520

This article is about the year 520. For other uses, see 520 (disambiguation).

Year 520 (DXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Vitalianus (or, less frequently, year 1273 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 520 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.

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	5th century 6th century 7th century
Decades:	500s 510s 520s 530s 540s
Years:	517 518 519 520 521 522 523

520 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	520 DXX
Ab urbe condita	1273
Assyrian calendar	5270
Balinese saka calendar	441–442
Bengali calendar	−73
Berber calendar	1470
Buddhist calendar	1064
Burmese calendar	−118
Byzantine calendar	6028–6029
Chinese calendar	己亥年 (Earth Pig) 3217 or 3010     — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 3218 or 3011
Coptic calendar	236–237
Discordian calendar	1686
Ethiopian calendar	512–513
Hebrew calendar	4280–4281
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	576–577
- Shaka Samvat	441–442
- Kali Yuga	3620–3621
Holocene calendar	10520
Iranian calendar	102 BP – 101 BP
Islamic calendar	105 BH – 104 BH
Javanese calendar	407–408
Julian calendar	520 DXX
Korean calendar	2853
Minguo calendar	1392 before ROC 民前1392年
Nanakshahi calendar	−948
Seleucid era	831/832 AG
Thai solar calendar	1062–1063
Tibetan calendar	阴土猪年 (female Earth-Pig) 646 or 265 or −507     — to — 阳金鼠年 (male Iron-Rat) 647 or 266 or −506

The Kingdom of East Anglia (6th century)

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Priscian, Latin grammarian, writes the Institutiones Grammaticae ("Grammatical Foundations"). In Constantinople, he codifies this manuscript in 18 volumes, which will be widely used through the Middle Ages. It provides the raw material for the field of speculative grammar.
• July – Byzantine general Vitalian becomes consul, and is shortly later murdered, probably on the orders of Justinian, the nephew and heir-apparent of Emperor Justin I.^[1]

Britannia

• King Pabo Post Prydain of the Pennines (Northern England) abdicates his throne, and divides the kingdom between his two sons. He retires, as a hermit, to Anglesey.^[2]
• The Kingdom of East Anglia is formed, by the merging of the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and perhaps the eastern part of The Fens (approximate date).
• King Budic II returns to Cornouaille (Brittany), to claim the Breton throne (approximate date).

Europe

• Ostrogothic ruler Theodoric the Great builds the Mausoleum of Theodoric as his future tomb in Ravenna (Italy).^[3]

Asia

• Bodhidharma, Buddhist monk, arrives in Luoyang. He spreads Buddhism and travels to the northern Chinese kingdom of Wei, to the Shaolin Monastery.

By topic

Religion

• February 25 – Epiphanius is elected patriarch of Constantinople by Byzantine Emperor Justin I.
• The construction of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, is started (approximate date).

• The monastery of Seridus, where Barsanuphius and John the Prophet lived as hermits, is founded in the region of Gaza.^[4]

Births

• Hou Andu, general of the Chen dynasty (d. 563)
• Justin II, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (d. 578)
• Malo, Welsh bishop (approximate date)
• Martin of Braga, missionary and archbishop (d. 580)
• Pope Pelagius II of Rome (d. 589)
• Radegund, Frankish princess (approx.)
• Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma, Arabian poet (approx.)

Deaths

• January 19 – John of Cappadocia, patriarch of Constantinople
• July – Vitalian, Byzantine general, consul
• Abbán, Irish cult leader and saint (approx.)
• Ardgal mac Conaill, king of Uisneach (Ireland)
• Isidore of Alexandria, Neoplatonist philosopher (approximate date)
• Maximinus, Frankish abbot and saint (approximate date)
• Zu Gengzhi, Chinese mathematician (approx.)

References

1. Cameron, Alan (1982). "The Death of Vitalian (520 A.D.)". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 48. Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH: 93–94. JSTOR 20183637. The month of Vitalian's death is taken from the chronicle of Marcellinus Comes, sub anno 520. Alan Cameron discussed the supporting evidence, concluding that Marcellinus is correct.
2. Kinross, John (2007). "Anglesey". Discovering the Smallest Churches in Wales. The History Press. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-7524-4101-6.
3. Bean, Rachel; Bruno, Stefano; Doe, Helen (2010). Italy, Malta, and San Marino. Marshall Cavendish. p. 753. ISBN 978-0-7614-7893-5.
4. Kofsky, Arieh; Bitton-Ashkelony, Bruria (2004). Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity. Brill. pp. 76–77. ISBN 9789004138681. Retrieved November 12, 2023.