Culture & Society in the 5th century BC

63 sourced entries, 498 BCE to 400 BCE, oldest first. Also see Culture & Society across every century or everything else in the 5th century BC.

• 498 BCEThe Greek poet Pindar composes his earliest surviving epinikion (Pythian ode 10).source
• 497 BCEDecember 17 – Consecration of the newly constructed Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum, and Saturnalia festival first celebrated.source
• 496 BCETisicrates of Kroton wins the stadion race at the 71st Olympic Games.source
• 492 BCETisicrates wins the stadion race for a second time at the 72nd Olympic Games.source
• 491 BCEThe construction of a relief begins in the Apadana, a ceremonial complex at Persepolis. The relief pictures Darius I and Xerxes I receiving tribute and is now displayed in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.source
• 488 BCEAstylos of Croton wins the stadion race at the 73rd Olympic Games.source
• 486 BCEThe construction of a relief in the Apadana, a ceremonial complex at Persepolis, is finished. It shows Darius and Xerxes receiving tribute.source
• 484 BCEThe Athenian playwright, Aeschylus, wins first prize in drama at the Dionysia festival.source
• 484 BCEAstylos of Croton wins the stadion race for a second time at the 74th Olympic Games.source
• 480 BCEWork begins on the detail Musicians and Dancers on a wall painting in the Tomb of the Lionesses in Tarquinia. It is finished some ten years later.source
• 480 BCEThe Imperial treasury at the Persepolis Palace is completed after a building time of thirty years.source
• 480 BCEThe archaic period of sculpture ends in Greece and is succeeded by the Severe (Early Classical) period (approximate date).source
• 480 BCEThe sculpture of the Kritios Boy is made on Acropolis, Athens (approximate date). It is now preserved in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.source
• 474 BCEThe Greek poet Pindar moves to Thebes after two years at the Sicilian Court of Hiero I of Syracuse. While at Thebes, he composes lyric odes to celebrate triumphs in the Olympic Games and other athletic events.source
• 472 BCEThe tragedy The Persians is produced by Aeschylus. It is the oldest surviving classical Greek play.source
• 470 BCEThe Charioteer, in the Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi, is created in commemoration of a victory in the Pythian Games of 478 or 474 BC (approximate date). It is now preserved at the Delphi Archaeological Museum.source
• 470 BCEPan Painter makes a "bell krater" (an earthenware piece that is used to mix water and wine) which has a red-figure decoration of Artemis slaying Actaeon. It is now preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (approximate date).source
• 470 BCEThe construction of the Temple of Zeus, begins at Olympia, Greece. This includes the relief sculpture (of which fragments now remain at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia) of Apollo with battling Lapiths and centaurs (approximate date).source
• 467 BCEAeschylus' play, The Persians is produced in Sicily.source
• 465 BCEPhidias begins producing the sculpture called The Athena Promachos (The Defender) and completes it ten years later.source
• 460 BCEA metope relief of Athena, Heracles and Atlas are made on a frieze in the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (approximate date). It is now preserved at the Archaeological museum in Olympia.source
• 460 BCEThe sculpture Apollo with battling Lapiths and centaurs is built on the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (approximate date). Only fragments remain and are today preserved at the Archaeological museum in Olympia.source
• 460 BCEA statue of Apollo is cast (approximate date), of which today remains one leg, preserved at the Louvre, and the head, known as the Chatsworth Head, preserved at the British Museum.source
• 458 BCEThe Athenian playwright Aeschylus completes his trilogy The Oresteia (which comprise Agamemnon, Choephoroi (The Libation Bearers) and The Eumenides).source
• 457 BCEThe Zeus Temple at Olympia is completed. The forty-foot statue of Zeus inside it becomes one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.source
• 456 BCEThe temple of Zeus in Olympia is finished.source
• 456 BCEThe first of the Athenian sculptor Phidias' monuments to Athena, the bronze Athena Promachos, is placed on the Athenian Acropolis, measuring about 9 metres high.source
• 455 BCEEuripides presents his earliest known tragedy, Peliades, in the Athenian festival of Dionysia.source
• 454 BCEThe Roman Plebs, suffering from a number of economic and financial ills, force the city’s patricians to begin the reform and codification of the law. As a first act, a three-man commission is sent to Athens to study that city's laws.source
• 450 BCEThe grave stela from Paros, Little girl with a bird, is made. It is now kept at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (approximate date).source
• 450 BCE5,000 talents are transferred to the treasury of the Delian League in Athens.source
• 450 BCEThe statue Woman and maid in the style of Achilles Painter, white-ground and black-figure decoration on a lekythos, with additional painting in tempera, starts being made (finished about ten years later). It is now kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (approximate date).source
