540 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	7th century BC – 6th century BC – 5th century BC
Decades:	570s BC 560s BC 550s BC – 540s BC – 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC
Years:	543 BC 542 BC 541 BC – 540 BC – 539 BC 538 BC 537 BC

Politics
540 BC by topic
State leaders Sovereign states
Categories
Births Deaths Establishments Disestablishments

540 BC in other calendars
Gregorian calendar	540 BC
Ab urbe condita	214
Ancient Egypt era	XXVI dynasty, 125
- Pharaoh	Amasis II, 31
Ancient Greek era	60th Olympiad (victor)¹
Assyrian calendar	4211
Bengali calendar	−1132
Berber calendar	411
Buddhist calendar	5
Burmese calendar	−1177
Byzantine calendar	4969–4970
Chinese calendar	庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 2157 or 2097 — to — 辛酉年 (Metal Rooster) 2158 or 2098
Coptic calendar	−823 – −822
Discordian calendar	627
Ethiopian calendar	−547 – −546
Hebrew calendar	3221–3222
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−483 – −482
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2562–2563
Holocene calendar	9461
Iranian calendar	1161 BP – 1160 BP
Islamic calendar	1197 BH – 1196 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	1794
Minguo calendar	2451 before ROC 民前2451年
Thai solar calendar	3–4

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Events

Cyrus attacks Babylonia
Greek city of Elea of southern Italy is founded (approximate date)
Persians conquer Lycian city of Xanthos (approximate date)
Amasis Painter makes Dionysos with maenads, black-figure decoration on an amphora
Exekias makes The Suicide of Ajax, black-figure decoration on an amphora
Amyntas I becomes king of Macedonia (approximate date)
Comet Hale–Bopp appears in the evening sky, making its closest approach to Earth. Its next appearance occurs in 1997