491 BC

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Events

By place

Greece

* Darius I sends envoys to all Greek cities, demanding "earth and water for vassalage" which Athens and Sparta refuse however.
* 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 at Delphi 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 native Sicilian people. He is succeeded as Tyrant of Gela by Gelo, who has been his commander of cavalry.

Roman republic

* During a famine in Rome, Gnaeus 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. Coriolanus then takes refuge with the King of the Volsci and leads 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 and Xerxes I receiving tribute and is now displayed in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Births

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Deaths

* Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela