Laozi
.jpg?width=160 "Zhang Lu · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons")
c. 571 BC – 471 BC · 100 years · Luoyang (Zhou capital) · Asia
Taught the Dao, the nameless way through which all things flow, and wu wei, non-forcing action that follows the natural course. By tradition an archivist at the Zhou court and author of the Tao Te Ching.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 6th century BC
Portrait: Zhang Lu · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
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Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Pythagoras — Greek philosopher and mathematician, 1 year younger
- Leonidas I — king of Sparta, 31 years younger
- Sophocles — Athenian tragic playwright, 74 years younger
- Pericles — Athenian statesman, 76 years younger
- Solon — Athenian lawgiver and poet, 59 years older
- Themistocles — Athenian statesman and admiral, 47 years younger
Middle East
- Cyrus the Great — founder of the Achaemenid Empire, 29 years older
- Darius the Great — King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, 21 years younger
- Xerxes I — king of the Achaemenid Empire, 53 years younger
- Thales of Miletus — philosopher and mathematician, 53 years older
- Herodotus — ancient Greek historian, 87 years younger
- Heraclitus — Greek philosopher, 36 years younger
Asia
- Gautama Buddha — founder of Buddhism, 8 years younger
- Confucius — Chinese philosopher, 20 years younger
- Sun Tzu — Chinese military strategist, 27 years younger
- Mahavira — spiritual teacher of Jainism, 28 years older
The world in their lifetime
- c. 563 BC Birth of the Buddha — aged 8, Asia
- 551 BC Birth of Confucius — aged 20, Asia
- 550 BC Cyrus the Great founds the Achaemenid Empire — aged 21, Middle East
- c. 550 BC Greeks found Olbia — aged 21, Europe
- 539 BC Fall of Babylon to Cyrus — aged 32, Middle East
- c. 520 BC The Behistun inscription — aged 51, Middle East
- c. 509 BC Founding of the Roman Republic — aged 62, Europe
- 508 BC Cleisthenes' reforms and the birth of democracy — aged 63, Europe
- c. 500 BC Sun Tzu's The Art of War — aged 71, Asia
- 490 BC Battle of Marathon — aged 81, Europe
- c. 483 BC Death of the Buddha — aged 88, Asia
- 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae — aged 91, Europe
- 480 BC Battle of Salamis — aged 91, Europe
- 479 BC Death of Confucius — aged 92, Asia