491 BC

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). 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.

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	6th century BC 5th century BC 4th century BC
Decades:	510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC
Years:	494 BC 493 BC 492 BC 491 BC 490 BC 489 BC 488 BC

491 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	491 BC CDXCI BC
Ab urbe condita	263
Ancient Egypt era	XXVII dynasty, 35
- Pharaoh	Darius I of Persia, 31
Ancient Greek era	72nd Olympiad, year 2
Assyrian calendar	4260
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−1083
Berber calendar	460
Buddhist calendar	54
Burmese calendar	−1128
Byzantine calendar	5018–5019
Chinese calendar	己酉年 (Earth Rooster) 2207 or 2000     — to — 庚戌年 (Metal Dog) 2208 or 2001
Coptic calendar	−774 – −773
Discordian calendar	676
Ethiopian calendar	−498 – −497
Hebrew calendar	3270–3271
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−434 – −433
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2610–2611
Holocene calendar	9510
Iranian calendar	1112 BP – 1111 BP
Islamic calendar	1146 BH – 1145 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	1843
Minguo calendar	2402 before ROC 民前2402年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1958
Thai solar calendar	52–53
Tibetan calendar	阴土鸡年 (female Earth-Rooster) −364 or −745 or −1517     — to — 阳金狗年 (male Iron-Dog) −363 or −744 or −1516

Events

By place

Greece

• Darius I 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 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 had been his commander of cavalry.

Roman Republic

• During this year there was a famine in Rome. General Gais Marcius Coriolanus suggested that people should not receive grains unless they agree to abolish the Office of Tribune. Because of this, the Tribunes had him exiled. In response, Coriolanus takes refuge with the leader of the Volsci, eventually leading the Volscian army in a war against Rome. It was only due to entreaties from his mother and wife that he abandoned his war against Rome.
• On the Via Latina, a main road leading out of Rome, the Temple of Fortuna Muliebras was finished.

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.

Deaths

• Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela