Comparative timeline
Lives side by side
Choose up to three teachers and see them on the same axis: when they overlapped, what each was doing at the same moment and how many centuries lie between them.
Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddhac. 480 BCE – c. 400 BCE
Confucius551 BCE – 479 BCE
Socratesc. 469 BCE – 399 BCE- Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha and Confucius were alive at the same time for 1 years.
- Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha and Socrates were alive at the same time for 69 years.
- 10 years separate the death of one from the birth of the other (Confucius · Socrates).
| Year | Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha | Confucius | Socrates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 551 BCE | Birth · Probable | ||
| 549 BCE | Death of his father · Tradition | ||
| 533 BCE | Marriage and birth of his son · Tradition | ||
| 517 BCE | Follows Duke Zhao to Qi · Probable | ||
| 500 BCE | The Jiagu meeting · Probable | ||
| 498 BCE | Minister of justice; attempt to dismantle the three fortresses · Probable | ||
| 497 BCE | Fourteen years of travel through the states · Probable | ||
| 484 BCE | Return to Lu | ||
| 481 BCE | Death of Yan Hui; capture of the lin · Tradition | ||
| 480 BCE | Birth at Lumbini · Probable His mother dies; Mahapajapati raises him · Tradition | Death of Zilu · Probable | |
| 479 BCE | Death | ||
| 469 BCE | Birth · Probable | ||
| 451 BCE | The going forth: he becomes a wandering ascetic · Tradition Pupil of Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta · Tradition | ||
| 445 BCE | Awakening under the bodhi tree · Tradition First sermon: setting the wheel in motion · Tradition | ||
| 440 BCE | Royal and merchant patronage · Tradition Founding of the order of nuns · Disputed | ||
| 432 BCE | The Potidaea campaign · Probable | ||
| 424 BCE | The retreat from Delium · Probable | ||
| 423 BCE | Aristophanes' Clouds | ||
| 422 BCE | Amphipolis · Probable | ||
| 408 BCE | Devadatta's schism · Tradition | ||
| 406 BCE | The Arginusae trial | ||
| 404 BCE | Leon of Salamis | ||
| 403 BCE | Democratic restoration and amnesty | ||
| 400 BCE | Parinirvana at Kusinara · Probable First council · Tradition | ||
| 399 BCE | Trial Death | ||
| 395 BCE | The "Socratic discourses" | ||
| 387 BCE | Founding of the Academy · Probable | ||
| 249 BCE | Ashoka marks his birthplace | ||
| 136 BCE | The Five Classics become state doctrine | ||
| 100 BCE | Ashvaghosha composes the Buddhacarita · Probable | ||
| 50 BCE | First human images of the Buddha | ||
| 25 BCE | The Pali canon is written down · Tradition | ||
| 1 BCE | First posthumous title | ||
| 1313 | The Four Books become the imperial examination syllabus | ||
| 1687 | Confucius Sinarum Philosophus | ||
| 1787 | David's Death of Socrates | ||
| 1818 | Schleiermacher poses the "Socratic problem" | ||
| 1841 | Kierkegaard on irony | ||
| 1896 | Rediscovery of the Lumbini pillar | ||
| 1997 | Lumbini, World Heritage Site | ||
| 2011 | The Analects of the Marquis of Haihun | ||
| 2013 | Excavation of the earliest shrine · Disputed |