Who ruled
- Byzantium Justin II 565–578
- First Göktürk Khaganate Taspar Khan 572–581
- Northern Zhou Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou 560–578
- Sasanian Persia Khosrow I 531–579
- Western Göktürk Khaganate Tardush 576–603
And beyond the steppe
- China Northern Zhou Emperor Wu 560–578 · Emperor Xuan 578–579
- Iran Sasanian Khosrow I 531–579
- Korea Goguryeo Pyeongwon 559–590
- Byzantium Justinian Justin II 565–578 · Tiberius II 578–582
Eastern steppe
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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
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Culture · The Chinese monk Huilin converts Taspar, who builds him a pagoda; no other Göktürks follows
Taspar Khan · Buddhism among the Göktürks · Tengrism
Undated in the sources; late 570s
Western steppe
China
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Economy · The Zhou give Taspar a hundred thousand pieces of silk a year and the Qi empty their treasury to match; the surplus goes west with the Sogdians (572–581)
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fifth and sixth month · Emperor Wu leads the six armies north against Taspar and dies on the way back
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April · The Göktürks enter Youzhou on behalf of the Qi resistance; the Zhou emperor Wu dies
Taspar Khan · Empress Ashina · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · The Raid on Youzhou (578)
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Taspar raids the Zhou frontier again in the eleventh month, besieges Jiuquan and plunders the country around it
The Siege of Jiuquan (578) · Taspar Khan · Northern Zhou · Hegemony Wars in Northern China
