B.C.E. means “Before the Common Era.” It is important to remember that the year 500 B.C. and 500 B.C.E. mean the same thing.

In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 204 Ab urbe condita. The denomination 550 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….550 BC.

600 BC—The Satrapy of Armenia is created. 600 BC—Capua is founded. 600 BC—Smyrna is sacked and destroyed by Alyattes of Lydia. 600 BC—Nebuchadnezzar II builds the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

650 BC Assyrians Destroy Babylon -An attempted revolt against the Assyrians by the Babylonians resulted in the destruction of Babylon by the Assyrians.

January 16 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths under king Totila recapture Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison. He sends a Gothic fleet to raid the coasts of Greece. Justinian I sends two Nestorian monks on a mission to Central Asia, to spread Christianity in the East (approximate date).

500 BC—World population reaches 100,000,000[1]—the population is 85,000,000 in Eastern Hemisphere and 15,000,000 in Western Hemisphere, primarily Mesoamerica (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela).

521 BC Darius- Cyrus was succeeded by Darius I in 521 B.C. Darius spent the first years of his administration suppressing revolts that seemed to develop in every part of the Empire. Darius then reorganized the Persian Empire into separate provinces called satraps, each with its own governor and tax system.

570 BC—Amasis II succeeds Apries as king of Egypt. c. 570 BC—The François Vase, a volute krater with black figure decoration, is made by a pair of Greek craftsmen: the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias. 570 BC–560 BC—Berlin Kore, from a cemetery at Keratea, near Athens, is made.

c. 580 BC—Cambyses I succeeds Cyrus I as king of Anshan and head of the Achaemenid dynasty. c. 580 BC—Gorgon Medusa, detail of sculpture from the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis, Korkyra, is made.

King Pabo Post Prydain of the Pennines (Northern England) abdicates his throne, and divides the kingdom between his two sons. He retires, as a hermit, to Anglesey. King Budic II returns to Cornouaille (Brittany), to claim the Breton throne (approximate date).