594 BC

The year 594 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 160 Ab urbe condita. The denomination 594 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

• Facing an economic crisis and popular discontent, the leaders of Athens appoint the poet-statesman Solon to implement democratic reforms and revive the city's constitution.
• Solon expands the role of the Ecclesia, the principal assembly of democracy in Athens during its Golden Age.
• Sappho returns from exile in Sicily.
• Solon introduces the reforms known as the Seisachtheia, cancelling many debts and abolishing debt slavery in Athens.
• Solon reorganizes Athenian society into four property classes, defining eligibility for political office.
• Solon publishes a new law code for Athens and orders it to be publicly displayed.
• Solon establishes the Council of Four Hundred to prepare business for the Athenian assembly.
• Necho II continues consolidating Egyptian control in the eastern Mediterranean during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt.
• Nebuchadnezzar II strengthens the Neo-Babylonian Empire following earlier campaigns in the Levant.