• 450 BCEThe Severe (Early Classical) period of sculpture ends in Ancient Greece and is succeeded by the Mature Classical period (approximate date).source
• 447 BCEAchaeus of Eretria, a Greek playwright, produces his first play.source
• 441 BCEThe Greek playwright, Euripides, wins his first victory in a dramatic festival.source
• 440 BCEPolykleitos completes one of his greatest statues, the Doryphorus (The Spear Bearer) (approximate date).source
• 440 BCEThe stela, Demeter, Persephone and Triptolemos, from Eleusis, is made (approximate date). It is now kept at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.source
• 438 BCEThe Greek playwright Euripides' play Alcestis is performed in the Dionysia, an Athenian dramatic festival.source
• 438 BCEThree seated Goddesses (possibly Hestia, Dione and Aphrodite), from the east pediment of the Parthenon, are made (finished in 432 BC). They are now kept at The British Museum in London.source
• 438 BCEThe Parthenon on the Acropolis at Athens is completed by Ictinus and Callicrates and is consecrated after 9 years of construction. It is dedicated at the Panathenaea (a festival held in honour of Athena every four years on the Acropolis).source
• 438 BCEThe Ionic frieze on the north side of the Parthenon, is created (finished in 432 BC). Parts of this frieze are now preserved in museums in Europe, including the Horsemen (at the British Museum, London), and the Marshals and Young Women (now at Musée du Louvre, Paris), which once formed part of the Procession on the frieze.source
• 435 BCEA gold and ivory statue of Zeus, king of the gods, is completed at Elis by the Athenian sculptor Phidias for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The statue becomes one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Olympian Zeus is about seven times life size (or 13 metres) and occupies the full height of the temple.source
• 433 BCEA set of sixty-five bells, from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (Zhou dynasty) in Suixian, Hubei, is made. It is now preserved at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.source
• 432 BCEPheidias completes the sculptures that form the decoration of the Parthenon in Athens.source
• 432 BCEThe Chinese Marquis Yi of Zeng is buried (approximate date) with lavish tomb items including a 65 set of bronze bells (bianzhong) with five octave musical scale and two musical tones that can be produced by each bell. Marquis Yi was from the State of Chu during the Warring States phase of the Zhou dynasty.source
• 431 BCEEuripides' play Medea wins third prize at the Dionysia, the famous Athenian dramatic festival.source
• 430 BCEApproximate date – Sophocles' drama Oedipus Rex is first performed in Athens.source
• 428 BCEEuripides' play Hippolytus is performed in the Dionysia competition, the famous Athenian dramatic festival. The play is awarded first prize.source
• 425 BCEAristophanes' play The Acharnians is performed. Produced by Callistratus, it wins Aristophanes a first prize at the Lenaea.source
• 424 BCEThe temple to Athena Nike (also known as the Wingless Victory) on the Athenian Acropolis is completed. It has been designed by the Athenian architect Callicrates.source
• 424 BCEAristophanes produces the comedy, Knightssource
• 423 BCEAristophanes' play The Clouds is performed as is Sophocles' play Maidens of Trachi and The Putine (The Bottle), by Cratinus.source
• 421 BCEAristophanes' play Peace is performed.source
• 420 BCEAround 420 BC, Spartans were excluded from participating in the Olympic Games due to their ongoing conflicts with other Greek city-states, violating a peace treaty. This exclusion was part of a broader effort to maintain the peaceful atmosphere of the games.source
• 416 BCEAccording to Plato's Symposium, the tragedian Agathon wins first prize at the Lenaia.source
• 416 BCEAgathon along with Alcibiades and Socrates and Aristophanes and others attend a symposium described by Plato.source
• 410 BCEA relief decoration from the parapet (now destroyed), Nike (Victory) adjusting her sandal is constructed in the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis in Athens and is ready in 407 BC. It is now preserved at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.source
• 410 BCEThe grave stele of Hegeso is made and is finished about ten years later (approximate date). It is now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.source
• 405 BCEJanuary – Aristophanes' The Frogs is first performed, winning first prize at the Lenaia festival.source
• 405 BCEMarch/April – Euripides' The Bacchae and Iphigeneia at Aulis are performed posthumously as part of a tetralogy at the City Dionysia festival and win first prize.source
• 405 BCEThe Erechtheum, which includes The Porch of Maidens (Caryatid Porch), is completed in the Ionian style on the Acropolis in Athens after 16 years of construction.source
• 401 BCESophocles' tragic play Oedipus at Colonus is performed posthumously. It is produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in Athens.source
• 400 BCEThe Mature classical period of sculpture ends in Ancient Greece and is succeeded by the fourth-century (Late Classical) period (approximate date).source