550 BCE Cyrus II the Great overthrows Astyages of the Medes, establishing the Achaemenid Empire. The Temple of Hera I is built in what is now Paestum, Italy (approximate date). Siddhartha Gautama founds Buddhism in Northern India after achieving enlightenment after six years of practicing penance and meditation.
In the 550s BC , the 6th century BC .
Mago I begins his rule of Carthage and founds the Magonid dynasty.source The Kingdom of Colchis is established.source Abdera is destroyed by the Thracians.source Cyrus II the Great overthrows Astyages of the Medes, establishing the Achaemenid Empire.source Greek colonization ends (approximate date).source Siddhartha Gautama founds Buddhism in Northern India after achieving enlightenment after six years of practicing penance and meditation.source The Temple of Hera I is built in what is now Paestum, Italy (approximate date).source The Temple of Artemis is completed in Ephesus.source Births Hecataeus of Miletus, early Greek historiansource Aristodemus of Cumae, tyrant of Cumaesource Atossa, Achaemenid queen (approximate date)source Miltiades, renowned Olympic chariot-racersource Deaths Arcesilaus II of Cyrene, the fourth Greek Cyrenaean King and a member of the Battiad dynasty; he was strangled by Learchus.source Nearby 551 BCE–542 BCE 13 of 13 sourced entries shown. Every line above is quoted from the revision linked beside it, which is 550 BC on English Wikipedia, revision 1356470815, retrieved 2026-09-06. Nothing on this page is written by us and nothing is generated: the sentences are the source’s own, so a claim you doubt can be checked against the exact revision it came from. Text is reused under CC BY-SA 4.0 .