557 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 557
DLVII
Ab urbe condita 1310
Armenian calendar 6
ԹՎ Զ
Assyrian calendar 5307
Balinese saka calendar 478–479
Bengali calendar −37 – −36
Berber calendar 1507
Buddhist calendar 1101
Burmese calendar −81
Byzantine calendar 6065–6066
Chinese calendar 丙子年 (Fire Rat)
3254 or 3047
    — to —
丁丑年 (Fire Ox)
3255 or 3048
Coptic calendar 273–274
Discordian calendar 1723
Ethiopian calendar 549–550
Hebrew calendar 4317–4318
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat 613–614
 - Shaka Samvat 478–479
 - Kali Yuga 3657–3658
Holocene calendar 10557
Iranian calendar 65 BP – 64 BP
Islamic calendar 67 BH – 66 BH
Javanese calendar 445–446
Julian calendar 557
DLVII
Korean calendar 2890
Minguo calendar 1355 before ROC
民前1355年
Nanakshahi calendar −911
Seleucid era 868/869 AG
Thai solar calendar 1099–1100
Tibetan calendar མེ་ཕོ་བྱི་བ་ལོ་
(male Fire-Rat)
683 or 302 or −470
    — to —
མེ་མོ་གླང་ལོ་
(female Fire-Ox)
684 or 303 or −469
Emperor Chen Wu Di (503–559)

Year 557 (DLVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 557 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

Europe

  • The Avars arrive in the northern region of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They send envoys to the Byzantines in Lazica (modern Georgia). Like the Huns, the Avars are the former elite of a central Asian federation, which has been forced to flee westwards.[1]

Byzantine Empire

  • December 14 – The 557 Constantinople earthquake occurs.

Asia

  • The Western Wei Dynasty ends: Yuwen Hu deposes emperor Gong Di, and places Yuwen Tai's son Xiaomin on the throne. Yuwen Hu becomes regent and establishes the Northern Zhou dynasty in China.
  • Ming Di is made emperor, after his younger brother Xiao Min Di is arrested while trying to assume power. Xiao Min Di is deposed and executed by Yuwen Hu.
  • The Liang dynasty ends: Chen Wu Di, a distinguished general, becomes the first emperor of the Chen dynasty in Southern China.
  • The Göktürks under Muqan Qaghan ally with the Persian Empire, and destroy the Hephthalites (White Huns) in Central Asia.

By topic

Religion

  • King Chlothar I of the Franks founds the Abbey of St. Medard at Soissons (Northern France).
  • The Jiming Temple in Nanjing is built; the Buddhist pagoda is located near Xuanwu Lake.


Births

  • Dushun, Chinese (Buddhist) patriarch (d. 640)
  • Gao Wei, emperor of Northern Qi (d. 577)
  • Ouyang Xun, Confucian scholar (d. 641)

Deaths

  • March 14 – Leobinus, bishop of Chartres
  • exact date unknown
    • Saint Cyriacus the Anchorite, legendary centenarian (b. 448)[2]
    • Xiao Min Di, emperor of Northern Zhou (b. 542)[3]

References

  1. ^ Rome at War (AD 293–696), p. 59. Michael Whitby, 2002. ISBN 1-84176-359-4
  2. ^ Panayiotis Tzamalikos (June 8, 2012). The Real Cassian Revisited: Monastic Life, Greek Paideia, and Origenism in the Sixth Century. BRILL. p. 135. ISBN 978-90-04-22440-7.
  3. ^ Jinhua Chen (2002). Monks and monarchs, kinship and kingship: Tanqian in Sui Buddhism and politics. Scuola italiana di studi sull'Asia orientale. ISBN 978-4-900793-21-7.