Who ruled
- First Göktürk Khaganate Yami Khan 603–609
- Western Göktürk Khaganate Heshana Khan 603–611
And beyond the steppe
- China Sui Emperor Yang 604–618
- Iran Sasanian Khosrow II 591–628
- Korea Goguryeo Yeongyang 590–618
- Byzantium Phocas 602–610
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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Environment · Lake Telmen stands 4.8 metres above its present level, a humid phase before the drying that follows (600–700)
Persia
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The great khan's host crosses the Oxus against the Persian general Smbat Bagratuni and raids as far as Rey and Isfahan
Smbat Bagratuni's war with the khan · Sebeos · Badghis
Also dated 597 (A second reading): The campaign falls in 597 and 598. Also dated 614 (A third reading): Counted back from Smbat's death in the twenty-eighth year of Khosrow II.
