Eratosthenes
c. 276 BC – 194 BC · 82 years · Alexandria · Africa
First to measure Earth's circumference with remarkable accuracy; founded scientific geography and devised the prime-number sieve.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 3rd century BC
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Archimedes — mathematician, physicist and engineer, 11 years older
- Scipio Africanus — Roman general, 40 years younger
- Cato the Elder — Roman statesman and writer, 42 years younger
Africa
- Hannibal — Carthaginian general, 29 years younger
Asia
- Qin Shi Huang — first emperor of China, 17 years younger
- Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han) — founder of the Han dynasty, 20 years younger
- Ashoka — Maurya emperor, 28 years older
- Empress Lü (Lü Zhi) — Han empress and regent, 35 years younger
- Modu Chanyu — chanyu, founder of the Xiongnu empire, 42 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- c. 261 BC Kalinga War — aged 15, Asia
- 221 BC Qin Shi Huang unifies China — aged 55, Asia
- 218 BC Hannibal crosses the Alps — aged 58, Europe
- 216 BC Battle of Cannae — aged 60, Europe
- c. 214 BC Great Wall of China — aged 62, Asia
- 210 BC Terracotta Army — aged 66, Asia
- 202 BC Founding of the Han dynasty — aged 74, Asia