500s BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	7th century BC – 6th century BC – 5th century BC
Decades:	530s BC 520s BC 510s BC – 500s BC – 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC
Years:	509 BC 508 BC 507 BC 506 BC 505 BC 504 BC 503 BC 502 BC 501 BC 500 BC
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

Events

• 509 BC -the Roman Republic starts.
• 509 BC, September 13 - The temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides (15th) of September.
• 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus made in Rome
• 507 BC - Cleisthenes, Greek reformer, takes power and increases democracy
• 506 BC - Battle of Bai ju: Forces of the Kingdom of Wu under Sun Tzu defeat the forces of Chu
• 505 BC - First pair of Roman consuls elected
• 502 BC - December 4: Solar eclipse darkens Egypt. (we think this because of scientific pattern, no clear historical record of observation)
• 502 BC - The Latin League defeats the Etruscans under Lars Porsenna at Aricia.
• 502 BC - Naxos rebels against Persian domination sparking the Ionian Revolt.
• 501 BC - Cleisthenes reforms democracy in Athens.
• 501 BC - Naxos is attacked by the Persian Empire.
• 501 BC - because of threats by the Sabines, Rome makes the office of dictator.
• 501 BC - Confucius is made governor of Chung-tu.
• 501 BC - Gadir (present-day Cádiz) is captured by Carthage. (approximate date)
• 500 BC - Bantu-speaking people come into south-west Uganda from the west. (approximate date)
• 500 BC - Refugees from Teos resettle Abdera.
• 500 BC - Darius I of Persia proclaims that Aramaic be the official language of the western half of his empire
• 500 BC - the end of the Nordic Bronze Age civilization in Oscar Montelius periodization system and the start of the Pre-Roman Iron Age
• 500 BC - the first republic in Vaishali Bihar India starts.
• c. 500 BC—Yayoi period starts in Ancient Japan.
• c. 500 BC—Oldest known Zapotec writing.
• The Gutaii tribe began around this time, in Middle and Southern Africa.

Significant people

• c. 500 BC—Heraclitus, Greek philosopher
• Siddharta Gautama
• c. 585–501 BC—Pythagoras, mathematician

Deaths

• Lucretia, Roman noblewoman
• Lucius Junius Brutus, Roman consul (509 BC)
• Aruns Tarquinius, Roman prince (509 BC)
• Shen Yin Shu, general of Chu, (506 BC)
• Titus Junius Brutus, Roman noble and monarchist conspiractor
• Tiberius Junius Brutus, Roman noble and monarchist conspiractor

How the world looked

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  The world's cultural distribution at 500 BC