485 BC

By place

Persian Empire

• Darius I, one of the greatest rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, dies and is succeeded by his son, Xerxes I. During this time the Persian empire extends as far west as Macedonia and Libya and as far east as the Hyphasis River; it stretches to the Caucasus Mountains and the Aral Sea in the north and to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert in the south.

  Sicily

• Gelo, the tyrant of Gela, takes advantage of an appeal by the descendants of the first colonist of Syracuse, the Gamoroi, who had held power until they were expelled by the Killichiroi, the lower class of the city. He makes himself master of that city, leaving his brother Hieron to control Gela.