Aristotle speculates about the existence of the South Pole, becoming perhaps the first to do so
Aristotle speculated, “Now since there must be a region bearing the same relation to the southern pole as the place we live in bears to our pole…”.
Civilization (3000 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.)
Lucius Sextius Lateranus becomes the first plebeian consul of Rome
The Lex Licinia Sextia, also known as the Licinian Rogations, was a series of laws proposed by the tribunes of the plebs, Lucius Sextius Lateranus and Gaius Licinius Stolo. These laws provided for a limit on the interest rate of loans and a restriction on private ownership of land. A third law, which provided for one of the two consuls to be a plebeian.
Plato publishes The Republic, a remarkable meditation on justice and the just society
Plato sets out to define justice, and to define it in such a way as to show that justice is worthwhile in and of itself.
Early Sri Lankans compile the Dipavamsa
The Dipavamsa is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka. Together with the Mahavamsa, it is the source of many accounts of ancient history of Sri Lanka and India.
Zapotec culture flourishes in modern-day Mexico
The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica.
Laozi writes the Tao Te Ching
The mysterious Laozi’s ancient wisdom may be hard to translate, but the meaning is clear — learning to be self-aware could improve modern life.
Sophocles completes the Oedipus trilogy of tragic plays
Sophocles (c. 496 – c. 406 B.C.E.) was one of the most famous and celebrated writers of tragedy plays in ancient Greece and his surviving works, written throughout the 5th century B.C.E., include such classics as Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Women of Trachis.
The Hippocratic Oath is used for the first time
The Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest and most widely known codes of ethics.
First human settlements thrive in modern-day Senegal
Hundreds of burial mounds have been found on the coast and in river estuaries of the Senegal, Saloum, Gambia, and Casamance rivers. 217 of these clusters have been identified in the Saloum Delta alone.
Humanity creates democracy in Ancient Greece
In the year 507 B.C.E., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people.”