By traditional dating, the Buddha, Confucius and Pythagoras were contemporaries: all three lived in the 6th century BC.
The events
- Birth of the Buddhac. 563 BC · Lumbini. By the traditional dating, Prince Siddhartha Gautama of the Shakya clan was born at Lumbini. After attaining enlightenment he became the Buddha and founded Buddhism, a world religion that spread across Asia.
- Birth of Confucius551 BC · Qufu. Kong Qiu (Confucius) was born in the state of Lu. Teaching benevolence, filial piety and rule by virtue, he founded Confucianism, which shaped the state and society of China and East Asia for over two millennia.
More amazing facts
- 776 BC · 753 BC The Olympic Games are older than Rome: the first were held in 776 BC, and by tradition the city was founded only 23 years later.
- 650 BC · 612 BC The fire that destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC baked the clay tablets of Ashurbanipal's library — helping them survive to the present day.
- 509 BC · 508 BC Rome expelled its last king in 509 BC and Athens got democracy from Cleisthenes in 508: republic and democracy were born almost side by side.
- 480 BC · 479 BC Confucius died in 479 BC — one year after the Greeks defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis.
- 323 BC · 322 BC India's Maurya Empire arose about a year after Alexander the Great died — and its founder, Chandragupta, is said to have met Alexander himself.
- 261 BC · 260 BC Almost simultaneously, Ashoka conquered Kalinga (261 BC) and repented the bloodshed, while China saw the Battle of Changping (260 BC), one of antiquity's bloodiest.