493

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Isaurian War: Claudiopolis, ancient city of Cappadocia, is besieged and captured by the Romans. The Isaurians blockade the mountain passes, but John the Hunchback wins an overwhelming victory against the rebels.

  Ireland

• March - Battle for the Body of St. Patrick: The Uí Néill Dynasty fights over the body of Saint Patrick with the Airgialla Kingdom.

  Europe

• February 25 - Odoacer surrenders Ravenna after a 3-year siege, and agrees to a mediated peace with Theodoric the Great. He steadily consolidates his rule and provides security for the local population. His achievement is to manage the transformation of Italy from being the center of a fractured Roman Empire to a successful and independent Ostrogothic Kingdom.
• Onoulphus, brother of Odoacer, is killed during the siege of Ravenna by archers while seeking refuge in a church.
• March 15 - Odoacer is invited to a banquet organised in order to celebrate the peace treaty. During the festivities, Odoacer is killed by Theodoric the Great. His body is skillfully sliced in half in full view of his guests. A massacre of Odoacer's soldiers and supporters follows.
• Theodoric the Great allies with the Franks and marries Audofleda, sister of Clovis I. He also marries his own female relatives to princes or kings of the Burgundians, Vandals and Visigoths, establishing a political alliance with the Germanic kingdoms in the West.
• Clovis I marries the Burgundian princess Clotilde, age 18; she is brought up in the Catholic faith and is the daughter of King Chilperic II. Her father is murdered in the same year by his brother Gundobad.

  China

• Emperor Xiao Wen Di starts adopting a sinicization policy as well as various reforms. He marries Feng Qing, she becomes empress of the Northern Wei Dynasty.