Events from 500 BC

Laozi writes Tao Te Ching (traditional date) - way of nature, wu wei (non-action), yin-yang

Celtic peoples established in Britain - Iron Age culture brings hillforts, artistic metalwork, druidism

Celtic expansion at height - Celts spread from Ireland to Turkey, distinctive art and culture

Chinese develop suanpan abacus - more advanced with 2 beads above bar and 5 below, enables hexadecimal calculation

Laurion silver strike saves Athens - rich vein discovered, Themistocles convinces assembly to build 200 warships instead of distributing windfall

Celtic wine consumption peaks - Diodorus describes Celts drinking wine unmixed (barbaric to Greeks), trading slave for amphora of wine

Cult of Liber (Bacchus) established - Roman wine god, Liberalia festival celebrates first wine tasting by young men

Persian King Darius I completes Red Sea canal - 'I ordered this canal to be dug from Nile to sea which goes to Persia'

Sibylline Books housed in Temple of Jupiter - consulted only in grave crises by special priests (quindecemviri), guide Rome through disasters

Maenads tear apart men - women in Dionysian frenzy reportedly dismember Pentheus of Thebes, drink wine, handle snakes, eat raw flesh