Zhuangzi

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Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Chinese Taoist philosopher

c. 369 BC – 286 BC · 83 years · Meng (State of Song) · Asia

Taoist thinker whose parables on freedom and the relativity of knowledge include the famous butterfly dream.

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 4th century BC

Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

Europe

Aristotle — ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, 15 years older
Plato — ancient Greek philosopher, 59 years older
Pytheas — Greek navigator and geographer, 19 years younger
Olympias — queen of Macedon, mother of Alexander, 6 years older

Middle East

Alexander the Great — king of Macedon and conqueror, 13 years younger

Africa

Euclid — ancient Greek mathematician, 44 years younger
Ptolemy I Soter — founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, 2 years younger
Arsinoe II — queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, 53 years younger

Asia

Mencius — Chinese Confucian philosopher, 3 years older
Chandragupta Maurya — founder of the Maurya Empire, 29 years younger
Ashoka — Maurya emperor, 65 years younger
Qu Yuan — Chinese poet and minister, 29 years younger

The world in their lifetime

331 BC Battle of Gaugamela — aged 38, Middle East
331 BC Founding of Alexandria — aged 38, Africa
323 BC Death of Alexander the Great — aged 46, Middle East
c. 322 BC Founding of the Maurya Empire — aged 47, Asia
c. 300 BC Maya script — aged 69, Americas