartu following a Median invasion.
- 582 BC—Military clash of the major Classical antiquity powers Egypt and Babylon.
- 582 BC—Pythian Games reorganised at Delphi. (This is the traditional date.)
- 581 BC—Isthmian Games founded at Corinth.
- 580 BC—Cambyses I succeeds Cyrus I as king of Anshan and head of the Achaemenid dynasty. (approximate date)
- c. 580 BC—Gorgon Medusa, detail of sculpture from the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis, Korkyra, is made. It is now at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu.
- c. 580 BC—Standing Youth (Kouros) is made. It is now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Significant people
- Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon
- 585 BC—Birth of Anaximenes of Miletus, Greek philosopher (d. 525 BC)
- 585 BC—Death of Emperor Jimmu of Japan
- 582 BC—Birth of Pythagoras in Samos, Greek philosopher and mathematician (d. 496 BC)
- 580 BC—Death of Cyrus I of Anshan (approximate date)