493 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	6th century BC – 5th century BC – 4th century BC
Decades:	520s BC 510s BC 500s BC – 490s BC – 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC
Years:	496 BC 495 BC 494 BC – 493 BC – 492 BC 491 BC 490 BC

493 BC by topic
Politics
State leaders – Sovereign states
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments – Disestablishments

**493 BC in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	493 BC
Ab urbe condita	261
Armenian calendar	N/A
Bahá'í calendar	-2336 – -2335
Bengali calendar	-1085
Berber calendar	458
Buddhist calendar	52
Burmese calendar	-1130
Byzantine calendar	5016 – 5017
Chinese calendar	[[Sexagenary cycle\|]]年 (2144/2204) — to — [[Sexagenary cycle\|]]年 (2145/2205)
Coptic calendar	-776 – -775
Ethiopian calendar	-500 – -499
Hebrew calendar	3268 – 3269
Hindu calendars
- Bikram Samwat	-436 – -435
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2609 – 2610
Holocene calendar	9508
Iranian calendar	1114 BP – 1113 BP
Islamic calendar	1148 BH – 1147 BH
Japanese calendar
Korean calendar	1841
Thai solar calendar	51

Year 493 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Auruncus and Viscellinus (or, less frequently, year 261 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 493 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Persian Empire

A Phoenician-manned Persian fleet restores Persian control of Cyprus.

Greece

The Athenian people elect Themistocles as archon, the chief judicial and civilian executive officer in Athens. He favours resistance against the Persians.
Themistocles starts the construction of a fortified naval base at Piraeus, the port town of Athens.
Among the refugees arriving from Ionia after the collapse of the Ionian Revolt is a chief named Miltiades, who has a fine reputation as a soldier. Themistocles makes him a general in the Athenian army.

Roman republic

Coriolanus captures the Volscian town of Corioli for Rome.
During his second consulate, the Roman consul Spurius Cassius Viscellinus concludes a mutual defence treaty with the surrounding Latin villages and tribes. The treaty recognises commercial contracts binding throughout their cities. Rome abandons its claim to hegemony over the Latin league. In return, Rome is recognised as the dominant city in the League.

By topic

Literature

The Athenian poet Phrynicus produces a tragedy on the Fall of Miletus. The Athenian authorities ban the play from further production on the grounds of impiety.