5th century BC explained

The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC.This century saw the establishment of Pataliputra as a capital of the Magadha Empire. This city would later become the ruling capital of different Indian kingdoms for about a thousand years. This period saw the rise of two great philosophical schools of the east, Jainism and Buddhism. This period saw Mahavira and Buddha spreading their respective teachings in the northern plains of India. This essentially changed the socio-cultural and political dynamics of the region of South Asia. Buddhism would later go on to become one of the major world religions.

This period also saw the work of Yaska, who created Nirukta, that would lay the foundation stone for Sanskrit grammar and is one of the oldest works on grammar known to mankind. This century is also traditionally recognized as the classical period of the Greeks, which would continue all the way through the 4th century until the time of Alexander the Great. The life of Socrates represented a major milestone in Greek philosophy though his teachings only survive through the work of his students, most notably Plato and Xenophon. The tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as the comedian Aristophanes all date from this era and many of their works are still considered classics of the western theatrical canon.

The Persian Wars, fought between a coalition of Greek cities and the vast Achaemenid Persian Empire was a pivotal moment in Greek politics. The Greeks successfully prevented the annexation of Greece by the Persians in Battle of Plataea, Battle of Mycale, and further counter attacks. Afterwards, Sparta, the dominant power in the coalition, had no intention of further offensive action and considered the war over. Meanwhile, Athens counter-attacked, liberating Greek subjects of the Persian Empire up and down the Ionian coast and mobilizing a new coalition, the Delian League. Tensions between Athens, and its growing imperialistic ambitions as leader of the Delian League, and the traditionally dominant Sparta led to a protracted stalemate in the Peloponnesian War.

Events

490s BC

480s BC

470s BC

460s BC

450s BC

Pleistoanax succeeds his father Pleistarchus as king of Sparta.

Destruction of the Sicilian town of Morgantina by Douketios, leader of the Sikels, according to Diodoros Siculus.

Ezra leads the second body of Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Greek playwright Aeschylus completes the Oresteia, a trilogy that tells the story of a family blood feud. The plays will have a great influence on future writers.

Cincinnatus is named dictator of the Roman Republic in order to defend it against Aequi. Sixteen days later, after defeating the invaders at the Battle of Mount Algidus, he resigns and returns to his farm.

Athenian statesman Pericles' greatest reform, allowing common people to serve in any state office, inaugurates Golden Age of Ancient Athens.

Battle of Tanagra—The Spartans defeat the Athenians, near Thebes.

Battle of Oenophyta—The Athenians defeat the Thebans and take control of Boeotia.

Decree of Artaxerxes I to re-establish the city government of Jerusalem. See Ezra 7, Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 1 in Old Testament.

A thirty years' truce concluded between Athens and Lacedaemon.

Euripides presents his first known tragedy, Peliades, in the Athenian festival of Dionysia.

Athens loses a fleet and possibly as many as 50,000 men in a failed attempt to aid an Egyptian revolt against Persia.

The treasury of the Delian League is moved from Delos to Athens.

Hostilities between Segesta and Selinunte, two Greek cities on Sicily.

Taiyuan, a city in China, gets flooded.

Athens makes peace with Sparta and wages a war against Persia.

The decemviri come to power in the Roman Republic. They enact the twelve tables, the foundation of Roman Law.

Wars of the Delian League: Athenians under Cimon defeat the Persian fleet.

Perdiccas II succeeds Alexander I as king of Macedonia (approximate date).

440s BC

430s BC

The philosopher Xenophon is born.

420s BC

410s BC

400s BC

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Sovereign states

See: List of sovereign states in the 5th century BC.

Notes and References

  1. Zhao. Dingxin. 2004. Comment: Spurious Causation in a Historical Process: War and Bureaucratization in Early China. American Sociological Review. 69. 4. 603–607. 10.1177/000312240406900407.