Who ruled
- Byzantium Justin II 565–578
- First Göktürk Khaganate Mukan Khan 553–572
- Northern Zhou Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou 560–578
- Sasanian Persia Khosrow I 531–579
- Western Göktürk Khaganate Istemi 552–576
And beyond the steppe
- China Northern Zhou Emperor Wu 560–578 · Northern Qi Gao Wei 565–577
- Iran Sasanian Khosrow I 531–579
- Korea Goguryeo Pyeongwon 559–590
- Byzantium Justinian Justin II 565–578
Eastern steppe
-
Environment · Late Antique Little Ice Age: the cold phase the Altai tree rings define from 536 to about 660 (536–660)
Climate and the steppe empires · First Göktürk Khaganate · Avars
The coldest decade in the Altai is the 540s
Western steppe
-
Culture · Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles (450–600)
-
Istemi receives Zemarchos at Ektag on a golden throne and takes him on a raid toward Persia
Zemarchos · Istemi · Ektag · Tengrism · The embassy of Zemarchos, 569
Menander gives no date for the reception. It follows a departure at the beginning of August 569 by a journey of many days, so it falls at the end of that year or in 570.
Persia
-
The khagan Sinjibu, that is Istemi, comes with 110,000 men to the gate of Sul and demands money; Khosrow, behind his new fortifications, refuses, and the khagan goes home
Khosrow I · Derbent · Istemi · Sasanian Persia
Tabari gives no year; one reckoning dates the raid to 569 or 570, when Zemarchos was with Istemi
Byzantium
-
August · Zemarchos leaves Constantinople for the Göktürks
Zemarchos · Istemi · The embassy of Zemarchos, 569
Also dated 568: the older reckoning, which counts the fourth year of Justin II from his accession year rather than from November 565.
