This article is about the year 550. For other uses, see 550 (disambiguation).
550 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 550
DL
Ab urbe condita 1303
Assyrian calendar 5300
Balinese saka calendar 471–472
Bengali calendar −44 – −43
Berber calendar 1500
Buddhist calendar 1094
Burmese calendar −88
Byzantine calendar 6058–6059
Chinese calendar 己巳年 (Earth Snake)
3247 or 3040
    — to —
庚午年 (Metal Horse)
3248 or 3041
Coptic calendar 266–267
Discordian calendar 1716
Ethiopian calendar 542–543
Hebrew calendar 4310–4311
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat 606–607
 - Shaka Samvat 471–472
 - Kali Yuga 3650–3651
Holocene calendar 10550
Iranian calendar 72 BP – 71 BP
Islamic calendar 74 BH – 73 BH
Javanese calendar 438–439
Julian calendar 550
DL
Korean calendar 2883
Minguo calendar 1362 before ROC
民前1362年
Nanakshahi calendar −918
Seleucid era 861/862 AG
Thai solar calendar 1092–1093
Tibetan calendar ས་མོ་སྦྲུལ་ལོ་
(female Earth-Snake)
676 or 295 or −477
    — to —
ལྕགས་ཕོ་རྟ་ལོ་
(male Iron-Horse)
677 or 296 or −476
The Silk Roads between 500 BC and 500 AD

Year 550 (DL) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 550 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

  • Emperor Justinian I appoints Bessas commander (magister militum) of Armenia, and entrusts him with the war in Lazica (Georgia).
    • Siege of Petra (550–551)
  • January 16 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths under king Totila recapture Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
  • Summer – Totila plunders Sicily, after he subdues Corsica and Sardinia. He sends a Gothic fleet to raid the coasts of Greece.
  • Justinian I sends two Nestorian monks on a mission to Central Asia, to spread Christianity in the East (approximate date).

Europe

  • The Vendel era begins; the name is given to a region in Uppland (an important area of the sagas' account of a Swedish kingdom).

Persia

  • The Sassanid Empire, under the reign of King Khosrow I, controls the trade of silk destined for Europe and the Byzantine Empire.

Asia

  • The Eastern Wei Dynasty ends, and Wen Xuan Di becomes emperor of Northern Qi. He forces Xiao Jing Di to yield the throne.
  • Wen Xuan Di adopts a defensive policy towards the hostile northern tribes; he builds over 1,000 miles of walls on the border.[1]
  • The Gupta Empire falls; India is again ruled by regional kingdoms (approximate date).

Americas

  • Construction of Quiriguá (Guatemala) begins (approximate date).
  • The last known eruption of Chimborazo (modern Ecuador) occurs.

By topic

Arts and sciences

  • Hindu mathematicians give zero a numeral representation in a positional notation system.
  • Procopius writes the Secret History (approximate date).

Religion

  • The churches of Lazica (Georgia) and Armenia split. While the Armenian Church remains independent, the Georgian church unites with the Byzantine Empire. This ecclesiastical union deepens political and cultural contact between the two states. As a sign of Lazica's status vis-à-vis Byzantium, Lazic princes are vested with honorific titles of the Byzantine court, including kouropalates, or "minister of the imperial palace" (approximate date).
  • The main redaction of the Babylonian Talmud is completed under Rabbis Ravina and Ashi (approximate date).
  • Chararic, king of the Suevi, converts to Catholicism.
  • In Ireland, the Diocese of Tuam is erected.


Births

  • probable
    • Pope Boniface IV (approximate date)
    • Finbarr of Cork, Irish bishop (approximate date)
    • Gallus, Irish missionary (approximate date)
    • Gaugericus, bishop of Cambrai (approximate date)
    • John Moschus, Byzantine monk (approximate date)
    • Peter III of Callinicum, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (approximate date)[2]

Deaths

  • May 8 – Desideratus, French saint[3]
  • exact date unknown
    • Aryabhata, Indian mathematician-astronomer (b. 476)[4]
    • Buddhapālita, Indian Madhyamaka scholar (b. 470)
    • Drest V, king of the Picts
    • Germanus, Byzantine general (magister militum)
  • probable
    • Dubricius, British bishop and saint
    • Eustathius of Mtskheta, Orthodox Christian saint

References

  1. ^ Imperial Chinese Armies (p. 23). C.J. Peers, 1995. ISBN 978-1-85532-514-2
  2. ^ Wickham, Lionel R. (2011). "Peter of Kallinikos". In Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  3. ^ Alban Butler (1956). April, May, June. Burns & Oates.
  4. ^ Bhau Daji (1865). "Brief Notes on the Age and Authenticity of the Works of Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhattotpala, and Bhaskaracharya". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 392–406. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016.