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The Mediterranean in 500 BC

500 BC is the Persian Empire at its height, on the eve of the Persian Wars. This map shows the 9 states and peoples the data has for The Mediterranean in that year.

Map of the Mediterranean in 500 BC with 9 states and peoples
Borders: Cliopatria, Seshat Global History Databank (CC BY 4.0). Coarse outlines: check and adjust them for your story.

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States and peoples in the Mediterranean in 500 BC

Largest first, by area on this map.

  • Achaemenid Empire
  • Scythia
  • Greek City-States
  • Carthage
  • Etruscans
  • Macedonian Empire
  • Peloponnesian League
  • Roman Kingdom
  • Roman Republic

New on the map since 600 BC

Achaemenid Empire · Peloponnesian League · Roman Republic

Gone from the map by 400 BC

Roman Kingdom

Animated maps of this time

The Mediterranean in other years

Other regions in 500 BC

The outlines are coarse and follow the Cliopatria dataset: borders before modern surveys are estimates, and a blank area means the data has no state on record there, not that nobody lived there. A state that changed hands during the year can appear together with its successor.