Under Pericles, the Athenians build the Parthenon on the Acropolis, dedicated to the goddess Athena.
A long war between Athens and the Sparta-led Peloponnesian League ends in Athens' defeat.
The Greek fleet, urged on by Themistocles, defeats the Persian navy, turning the tide of Xerxes' second invasion of Greece.
A small Greek force led by the Spartan king Leonidas holds off the Persian army of Xerxes I before being overwhelmed.
Athenian forces defeat the first Persian invasion of Greece.
The philosopher Socrates is convicted by an Athenian jury of impiety and corrupting the youth, and is executed by drinking hemlock.
Plato establishes the Academy in Athens, a centre of philosophy with lasting influence on the Greek world.