Amida’s defenders, although unsupported by Imperial troops, repel the Persian assaults for three months through the winter of 502-503 before they are finally beaten.

Emperor Anastasius I sends an army (fifty-two thousand men) to Armenia but it is defeated.

Kavadh invades Osroene, and lays siege to the city of Edessa.

Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir III raids Palaestina Salutaris and captures a large number of Romans.

Theodoric, an Arian, has decided to let the Goths (Arians) and the Latins ("orthodox" in the sense that they follow canon doctrine), live together but separately, so there are separate neighborhoods and separate religious buildings.

Theodoric erects the Arian Baptistry at the same time as the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo.

Xuan Xiang, who has taken over Yuan Xi's posts, is in 504 accused by Gao Zhao of corruption, demoted to commoner rank, and dies soon thereafter.

At Gao's suggestion and despite Yuan Xie's opposition, Xuanwu subsequently puts the imperial princes under heavy guard, effectively putting them under house arrest.

The old rivalry between the Gepids and the Ostrogoths having spurred up again, the Ostrogoths sack Belgrade on the Danube and Sava rivers in modern Serbia; …

…Theodoric then defeats the Gepids, driving them from Pannonia.

Constantinople’s forces check the Persian advance at Edessa (Urfa) in 504, then gradually drive the Persians eastward in a series of battles, …

…eventually gaining the upper hand in Armenia with the renewed investment of Amida.

Kavadh I hands over the fortress-city of Amida and agrees to an armistice with Constantinople.

Theodoric erects the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna as his palace chapel during the first quarter of the sixth century, as attested to in the Liber Pontificalis).

This Arian church is originally dedicated in 504 to "Christ the Redeemer".