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The 550s

185 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.

550 CE27 entries

  • January 16 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths under king Totila recapture Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
  • Justinian I sends two Nestorian monks on a mission to Central Asia, to spread Christianity in the East (approximate date).
  • The Sassanid Empire, under the reign of King Khosrow I, controls the trade of silk destined for Europe and the Byzantine Empire.

551 CE18 entries

  • July 9 – Beirut is destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami. Its epicenter has an estimated magnitude of about 7.2 or 7.6, and according to reports of Antoninus of Piacenza, Christian pilgrim, some 30,000 people are killed.
  • Spring – Lazic War - Siege of Petra (550–551): The Byzantine army and their Sabir allies (some 6,000 men) under Bessas recapture the strategic Byzantine fortress of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea. He orders the city walls razed to the ground.
  • Autumn – Xiao Dong, great-nephew of the rebellious general Hou Jing, succeeds Jianwen Di as emperor of the Liang Dynasty. Xiao Dong has no real power and Hou Jing controls the imperial government at the capital Jiankang.

552 CE27 entries

  • July 11 – First year of the Armenian calendar.
  • July 11 – The Armenian calendar is introduced.
  • Cynric, king of Wessex, captures the fortress city of Old Sarum.

553 CE10 entries

  • May 5 – The Fifth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople. In an edict, Emperor Justinian I condemns the Three Chapters, causing further schisms and heresies of monoenergism and monothelitism.
  • In the Turkic Khaganate Istemi is appointed governor (yabgu) in the west of the empire (modern Turkestan), and Muqan Qaghan succeeds his brother Issik Qaghan as emperor (khagan) of the Göktürks.
  • King Seong of Baekje attacks the kingdoms of Goguryeo and Silla. However, under a secret agreement, Silla troops attack the exhausted Baekje army, and take possession of the entire Han River valley.

554 CE23 entries

  • August 13 – Byzantine Emperor Justinian I issues a pragmatic sanction reorganizing Italy, and rewards the praetorian prefect Liberius for over 60 years of distinguished service, granting him extensive estates in Italy.
  • August 15 – The 554 Anatolia earthquake takes place in the southwest coasts of Anatolia (Asia Minor). It affects the Güllük Gulf (Mandalya Gulf), and the island of Kos.
  • The second and larger of the two Buddhas of Bamyan is erected in central Afghanistan.

555 CE20 entries

  • June 7 – Pope Vigilius dies at Syracuse on his journey back home. His body is brought to Rome and buried in the San Martino ai Monti.
  • King Gubazes II is invited to observe the siege of a Persian-held fortress, and is murdered by the Byzantine military staff after accusing them of incompetence.
  • Cybi Felyn, abbot of Holyhead, dies at his monastery in Caer Gybi (approximate date).

556 CE14 entries

  • April 16 – The diplomatic representative (apocrisiarius) to Constantinople is elected as Pope Pelagius I, succeeding Vigilius as the 60th pope of Rome.
  • King Chlothar I suppresses a revolt of the Saxons and Thuringi in Saxony (Germany). For some time he exacts a tribute of 500 cows every year.
  • King Khosrau I opens negotiations with Justinian I, leading to the establishment of a 50 year peace agreement in 562.

557 CE14 entries

  • The Avars arrive in the northern region of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They send envoys to the Byzantines in Lazica (modern Georgia). Like the Huns, the Avars are the former elite of a central Asian federation, which has been forced to flee westwards.
  • The Jiming Temple in Nanjing is built; the Buddhist pagoda is located near Xuanwu Lake.
  • The Western Wei Dynasty ends: Yuwen Hu deposes emperor Gong Di, and places Yuwen Tai's son Xiaomin on the throne. Yuwen Hu becomes regent and establishes the Northern Zhou dynasty in China.

558 CE18 entries

  • May 7 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses due to an earthquake. Emperor Justinian I orders the dome to be rebuilt.
  • December 23 – The Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is dedicated by Germain, bishop of Paris.
  • The Avars and the Slavs occupy the Hungarian Plain on the Balkans. The threat of Avar domination prompts the Lombards to migrate to Italy.

559 CE14 entries

  • Glappa succeeds his father Ida as king of Bernicia (North East England). During his rule, Anglian settlers expand their territory in what is now southeastern Scotland.
  • The city-state Ara Gaya, a member of the Gaya confederacy, surrenders to Silla in the Korean peninsula.
  • Winter – The Kutrigurs and Huns under Zabergan cross the frozen Danube River, and invade the Balkans. They raid Thracia and Macedonia, but are driven back near Constantinople by a Byzantine force under Belisarius.