Buddhism reaches Japan from Korea by 538, and will coexist harmoniously (as it continues to do today) with the ancient Shinto religion.

The reign of Emperor Kimmei, said to have spanned the years from 539 through 571, is the first for which contemporary historiography are able to assign verifiable dates.

His contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō.

Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi, meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven."

Alternatively, Kimmei might have been referred to as the "Great King of Yamato."

Although Japan’s imperial court will not be moved to the Asuka region until 592, Emperor Kimmei's reign is considered by some to be the beginning of the Asuka period of Yamato Japan, particularly by those who associate the Asuka period primarily with the introduction of Buddhism.

With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift will develop between the Mononobe clan, who support the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, who support the adoption of Buddhism.

A branch of the royal Armenian Arsacid line is recognized as autonomous local princes in the eastern fringes of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Artabanes is a member of this lineage: His father is named John, and he has a brother also named John.

Artabanes, apparently still a young man in 538/539, takes part in the Armenian conspiracy against Acacius, the proconsul of First Armenia, whose heavy taxes and cruel behavior are greatly resented.

Artabanes himself kills Acacius.

Sittas, an imperial general who had received the honorific title of patrician in 535, is credited with a victory against the Bulgars in Moesia, by the Iatrus (Yantra) in the same year, and had been named an honorary consul in 536.

In 538/539, Sittas is sent back to Armenia to face the revolt led by Artabanes.

Failing to negotiate peace, Sittas starts active fighting.

In the Battle of Oenochalcon, the nature of the terrain forces both armies to fight in scattered groups rather than in unified forces.

Procopius records that Sittas was killed by either Artabanes or Solomon, an otherwise obscure rebel.

Belisarius’s forces have successfully withstood the three hundred and seventy-four day-siege, which Vitiges ends on March 12.

Abandoning Rome, he retreats with his Gothic army northeast along the Via Flaminia.

Belisarius attacks the Goths after they have crossed the Milvian Bridge.

After fierce resistance, Vitiges routs in panic, and many of his men are slain or drown in the Tiber River.

Belisarius moves north in pursuit, but Gothic attacks hinder the advance of the undersupplied, unreinforced imperial army.

Vitiges strengthens the garrisons of various towns and besieges Ariminum.

Imperial forces under the Armenian general Narses arrive at Picenum.

Belisarius secures Liguria, …

…Mediolanum (modern Milan) and …

…Ariminum, but disagreements, especially with Narses, lead to disunity in the imperial army.

Theudebert I had found himself embroiled in the Gothic War after relations between the Frankish kings had settled down.

Justinian sees Theudebert as an ideal ally: Austrasian lands flank the Ostrogoths in northern Italy.

The emperor has paid Theudebert handsomely for his assistance, but Theudebert proves an untrustworthy ally.

The Frankish armies see the Italian conflict as an opportunity for plunder and a chance to exert their own claims to northern Italy.

In summer 538, King Theudebert I sends a small Frankish force across the Alps, and separately defeats both the Goths and imperial forces at the River Po.

Belisarius retreats to Tuscany.

The Lombards, one of the Germanic tribes that formed the Suebi, had by the end of the fifth century moved from their home in northwestern Germany into the area roughly coinciding with modern Austria north of the Danube River.

Their ruler for the past three decades has been Wacho, who had assassinated his uncle Tato and usurped the throne about 510.

Tato's son and grandson had taken refuge with the king of a neighboring Germanic people, the Gepidae, making several fruitless attempts to recover rule over the Lombards.

Shortly after 536, Waccho had made a treaty with Justinian against the Gepids.

Vitiges, King of the Ostrogoths in Italy, hard-pressed by Justinian's general Belisarius, sends ambassadors to Wacho in 539, offering him money in exchange for military aid.

Wacho refuses, preferring to remain on good terms with Constantinople.

Having also good relations with the Franks, Wacho has married off his daughter, Waldrada, to the Frankish prince Theudebald, son of Theudebert of Metz.

Their granddaughter is Theodelinda, who will later become queen of the Lombards.

He his second marriage was to a Gepid princess, Austrigusa, called "Ostrogotha" (perhaps due to her maternal descent from Ostrogothic rulers).

Austrigusa was the mother of two daughters: Wisigarda (who married Theudebert I of Austrasia) and Waldrada (who married firstly Theudebald of Austrasia, secondly Chlothar I, King of the Franks, and thirdly Garibald I of Bavaria).

Wacho's third marriage was to Silinga, a Heruli, and the mother of his son Walhtari.

At the death of Wacho in 539, Walthari rules as an infant king, and his government is administered by Audoin as regent.