Okay then, back to the boring HOB.
In 586 Nebuchadnezzar burned Jerusalem and carried the upper classes of people back to Babylon. He was succeeded by Amel-Marduk in 561. Apparently the prophet Daniel was one of the exiles taken in 605 by Nebuchadnezzar, and Ezekiel was taken captive in 597. After the death of the Median king Cyaxares, Cyrus II of Persia overthrew the rule of Astyages about 550 and issued an edict permitting the Jews and other captives to leave Babylon and return to their homelands. By this time an important new Jewish institution had developed—the synagogue or school for studying the Mosaic Law—and with it a new personality, the teacher or rabbi.
Meanwhile, in Greece the nascence of science can be marked by Thales’ (d.c. 545) attempt to find naturalistic explanations for phenomena and his concern about the most basic element composing material substances. Pythagoras (c.525), a transmigrationist, marked the rise of mathematics, viewing it as the essence of the world. About 500, Parmenides taught that being is eternal and change is illusion, while Heraclitus said that all is in flux, opposites define each other, and the One is world, symbolized by fire.
During this period in India, Hinduism assimilated new views collected in the Upanishads. Then Mahavira (d.527) founded an ascetic sect known as Jainism and Siddhartha Gautama (d.483) founded Buddhism, teaching the attainment of nirvana by means of meditation and enlightenment.
In China Lao Tzu (d.c.517) founded Taoism and Confucius (d.479) developed his pragmatic philosophy. In Japan, Shinto ancestor worship existed during the Yamato dynasty (b.660).
In Persia the preaching of Zoroaster (d.c.551) was incorporated in the Avesta, which shows affinities with the Rig-Veda.
In Carthage about 520, explorers sailed around the coast of Africa as far as Sierra Leone.