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The 500s

134 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 6th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

500 CE35 entries

  • Approximate year of the invention of the bee skep in Ireland.
  • Approximate beginning of the Heptarchy period in the history of England.
  • Emperor Anastasius I concludes treaties with a number of nomad tribes in northern Arabia. In return for tribute to the Byzantine Empire and military defense of these eastern territories, such tribes are permitted to settle and farm agricultural lands in Arabia (approximate date).

501 CE19 entries

  • June 5 – Ahkal Moʼ Nahb I becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque (in what is now the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico), and reigns until his death in 524.
  • Muryeong becomes king of Baekje (one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea). During his reign, the kingdom remains allied with Silla and expands its relationships with China and Japan.
  • The Sushruta Samhita medical book becomes a classic of medicine in India. The book contains descriptions of surgery, illnesses, medicinal plants, and a detailed study on anatomy (approximate date).

502 CE16 entries

  • March 29 – King Gundobad issues a new legal code (Lex Burgundionum) at Lyon, that makes Gallo-Romans and Burgundians subject to the same laws (approximate date).
  • October 23 – The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, clears Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
  • The Nanhua Temple, located southeast of Shaoguan, is founded by the Indian monk Zhiyao Sanzang. The temple covers an area of 42.5 ha acre and consists of a set of historical Buddhist buildings.

503 CE7 entries

  • May – Areobindus, Byzantine general (magister militum), is stationed as commander at Dara, with an army of 12,000 men to keep watch at the Persian stronghold of Nisibis (modern Turkey).
  • War with Sassanid Persia: Emperor Anastasius I sends a Byzantine army (52,000 men) to Armenia, but is defeated. The Romans attempt an unsuccessful siege of the Persian-held city Amida, on the Tigris. King Kavadh I invades Osroene, and lays siege to the city of Edessa (Northern Mesopotamia).
  • Mundhir III, king of the Lakhmids (Arab Christians), raids Palaestina Salutaris and Arabia Petraea. He captures a large number of Romans.

504 CE6 entries

  • War with Sassanid Persia: Emperor Anastasius I gains the upper hand in Armenia, with the renewed investment of Amida.
  • Theodoric the Great builds the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, originally dedicated to Christ the Redeemer.
  • A major expansion of Copán's ceremonial center, the Acropolis complex, is undertaken by B'alam Nehn (Waterlily Jaguar), the seventh ruler (ajaw) of the southeastern Maya city (approximate date).

505 CE10 entries

  • Emperor Anastasius I agrees to pay his share of the cost of defending the Caucasian Gates, against nomadic invasions from East Asia.
  • Lý Nguyên Khải, Jiaozhou's governor, rebels against the Liang dynasty, but is suppressed by Lý Tắc, a state official, and subsequently prosecuted.
  • The white Huns (Hephthalites) from the Caucasus invade the Persian Empire.

506 CE8 entries

  • February 2 – King Alaric II issues the "Lex Romana Visigothorum" or Breviary of Alaric, an abstract of Roman laws and imperial decrees, compiled by a commission appointed to provide a law code for Alaric's Roman subjects. The "Lex Romana" will be the standard for justice in the Visigothic realm.
  • September 10 – Council of Agde: The bishops of Visigothic Gaul under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles meet.
  • November – Emperor Anastasius I accepts a peace agreement with the Sasanian Empire (Persia), based on the status quo. He upgrades the fortifications at Batnae, Edessa and Amida (Northern Mesopotamia).

507 CE18 entries

  • Clovis I dictates the Salic Law (Code of the Barbaric Laws) to the Franks (a written codification of civil law for citizens of the Frankish Kingdom).
  • The first and smaller of the two Buddhas of Bamyan is erected in central Afghanistan.
  • Emperor Anastasius I completes the strategic fortress at Dara (Northern Mesopotamia). He raises the city walls to 30 feet (10 m), disregarding Persian protests. Alarmed by the depredations of Slavs and Bulgars in Thrace, he builds the Anastasian Wall from the Black Sea to Propontis, across the narrow peninsula near Constantinople (modern Turkey).

508 CE10 entries

  • King Clovis I fails in an effort to take the walled city of Carcassonne (Southern Gaul). He establishes Paris (Lutetia) as his capital and gets baptized, making Roman Catholicism the official religion of the Kingdom of the Franks.
  • King Theodoric the Great sends an Ostrogoth army, led by his sword-bearer Theudis, drives the Franks out of Provence, and recovers Septimania (Languedoc) from the Visigoths.
  • Battle of Netley: King Cerdic of Wessex moves with an Anglo-Saxon army inland, and defeats the British king, Nudd-Lludd (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

509 CE5 entries

  • Clovis I (Chlodowech) becomes the first Catholic king of the Franks, uniting all the Frankish tribes under his rule. He controls an immense territory in Gaul (modern France), and delivers a major blow for the Church against the Arian heresy.