__NOTOC__ Year 554 ( DLIV) was a

common year starting on Thursday A common year starting on Thursday is any non-leap year (i.e. a year with 365 days) that begins on Thursday, 1 January, and ends on Thursday, 31 December. Its dominical letter hence is D. The most recent year of such kind was 2015, and the next ...

of the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...

. The denomination 554 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the

Anno Domini The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian and Julian calendar, Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "o ...

calendar era A calendar era is the period of time elapsed since one '' epoch'' of a calendar and, if it exists, before the next one. For example, the current year is numbered in the Gregorian calendar, which numbers its years in the Western Christian era ...

became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

August 13 Events Pre-1600 * 29 BC – Octavian holds the first of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. * 523 – John I becomes the new Pope after the death of Pope Hormisdas. * 554 &ndash ...

– Byzantine Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

issues a pragmatic sanction reorganizing Italy, and rewards the praetorian prefect Liberius for over 60 years of distinguished service, granting him extensive estates in Italy. *

August 15 Events Pre-1600 * 636 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate begins. * 717 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Consta ...

– The

554 Anatolia earthquake The 554 Anatolia earthquake took place on August 15, 554 in the southwest coasts of Anatolia (Asia Minor). It affected the Güllük Gulf (Mandalya Gulf), and the island of Kos.Antonopoulos, 1980 Details of the earthquake come primarily from the ...

takes place in the southwest coasts of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

(Asia Minor). It affects the Güllük Gulf (Mandalya Gulf), and the island of

Kos Kos or Cos (; ) is a Greek island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 37,089 (2021 census), making ...

.Antonopoulos, 1980 *

October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after Januar ...

–

Battle of the Volturnus The Battle of the Volturnus, also known as the Battle of Casilinum or Battle of Capua, was fought in 554 between an army of the Eastern Roman Empire and a combined force of Franks and Alemanni. The Byzantines, led by the old eunuch general Nars ...

: In the spring Butilinus (Buccelin) has marched north; the Frankish army (infected by an

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

which kills their leader Leutharis (Lothair)) is reduced to about 30,000 men. The

Byzantine army The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct continuation of the East Roman army, Eastern Roman army, shaping and developing itself on the legac ...

, with 18,000 men (including a contingent of

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

under

Aligern Aligern or Aligernus was an Ostrogoths, Ostrogoth military leader, active in the Gothic War (535–554), Gothic War (535-554). By the end of the war, Aligern had joined the Byzantine army. The main sources about him are Procopius and Agathias.Mart ...

), marches south to meet them at

Casilinum Casilinum () was an ancient city of Campania, Italy, situated some 3 miles north-west of the ancient Capua. The position of Casilinum at the junction of the Via Appia and Via Latina, at their crossing of the river Volturnus by a still-existing ...

(on the banks of the River Volturno). Byzantine eunuch general

Narses Narses (also spelled Nerses; ; ; ; c. 478–573) was a distinguished Byzantine general and statesman of Armenian heritage, renowned for his critical role in Emperor Justinian I’s military campaigns. Alongside the famed Belisarius, Narses was ...

sends a cavalry force under Chanaranges to destroy the supply wagons of the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

. Outmanoeuvring Butilinus, he chooses a disposition similar to that at Taginae. After a

frontal assault A frontal assault is a military tactic which involves a direct, full-force attack on the front line of an enemy force, rather than to the flanks or rear of the enemy. It allows for a quick and decisive victory, but at the cost of subjecting the a ...

on the Byzantine centre, the Franks and the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

are annihilated, thus effectively ending the

Gothic War (535–554) The Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Roman emperor, Emperor Justinian I and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy took place from 535 to 554 in the Italian peninsula, Dalmatia (theme), Dalmatia, Sardinia, Sicily, and Cors ...

. Narses garrisons an army of 16,000 men in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The recovery of the Italian Peninsula has cost the empire about 300,000 pounds of gold.

Europe

* Byzantine forces under Liberius seize

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

(

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

) and occupy the old province of

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of ...

. Justinian I calls

Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...

out of retirement, to complete the consolidation of reconquered regions of Southern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. *

Athanagild Athanagild ( 517 – December 567) was the Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila I, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat. Following the dea ...

is crowned as king of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

and succeeds

Agila I Agila, sometimes Agila I or Achila I (died March 554), was Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania (549 – March 554). Peter Heather notes that Agila's reign was during a period of civil war following the death of Amalaric, the last member of ...

. He acknowledges the

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

Asia

Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man (), also known as Al-Mundhir ibn Imri' al-Qays () (died 554) was the king of the Lakhmids in 503/505–554. Biography His mother's name was Maria bint Awf bin Geshem. The son of al-Nu'man II ibn al-Aswad, he succeed ...

is defeated and killed by the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian state, Christian kingdom unde ...

under

al-Harith ibn Jabalah Al-Ḥārith ibn Jabalah (; known in Byzantine sources as Flavios Arethas (Greek: ) and Khālid ibn Jabalah () in later Islamic sources), was a king of the Ghassanids, a pre-Islamic Arab Christian tribe who lived on the eastern frontier of the Byz ...

