__NOTOC__
Year 491 BC was a year of the
pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augurinus and Atratinus (or, less frequently, year 263 ''
Ab urbe condita
''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an exp ...
''). The denomination 491 BC 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
Greece
* Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...
sends envoys to all Greek cities, demanding "earth and water for vassalage" which Athens and Sparta refuse.
* The Greek city of Aegina, fearing the loss of trade, submits to Persia. The Spartan king, Cleomenes I tries to punish Aegina for its submission to the Persians, but the other Spartan king, Demaratus, thwarts him.
* Cleomenes I engineers the deposing of Spartan co-ruler Demaratus (and his replacement by Cleomenes’ cousin Leotychidas) by bribing the oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
at Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
to announce that this action was divine will. The two Spartan kings successfully capture the Persian collaborators in Aegina.
Sicily
* Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, loses his life in a battle against the Siculi
The Sicels (; la, Siculi; grc, wikt:Σικελοί, Σικελοί ''Sikeloi'') were an Italic people, Italic tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily during the Iron Age. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave Sicily the na ...
, the native Sicilian people. He is succeeded as Tyrant of Gela by Gelo, who had been his commander of cavalry.
Roman Republic
* During a famine in Rome, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus advises that the people should not receive grain unless they would consent to the abolition of the office of tribune. For this, the tribunes have him condemned to exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
. Coriolanus then takes refuge with the leader of the Volsci and during the following years they together lead the Volscian army against Rome, turning back only in response to entreaties from his mother and his wife.
By topic
Art
* The construction of a relief begins in the Apadana, a ceremonial complex at Persepolis. The relief pictures Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...
and Xerxes I receiving tribute and is now displayed in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Births
*
Deaths
*
Hippocrates,
tyrant of
Gela
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:491 Bc