520s BC

This article concerns the period 529 BC – 520 BC.

• 529 BC—The Chinese state of Zhoulai is conquered by Wu.
• 528 BC—Gautama Buddha attains Enlightenment, and begins his ministry.
• 527 BC—Jain Tirthankara Mahavira attains Moksha, according to the Swetambara Tradition.
• 527 BC—Peisistratos a tyrant of Athens dies: his son Hippias inherits his power.^[1]
• 526 BC—Psammetichus III succeeds Amasis II as king of Egypt.
• 526 BC—King Liao of Wu ascends to power in the State of Wu in China during the Zhou dynasty.
• 525 BC—Cambyses II, ruler of Persia, conquers Egypt, defeating Psammetichus III. This is considered the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, and the start of the Persian Twenty-seventh Dynasty.
• c. 525 BC—Coins start to have an image on two sides.
• 522 BC—Bardiya succeeds Cambyses II as ruler of Persia.
• 522 BC—Babylon rebels against Persian rule.
• 522 BC—Darius I succeeds Bardiya as ruler of Persia. He is the son of a government official.
• 521 BC—The Babylonian rebellion against Persian rule is suppressed.
• 520 BC—Dao 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).
• c. 520 BC—Darius I decrees that work on Jerusalem resume as per the decree of Cyrus the Great.
• c. 520 BC—Kore, from Chios(?), is made. It is now at Acropolis Museum, Athens.
• c. 520 BC—Sarcophagus, from Cerveteri is made. It is now at National Etruscan Museum, Rome (approximate date).
• 520 BC–510 BC—The Priam Painter makes "Women at a Fountain House", black-figure decoration on a hydria. It is now at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

• 525 BC—Aeschylus, author of Greek tragedies (d. 456 BC)
• 522 BC—Pindar, Greek poet
• 521 BC—Leonidas I. King of Sparta
• 520 BC—Panini, Hindu Indian grammarian (d. 460 BC)

• July, 529 BC—Cyrus the Great, ruler of ancient Persia
• 528 BC—Anaximenes of Miletus, Greek philosopher (b. 585 BC)
• 527 BC—Peisistratos, Athenian tyrant
• 525 BC—Psammetichus III, the last Pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
• 522 BC—Cambyses II, ruler of ancient Persia
• 522 BC — Polycrates, tyrant of Samos
• September, 522 BC—Bardiya, ruler of ancient Persia