The Golden Age of Athens

From roughly 461 to 429 BCE, Athens under the leadership of Pericles becomes the cultural capital of the ancient world. This is the era of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in theater; Herodotus and Thucydides in history; the Hippocratic school in medicine. Democratic participation reaches its peak, and Athenian confidence soars. All of this is funded partly by tribute from the Delian League — Athens's 'alliance' that's really an empire. While Athens is building the foundations of Western culture, Judah is quietly rebuilding under Persian rule.