| 500–323 B.C.E. | Classical Age of Greece |
| 499–479 B.C.E. | Wars between Persia and Greece |
| 490 B.C.E. | Battle of Marathon |
| 480 B.C.E. | Battle of Salamis |
| 480–479 B.C.E. | Xerxes invades Greece |
| 461 B.C.E. | Ephialtes reforms Athenian court system |
| Early 450s B.C.E. | Pericles introduces pay for officeholders in Athenian democracy |
| 451 B.C.E. | Pericles restricts Athenian citizenship to children whose parents are both citizens |
| 450 B.C.E. | Protagoras and other Sophists begin to teach in Athens |
| 446–445 B.C.E. (winter) | Peace treaty between Athens and Sparta, intended to last thirty years |
| 441 B.C.E. | Sophocles presents tragedy Antigone |
| 431–404 B.C.E. | Peloponnesian War |
| 420s B.C.E. | Herodotus finishes Histories |
| 415–413 B.C.E. | Enormous Athenian military expedition against Sicily |
| 411 B.C.E. | Aristophanes presents the comedy Lysistrata |
| 404–403 B.C.E. | Rule of Thirty Tyrants at Athens |
| 403 B.C.E. | Restoration of democracy in Athens |