520s BC - Definition and Overview

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 - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC

Events

• 529 BC - Cambyses II succeeds his father Cyrus as ruler of Persia.
• 526 BC - Psammetichus III succeeds Amasis II as king of Egypt.
• 525 BC - Egypt: Cambyses II, ruler of Persia, conquers Egypt. This is considered the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, and the start of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty.
• 521 BC - Smerdis succeeds Cambyses II as ruler of Persia.
• 521 BC - Darius I succeeds Smerdis as ruler of Persia.
• 520 BC - Zhou dao wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China but dies before the end of the year.
• 520 BC - Cleomenes I succeeds Anaxandridas as king of Sparta. (approximate date).

Births

• 525 BC - Aeschylus, author of Greek tragedies (d. 456 BC)
• 522 BC - Pindar, Greek poet

Deaths

• 529 BC, July - Cyrus the Great, ruler of ancient Persia
• 527 BC - Peistratus, Athenian general
• 525 BC - Anaximenes of Miletus, Greek philosopher (born 585 BC)
• 521 BC, March - Cambyses II, ruler of ancient Persia (suicide)
• 521 BC, October - Gaumata, ruler of ancient Persia