491 BC

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

References

References

1. "The Greeks - Themistocles".
2. "Hippocrates, Tyrant of Gela, fl.498-491".
3. "Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus {{!}} Roman legendary figure {{!}} Britannica".
4. "Roman Timeline of the 5th Century BC {{!}} UNRV".
5. "Fortuna Muliebris, Roman Goddess of the Luck of Women".
6. "Art: Procession of Tribute Bearers".
7. "The Dr. Norman Solhkhah Family Assyrian Empire Gallery {{!}} The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago".
8. "Gelon {{!}} tyrant of Gela and Syracuse {{!}} Britannica".