490s

This is a list of events occurring in the 490s, ordered by year.

490

By place

Europe

• Spring – Odoacer receives reinforcements from the south and leaves Ravenna. He defeats the Ostrogoths near Faenza.
• King Theodoric the Great retreats to Ticinum (modern Pavia), where he constructs a fortified camp, which is blockaded.
• Summer – The Burgundians under king Gundobad cross the Alps and plunder Liguria. Many Romans are taken into captivity.
• King Alaric II supports Theodoric, in his conquest of Italy by dispatching an Visigoth army to raise Odoacer's siege of Pavia.^[1]
• August 11 – Battle of Adda: Theodoric and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan.
• Theodoric and his Ostrogoths lay siege to Ravenna. The cities, Cesena and Rimini, remain their allegiance to Odoacer.

Asia

• Empress Feng of the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty dies. She is buried with magnificent honors, in the Wenming Tomb.

By topic

Agriculture

• Corn rise to a terrible famine price and before the end of the siege of Ravenna the inhabitants feed on the hides of animals, many of them perish of hunger.

Religion

• Euphemius becomes patriarch of Constantinople.

491

By place

Byzantine Empire

• April 9 – Emperor Zeno, age 66, dies of dysentery after a 17-year reign. He has no sons to succeed him and the Albanian-born Anastasius, palace official (silentiarius) and favoured friend of empress Ariadne, is elevated to the throne.
• May 20 – Anastasius I marries Ariadne shortly after his accession. His reign is disturb by religious distractions and a civil war started by Longinus, brother of late emperor Zeno.
• Anti-Isaurian riots break out in the Hippodrome at Constantinople. Longinus and several other Isaurians, including general Longinus of Cardala are exiled to Thebaid (Egypt).

Britannia

• Aelle of Sussex besieges and conquers the fortified town Anderitum in southern Britain. He massacres the population, apparently sub-Roman Brythons (this according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

Europe

• July 9 – Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theodoric the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric repulses the attack, forcing Odoacer back into Ravenna.

By topic

Religion

• Lupicinus becomes bishop of Lyon. He is the founder of the abbeys of Saint Claude (Jura Mountains).

492

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Isaurian War: The Isaurians begin a revolt against emperor Anastasius I in southern Central Anatolia. The rebels are defeated by the Eastern Roman army under John the Scythian and John the Hunchback in the Battle of Cotyaeum (subordinate commanders including the future Justin I). They retreat to their mountain fortresses and continue a guerilla warfare against the Roman forces until 498.

Europe

• King Theodoric the Great conquers Rimini and brings his Ostrogoth fleet to blockade the harbours six miles from the capital of Ravenna. Important provisions, food and supplies, are cut off and the inhabitants are starved to death.

By topic

Religion

• January 3 – Pope Felix III dies after a 9-year reign in which he has excommunicated Acasius of Constantinople. This dividing the Western Church and Eastern Church (Acacian Schism). He is succeeded by Gelasius I as the 49th pope.

493

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Isaurian War: Claudiopolis, ancient city of Cappadocia, is besieged and captured by the Romans. The Isaurians blockade the mountain passes, but John the Hunchback (John Gibbo) wins an overwhelming victory against the rebels.

Britannia

• March – Battle for the Body of St. Patrick: The Ui Neill Dynasty fight over the body of Saint Patrick with the Airgialla Kingdom (this according to the Annals of the Four Masters).

Europe

• February 25 – Odoacer surrenders Ravenna after a 3-year siege and agrees to a mediated peace with Theodoric the Great. He steadily consolidates his rule and provides security for the local population. His achievement is to manage the transformation of Italy from being the center of a fractured Roman Empire to a successful and independent Ostrogothic Kingdom.^[2]
• Onoulphus, brother of Odoacer, is killed during the siege of Ravenna by archers while seeking refuge in a church.
• March 15 – Odoacer is invited to a banquet organised in order to celebrate the peace treaty. During the festivities, Odaocer is killed by Theodoric the Great. His body is skillfully sliced in half in full view of his guests. A massacre of Odoacer's soldiers and supporters follows.
• Theodoric the Great allies with the Franks and marries Audofleda, sister of Clovis I. He also marries his own female relatives to princes or kings of the Burgundians, Vandals and Visigoths. Establishing a political alliance with the Germanic kingdoms in the West.
• Clovis I marries the Burgundian princess Clotilde, age 18, she is brought up in the Catholic faith and is the daughter of king Chilperic II. Her father is murdered in the same year by his brother Gundobad.

China

• Emperor Xiao Wen Di starts adopting a sinicization policy as well as various reforms. He marries Feng Qing, she becomes empress of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

494

By place

Byzantine Empire

• An earthquake devastates the port town of Latakia (modern Syria).

China

• Emperor Xiao Wen Di moves the capital of Northern Wei from Datong to Luoyang. He makes Chinese the official language of his court and orders his nobles to adopt Chinese names.

By topic

Religion

• Pope Gelasius I changes pagan Lupercalia festival into Roman Catholic Candlemas feast of Purification.
• Gelasius I delineates the relationship between church and state.
• Gelasius I canonizes Saint George.

495

By place

Britannia

• Cerdic of Wessex and his son, Cynric, land somewhere on the south coast, probably near the Hampshire-Dorset border. Their followers establish the beginnings of the Kingdom of Wessex.

China

• Emperor Xiao Wen Di of Northern Wei builds the Shaolin Monastery (Henan) for the monk Batuo.

By topic

Religion

• Pope Gelasius I gains support from Italian bishops in his assertion that the spiritual power of the papacy is superior to the emperor's temporal authority. Like his predecessors, the pope opposes the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I efforts to establish Miaphysite doctrine.

496

By place

Europe

• Battle of Tolbiac: Clovis I defeats the Alamanni, and is baptized into the Catholic faith at Rheims.
• Thrasamund becomes king of the Vandals.

Eastern Roman Empire

• Anastasius I has Euphemius, Patriarch of Constantinople, deposed, and Macedonius II appointed as his successor. Euphemius is sent into exile.

Asia

• Kavadh I of Persia is deposed and exiled by his brother Djamasp.
• The ruling Tuoba family in the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty change their family name to Yuan.

By topic

Religion

• November 24 – Pope Anastasius II succeeds Pope Gelasius I as the 50th pope.

497

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• Isaurian War: the Isaurian rebels are defeated.

Europe

• The Alemanni are defeated by the Franks under Clovis I near Bonn.

Asia

• The Shaolin Temple is founded (according to the Jiaqing Chongxiu Yitongzhi). For alternate founding date, see 477).

By topic

Arts and sciences

• Aryabhata, an Indian astronomer and mathematician, calculates pi (π) as ≈ 62832/20000 = 3.1416, correct to four rounded-off decimal places.

498

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• Emperor Anastasius I reforms the monetary system, using Greek numerals instead of Roman.

By topic

Religion

• November 22 – Pope Symmachus succeeds Pope Anastasius II as the 51st pope, in the official papal selection in the Lateran Palace.
• Antipope Laurentius is elected "pope" in Santa Maria Maggiore.
• Flavian II succeeds Palladius as Patriarch of Antioch.

499

By place

Asia

• Kavadh I of Persia deposes his brother Djamasp and restores himself as king of Persia.

By topic

Religion

• March 1 – During a synod in Rome, Pope Symmachus makes Antipope Laurentius bishop of Nocera in Campania.

Significant people

• Abba Afse, Abuna of Ethiopia
• Anastasius II, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, p. 496–498
• Mar Aqaq-Acace, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, 484–496
• Arthur, dux bellorum (leader of battles) and King of the Brythons of later legend
• Mar Babai I, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, 497–503
• Benedict of Nursia, founder of Western Christian monasticism
• Cerdic of Wessex, Saxon invader and future king and founder of the Kingdom of Wessex
• Cynric of Wessex, Saxon invader and future king of Wessex
• Euphemius, Patriarch of Constantinople, 489–495
• Felix II (excluding Antipope Felix II), Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, p. 483–492
• Gelasius I, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, p. 492–496
• Macedonius II, Patriarch of Constantinople, 495–511
• Symmachus, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, p. 498–514

Births

Deaths

References