540s BC

Events and trends

* 546 BC — Croesus, Lydian king, is defeated by Cyrus of Persia near the River Halys.
* 546 BC — Cyrus of Persia completes his conquest of Lydia, and makes Pasargadae his capital.
* 546 BC — Cyrus the Great establishes a garrison in Sardis and incorporates the Greek cities of Ionia in Asia Minor into Persian Empire. Thus he gains the important ports that look out to the Mediterranean world.
* 544 BC — People of Teos migrate to Abdera, Thrace to escape the yoke of Persia.
* 544 BC — Zhou Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
* 543 BC — North Indian Prince Vijaya invades Ceylon and establishes a Sri Lankan dynasty.
* 543 BC — Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, purifies the island of Delos (approximate date).
* 543 BC — Guided by the Chinese statesman Zi Chan, the State of Zheng institutes a formal code of law.
* c. 543 BC — Buddha dies
* 540 BC — Cyrus the Great attacked Babylonia.
* 540 BC — Greek city of Elea of southern Italy founded (approximate date).
* 540 BC — Persians conquer Lycian city of Xanthos now in southern Turkey (approximate date).
* c. 540 BC — Amasis Painter makes Dionysos with maenads, black-figure decoration on an amphora. It is now at Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris.
* c. 540 BC — Exekias makes The suicide of Ajax, black-figure decoration on a amphora. It is now at Chateau-Musee, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

ignificant people

* 549 BC — Birth of Darius I
* 547 BC — Death of Croesus?
* 546 BC — Death of Anaximander, Greek philosopher (approximate date)
* 545 BC — Death of Zhou ling wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China
* 544 BC — Birth of Sun Tzu
* 543 BC — Death of Gautama Buddha (traditional in Thailand and elsewhere — basis of the Thai solar calendar)
* 543 BC — Death of Thales, Greek philosopher
* 540 BC — Amyntas I becomes king of Macedonia (approximate date)
* Amasis Painter, Greek painter
* Exekias, Greek painter