Emperor Wén of the Sui Dynasty orders the building of a new capital, which he calls Daxing (Great Prosperity), on a site southeast of Chang'an (modern Xi'an).

Emperor Xuan, age fifty-two, dies after a thirteen-year reign and is succeeded by his incompetent son Houzhu as the ruler of the Chen Dynasty.

Emperor Justinian I had rebuilt Singidunum in 535, restoring the fortress and city to its former military importance.

The city has seen a half-century of peace, which ends with the arrival of the Avars, who sack the city.

Sirmium, despite the weakness of the garrison, has resisted for almost three years, and it is not until late 581 or early 582, shortly before his death, that Tiberius agrees to surrender the city in exchange for the lives of its citizens.

The Avars indeed spare the population, but take their possessions and two hundred and forty thousand solidi from the Emperor, as arrears of the tribute owed over three years.

Bayan has thus established a new base of operations within the Empire from which to plunder the Balkan Peninsula.

The Ghassanid army has for two years launched raids into the imperial provinces from their bases in the desert, even defeating and killing the imperial dux of Arabia in a battle at Bostra.

Tiberius reacts by raising a Chalcedonian brother of Mundhir to the Ghassanid kingship.

A large army with Magnus at its head is dispatched east to counter Nu'man and install his uncle as king.

The latter is swiftly done, but the new king dies after only twenty days.

Magnus also has some success in subduing or subverting the allegiance of some minor Arab tribes away from the Ghassanids.

Maurice, after a victory at Constantina over Adarmahan and Tamkhosrau in 582, in which the latter is killed, is acclaimed emperor following the death of Tiberius II Constantine.

The advantage gained at Constantina is lost later in the year when his successor as magister militum of the East, John Mystacon, is defeated on the river Nymphios by Sassanid general Kardarigan.

The Slavs are meanwhile pouring into Thrace, Thessaly, Illyricum, and other regions of Greece.

Slavic tribes in 582 attempt to capture Thessaloniki, and settle around it.

The Visigoths under king Liuvigild capture the city of Mérida, which has been under the political control of its popular bishop Masona, who is arrested and exiled for three years.