The 600s BC
47 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 7th century BC. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.
609 BCE7 entries
- King Jehoahaz succeeds his father Josiah as king of Judah, though he is killed by Necho II, who instead installs Jehoahaz's brother Jehoiakim.
- Battle of Megiddo—King Josiah is killed fighting against Necho II, who was on his way to aid the Assyrian state.
- The Medes and the Babylonians defeat the Assyrians under Ashur-uballit II and capture Harran. Ashur-uballit II, the last king of Assyria, disappears from history.
608 BCE1 entries
- 608 BC—Birth of Peisistratus, ruler of Athens
607 BCE4 entries
606 BCE1 entries
- King Ding of Zhou succeeds King Kuang of Zhou the ruler of the Zhou dynasty.
605 BCE4 entries
- Battle of Carchemish: Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar defeats the allied armies of Egypt and former Assyria, securing the Babylonian conquest of Assyria (approximate date).
- Nebuchadnezzar II succeeds his father Nabopolassar as king of Babylonia.
- Battle of Hamath: Nebuchadnezzar II defeats the remainder of the Egyptian army after the Battle of Carchemish.
604 BCE1 entries
603 BCE2 entries
- In the Babylonian calendar, the Babylonian New Year of Nisannu 1 falls on January 14–15. March; the full moon in Nisannu on the 27–28 March and the 1st Tašritu on the 6–7 October.
- In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar II proclaimed the intercalary month Ululu II, which begins on September 6.
602 BCE1 entries
601 BCE4 entries
- The Jewish–Babylonian war begins between the Kingdom of Judah and Babylonia. It ends in 586 BC.
- Approximate date of the foundation of Perinthus by settlers from Samos.
600 BCE22 entries
- Victorious over the Carthaginians in a naval battle, the Greeks of Phocaea establish the city of Marseille in today's France.
- Archaic period of sculpture begins in Greece (approximate date).
- Pitcher (container) (olpe), from Corinth, is made. It is now at The British Museum, London. (approximate date)