560s BC

This article concerns the period 569 BC – 560 BC.

Events and trends

 * 569 BC—The 24th Jain Tirthankara, Mahavira, takes Diksha.
 * 568 BC—Amtalqa succeeds his brother Aspelta as king of Kush.
 * 567 BC—Former pharaoh Apries invades Egypt with Babylonian help but is defeated by Saite pharaoh Amasis II (also known as Ahmose II).
 * 25 May, 567 BC—Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
 * 566 BC—The first known Panathenaic Games of Ancient Greece are held in Athens.
 * 562 BC—Amel-Marduk succeeds Nebuchadnezzar II as king of Babylon.
 * 561 BC—All eight planets of the Solar System as well as the dwarf planet Pluto fall into planetary alignment.
 * 561 BC/560 BC—Croesus becomes king of Lydia (?)
 * 560 BC—Neriglissar succeeds Amel-Marduk as king of Babylon.
 * 560 BC—An aristocrat named Pisistratus seizes the Acropolis of Athens and declares himself tyrant. He is deposed in the same year.
 * c. 560 BC—The statue known as The Calf Bearer (Moschophoros), from the Acropolis, Athens, is completed.

Significant people

 * 564 BC—Death of Aesop, Greek fable-teller
 * April 563 BC—Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, later known as Gautama Buddha, in Lumbini, Nepal
 * 563 BC—Death of Queen Maya, mother of Siddhartha Gautama
 * 562 BC—Death of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
 * 561 BC—Death of Jehoiachin, the nineteenth king of Judah who reigned for 3 months.
 * 560 BC—Death of King Gong of Chu, Chinese king of Chu