, at the battle of

Yawm Halima Yawm Halima () is the name given to a battle fought between the rival Ghassanid and Lakhmid Arabs in the 6th century. Considered " e of the most famous battles of pre-Islamic Arabia", it was named after Halima, a Ghassanid princess who assisted th ...

;

'Amr III ibn al-Mundhir Amr III ibn al-Mundhir (; ), more commonly known by the matronymic Amr ibn Hind (, ''ʿAmr ibn Hind''), was the king of the Lakhmid Arabs in 554–569/570. He was a client of the Sasanian Empire. In around 550 AD he clashed with Aksumite Empire ...

succeeds as king of the

Lakhmids The Lakhmid kingdom ( ), also referred to as al-Manādhirah () or as Banū Lakhm (), was an Arab kingdom that was founded and ruled by the Lakhmid dynasty from to 602. Spanning Eastern Arabia and Sawad, Southern Mesopotamia, it existed as a d ...

. *

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

and the

Gaya Confederacy Gaya (; ) was a Korean confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period. The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is AD 42– ...

wage war upon

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

, one of the

Three Kingdoms of Korea The Three Kingdoms of Korea or Samhan (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) competed for hegemony over the Korea, Korean Peninsula during the ancient period of History of Korea, Korean history. During the Three Kingdoms period (), many states and statele ...

, but are defeated. * Wideok becomes king of the Korean kingdom of

. *

Muqan Qaghan Muqan Qaghan (, , , Rouran: 𑀫𑀼𑀖𑀅𑀦 𑀕𑀅𑀖𑀅𑀦, romanized: ''Muɣan Qaɣan'') was the second son of Bumin Qaghan and the third khagan of the Göktürks who expanded their khaganate and secured the borders against the Hephth ...

succeeds his brother

Issik Qaghan Kara Issik Qaghan () was the second ruler of the Turkic Khaganate. Biography His personal name was Ashina Keluo () which is reconstructible in Middle Chinese as *''kʰuâ-lâ'', which is transliterated as either Old Turkic ''Qara''. His regnal n ...

as emperor (''

khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

'') of the

Göktürks The Göktürks (; ), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main powe ...

. * The second and larger of the two

Buddhas of Bamyan The Buddhas of Bamiyan (, ) were two monumental Buddhist art of Bamiyan, Buddhist statues in the Bamyan, Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, built possibly around the 6th-century. Located to the northwest of Kabul, at an elevation of , Radiocarbon da ...

is erected in central

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

China

* Gong Di succeeds his brother Fei Di as emperor of

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

. He is deposed by general

Yuwen Tai Yuwen Tai () (505/7 – 21 November 556According to Yuwen Tai's biography in ''Book of Zhou'', he died aged 52 (by East Asian reckoning) on the ''yihai'' day of the 10th month of the 3rd year of the reign of Emperor Gong of Western Wei. This co ...

who puts him to death. * Siege and Fall of Jiangling: The Western Wei forces launched a military campaign against the Liang dynasty, targeting Jiangling, the Liang capital. * After a protracted siege, Jiangling fell to the Western Wei army. * Emperor Yuan of Liang (Xiao Yi) was captured during this assault and was subsequently executed. * Mass Enslavement and Destruction: Following the capture of Jiangling, the city faced extensive looting and destruction. Historical records indicate that a large portion of the population was either killed or enslaved. The fall of Jiangling significantly weakened the Liang dynasty, leading to further internal strife and fragmentation. Power vacuums emerged, causing shifts in control among the remaining regional powers. *

Wei Shou Wei Shou () (506–572), courtesy name Boqi (伯起), was a Chinese people, Chinese author born in Quyang County in Julu Commandery (today Xingtai, Hebei) who served under the Northern Qi, Northern Qi dynasty.(魏收，字伯起，小字佛助，� ...

completes compilation of the ''

Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 5 ...

''.

By topic

Religion

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

, Roman statesman, founds the Monastery at Vivarium (approximate date).

Births

*''exact date unknown'' ** Fei (Chen Bozong), emperor of the

Chen dynasty The Chen dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Chen (南陳 / 南朝陳) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and the fourth and last of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasties, ...

(d. 570) ** Suiko, empress of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(d.

628 __NOTOC__ Year 628 ( DCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 628 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...

) *''probable''

Wendelin of Trier Saint Wendelin of Trier (; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. His cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22. Life Because no information about him was availabl ...

, Germanic

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

and

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Deaths

*March -

, king of the

*''exact date unknown'' **

, king of the

(

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

) ** Fei Di (Yuan Qin), emperor of

** Mermeroes,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

general **

Seong Seong (), also spelled Song or Sung, is an uncommon Korean family name. Overview The family name Seong is written with only one hanja character, meaning "succeed" or "accomplish" (). The 2000 South Korean Census found 167,903 people with this f ...

, king of

(

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

) *''probable'' ** Liberius, Roman aristocrat **

Yuwen The Yuwen ( < Eastern Han Chinese: *''wa^B-mun'' <