Health & Medicine in the 6th century

13 sourced entries, 501 CE to 598 CE, oldest first. Also see Health & Medicine across every century or everything else in the 6th century.

• 501The 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).source
• 502The Persian philosopher Mazdak declares private property to be the source of all evil.source
• 527April 1 – Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler, as an incurable wound saps his strength.source
• 528March 31 – Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, emperor of Northern Wei, is poisoned by order of his mother, the regent Empress Dowager Hu.source
• 528April 2 – Xiaoming's daughter is replaced by the 2- or 3-year-old Yuan Zhao as emperor of Northern Wei, by order of Empress Dowager Husource
• 538King Cuneglas of Rhos abandons his wife in favour of his sister-in-law, a nun who he drags from her convent (approximate date).source
• 541Plague of Justinian: Bubonic plague appears suddenly in the Egyptian port of Pelusium, spreading to Alexandria and, the following year, to Constantinople. This is the beginning of a 200-year-long pandemic that will devastate Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.source
• 542Plague of Justinian: Bubonic plague, spread from Egypt, kills at least 230,000 in Constantinople (modern Istanbul; before counting stops), and perhaps two million or more in the rest of the empire. Emperor Justinian I contracts the disease but recovers.source
• 558The Avars and the Slavs occupy the Hungarian Plain on the Balkans. The threat of Avar domination prompts the Lombards to migrate to Italy.source
• 575Alexander of Tralles, Greek physician, writes "Libri duodecim de re Medica" (approximate date).source
• 583Smallpox begins spreading from China to Japan and Korea (approximate date).source
• 589The plague hits Rome, and its victims include Pope Pelagius II.source
• 598The Avars rout the Byzantine forces of Comentiolus (south of Haemus Mons), and capture Drizipera (Thrace). A large part of their troops are killed by the plague, after many cities are devastated in the Balkan Peninsula.source