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527 BCE

This year falls in the Iron Age (c. 1200–500 BCE). Iron tools and weapons spread, and new powers rise, among them Assyria, Babylon, the Zhou dynasty in China and the Greek city-states. Alphabets and coined money spread, and the Persian Empire is founded in the sixth century BCE.

Within fifteen years

Ruler · Iron Age · IranDarius Ir. 522–486 BCKing of Persia from 522 to 486 BC, who organized the empire Cyrus founded into a working state. He divided it into satrapies, built the Royal Road, and raised Persepolis. His reign saw the first clashes with mainland Greece, including the Persian defeat at Marathon in 490 BC.

Philosopher · Iron Age · TurkeyHeraclitusc. 535–c. 475 BCGreek thinker of Ephesus, on the coast of modern Turkey, famous for the doctrine that all things flow. He taught that fire is the first principle and that opposites are one. He lived about 535 to 475 BC, and his one book survives only in fragments.

Philosopher · Classical antiquity · ItalyParmenidesc. 515–c. 450 BCGreek thinker of Elea in southern Italy who argued, against the senses, that being is one, whole, and unchanging. His poem On Nature survives in large fragments. He lived about 515 to 450 BC and founded the Eleatic school.