Early Scandinavians invent the longship
Originally invented and used by the Vikings for commerce, exploration, and warfare, many of the longship’s characteristics were adopted by other cultures.
Europe
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…”.
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.
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.
The Bosporan Kingdom thrives in modern-day Russia and Ukraine
The Bosporan Kingdom was an ancient Greco-Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus.
The Greeks build the world's first underground aqueduct, the Tunnel of Eupalinos, on the island of Samos
The tunnel is the second known tunnel in history which was excavated from both ends and the first with a geometry-based approach in doing so.
Humans of ancient Greece invent the crane
The archaeological record shows that no later than c. 515 B.C.E. distinctive cuttings for both lifting tongs and lewis irons begin to appear on stone blocks of Greek temples.
Thales of Miletus becomes first human to predict a solar eclipse
If the account is true, it has been suggested that Thales would have had to calculate the timing of any eclipse by recognizing patterns in the periodicities of eclipses. It has been postulated that Thales may have used the Saros cycle in his determination
Lydia’s King Alyattes mints the first official currency
The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and stamped with pictures that acted as denominations.