580s BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	7th century BC – 6th century BC – 5th century BC
Decades:	610s BC 600s BC 590s BC – 580s BC – 570s BC 560s BC 550s BC
Years:	589 BC 588 BC 587 BC 586 BC 585 BC 584 BC 583 BC 582 BC 581 BC 580 BC
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

Events and trends

589 BC—Apries succeeds Psamtik II as king of Egypt.
588 BC—Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon begins siege of Jerusalem; the opera Nabucco sets the date at 587 BC.
587 BC—Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians, ending the Kingdom of Judah. The conquerors destroy the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem and exile some of the land's inhabitants.
586 BC—Death of Zhou ding wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
28 May 585 BC—A solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Thales, while Alyattes II is battling Cyaxares. This leads to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
585/584 BC—Astyages succeeds Cyaxares as King of the Medes.
585 BC—Zhou jian wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
585 BC—Fall of the Kingdom of Urartu following a Median invasion.
582 BC—Military clash of the major Classical antiquity powers Egypt and Babylon.
582 BC—Pythian Games reorganised at Delphi. (This is the traditional date.)
581 BC—Isthmian Games founded at Corinth.
580 BC—Cambyses I succeeds Cyrus I as king of Anshan and head of the Achaemenid dynasty. (approximate date)
c. 580 BC—Gorgon Medusa, detail of sculpture from the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis, Korkyra, is made. It is now at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu.
c. 580 BC—Standing Youth (Kouros) is made. It is now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon
585 BC—Birth of Anaximenes of Miletus, Greek philosopher (d. 525 BC)
585 BC—Death of Emperor Jimmu of Japan
582 BC—Birth of Pythagoras in Samos, Greek philosopher and mathematician (d. 496 BC)
580 BC—Death of Cyrus I of Anshan (approximate date)