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 540s BC 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC

Events and trends

• 568 BC - Amtalqa succeeds his brother Aspelta as king of Kush
• 562 BC - Amel-Marduk succeeds Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon
• 560 BC - Neriglissar succeeds Amel-Marduk as king of Babylon
• 560 BC - Croesus becomes king of Lydia
• 560 BC - Pisistratus siezes the Acropolis of Athens and declares himself tyrant. He is deposed in the same year.

Significant people

• May, 563 BC - Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, later known as Gautama Buddha in Lumbini, India.
• 562 BC - Death of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (approximate date).
• 560 BC - Birth of Nabu-rimanni in Babylonia, Chaldean astronomer and mathematician (+ 480 BC) (approximate date).
• 569 BC - Birth of Pythagoras on the Island of Samos, visionary mathematician (+ 475 BC) (approximate date).