458 BC

c. 500 BC–c. 400 BC	Europe [everyday life]	The Celts begin to make an impression on European history. They are divided into a number of different tribes, sharing a distinctive decorative style of art, characterized by curving designs and mythical animals. These can be seen on their jewellery (gold and bronze torques), their weapons (decorated shields and sword scabbards), and their pottery and other vessels. The Celts probably originate in northwest and central Europe, France (particularly the area of Champagne), Switzerland, Lower Austria, and western Slovakia. The area of the western Hallstatt, Upper Austria, is also associated with the Celts.
c. 500 BC–c. 400 BC	Rome [wars]	Rome and its Latin allies are almost constantly at war with both the Etruscans in the north and the native mountain tribes to the south, in particular the Aequi and the Volscians.
498 BC–446 BC	Greece [poetry]	Greek lyric poet Pindar composes odes in honour of athletes, most of them charioteers, at the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean Games in Greece.
480 BC–330 BC	Greece [sculpture]	The Greek classical style of sculpture develops more realism than the preceding Archaic period. Its leading exponents are Phidias (in the 5th century BC), and Praxiteles, Scopas, and Lysippus (in the 4th century BC).
475 BC–425 BC	Greece [plays]	In the 50 years that follow the end of the Persian Wars, the Greek city-state of Athens reaches the zenith of its greatness. In addition to its empire and political power, creative and intellectual culture flourish. The great tragic playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are writing, as is the comic playwright Aristophanes. The sculptor Phidias supervises the construction of the frieze on the Parthenon, and the painter Polygnotus decorates the wall of the Stoa (the colonnade in the marketplace) with murals. Athens is now one of the main commercial centres of the eastern Mediterranean.
461 BC–446 BC	Greece [Peloponnesian War (431 BC)]	Athenian foreign policy, now under the control of the nationalistic statesman Pericles, becomes very aggressive and imperialist. This period sees intermittent war, known as the First Peloponnesian War, between the Athenian-led Delian League, edging ever closer to becoming an Athenian Empire, and the Spartan-dominated Peloponnesian League, consisting of the Peloponnesian states of Laconia (Sparta), Messenia, Ellis, and Arcadia, plus Corinth and Megara.
460 BC–457 BC	Greece [churches and temples]	The temple of Zeus is built at Olympia, Greece. The labours of the Greek hero Heracles are illustrated on friezes in the temple.
458 BC	Palestine, Persian Empire [Judaism]	The Old Testament Book of Ezra tells how the Babylonian priest and scribe Ezra is sent by King Artaxerxes I of Persia to Jerusalem to restore the neglected Jewish laws of the Pentateuch. He is accompanied by a large number of Jewish exiles and carries valuable gifts for the temple, from both Jews and the Persian king himself. After fasting and prayer, he and a chosen committee blacklist those guilty of mixed marriage.
458 BC	Greece [Peloponnesian War (431 BC)]	The Greek city-states of Sparta and Thebes, the capital of Boeotia, declare war on Athens. A Spartan force, going to the help of Boeotia in a local dispute, is nearly cut off by the Athenians on its return.
458 BC	Greece [Peloponnesian War (431 BC)]	After a great effort, the Greek city-state of Athens is victorious over its Peloponnesian enemies and the Peloponnesian city of Aegina is forced to join the Delian League.
458 BC	Greece [plays]	The trilogy Oresteia, by the Athenian dramatist Aeschylus, is performed. It comprises Agamemnon, Choephoroi, and Eumenides.