Prokopton42

Parallel lives, branching through history

Each coloured line follows a thinker from birth to the documented end of their life, or to today. When several lives pass through the same place at the same time, a curve shows that a physical encounter was possible.

Sharing an era proves nothing. Connectors distinguish a documented relationship, a reported tradition and mere plausible co-presence. Distances between dates are compressed to keep every name legible.

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59 thinkers shown

Ancient worlds

6th century BCE to 5th century CE

Greek cities, Hellenistic kingdoms, the Roman Republic and then the Empire: paths cross, but every connector keeps its degree of certainty.

  6. Historical landmark Cyrus takes Babylon and incorporates its institutions into the Achaemenid Empire.
  8. Historical landmark Cleisthenes’ reforms reorganize Athenian civic life and help establish its democracy.
  9. Disputed tradition

    Confucius + Laozi

    tradition chinoise ancienne

    A later report has Confucius consult Laozi about rites. It proves neither the meeting nor a personal relationship.

  10. Historical landmark The Persian Wars put the Greek city-states against two Achaemenid invasions.
  17. Historical landmark The Peloponnesian War exhausts Athens, Sparta and their allies.
  20. Reported tradition

    Socrates + Plato

    Athènes

    Plato belongs to the Socratic circle. The personal link reaches us through the textual tradition.

  24. Documented link

    Plato + Aristotle

    Athènes, Académie

    Aristotle studies at Plato’s Academy.

  26. Reported tradition

    Plato + Diogenes of Sinope

    Athènes

    Ancient anecdotes place them face to face, without establishing every reported scene.

  29. Historical landmark Alexander’s conquests open the Hellenistic age, where Greek schools spread far beyond Athens.
  35. Reported tradition

    Stilpo of Megara + Zeno of Citium

    Athènes et Mégare

    The philosophical tradition names Stilpo among Zeno’s teachers.

  36. Reported tradition

    Zeno of Citium + Cleanthes

    Athènes

    Cleanthes joins Zeno’s school according to the Stoic tradition.

  39. Reported tradition

    Cleanthes + Chrysippus

    Athènes

    Chrysippus studies under Cleanthes before succeeding him.

  44. Historical landmark The Qin unify the rival Chinese kingdoms into a single imperial state.
  48. Historical landmark Rome destroys Corinth and dominates Greece politically, while Greek philosophy increasingly shapes Roman elites.
  53. Documented link

    Posidonius + Cicero

    Rhodes

    Cicero attends Posidonius’ teaching on Rhodes.

  56. Historical landmark Julius Caesar is assassinated. A new civil war begins instead of restoring the old Republic.
  58. Historical landmark Octavian becomes Augustus. The Roman Republic gives way to the Principate.
  61. Plausible co-presence

    Hillel the Elder + Jesus of Nazareth

    Judée et Jérusalem

    Their chronologies and regional setting overlap. No encounter is attested.

  67. Historical landmark Nero becomes emperor. Seneca serves as tutor and, for a time, political adviser.
  68. Plausible co-presence

    Seneca + Musonius Rufus

    Rome

    Two philosophers active in imperial Rome. No encounter is established.

  70. Documented link

    Musonius Rufus + Epictetus

    Rome

    Epictetus studies under Musonius Rufus.

  71. Historical landmark Vesuvius buries Pompeii and Herculaneum, preserving an abrupt cross-section of Roman life.
  72. Plausible co-presence

    Musonius Rufus + Plutarch

    Rome

    Their time in Rome may overlap. No encounter is attested.

  73. Plausible co-presence

    Plutarch + Epictetus

    Rome

    The same period and a possible overlap in Rome, without evidence of a meeting.

  80. Historical landmark The Constitutio Antoniniana grants Roman citizenship to most free inhabitants of the Empire.
  82. Historical landmark The last western Roman emperor is deposed, a conventional marker for the end of the Western Empire, not an overnight end to antiquity.

Transmission and new worlds

6th to 17th century

Texts change languages, libraries and readers. Religions, print and voyages move the frames of thought.

  3. Historical landmark Charlemagne is crowned emperor in Rome, binding royal power to a revived western imperial title.
  4. Historical landmark Baghdad’s translation movement brings Greek scientific and philosophical works into Arabic scholarly networks.
  6. Historical landmark Temüjin is proclaimed Genghis Khan and begins the rapid construction of the Mongol Empire.
  10. Historical landmark The Black Death kills a vast share of the population across Europe, North Africa and western Asia.
  11. Historical landmark Movable-type printing in Europe makes the copying and circulation of books radically faster.
  12. Historical landmark Columbus reaches the Caribbean. Permanent Atlantic contact brings conquest, colonization and a vast exchange of peoples, plants and diseases.
  17. Historical landmark Galileo publishes telescopic observations of the Moon and Jupiter’s satellites.
  21. Historical landmark Newton publishes the Principia, unifying terrestrial and celestial motion mathematically.

Modern revolutions

18th to 20th century

Political revolutions, evolutionary science and the birth of psychology redraw the map of the human being.

  1. Historical landmark Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine begins pumping water from mines.
  5. Historical landmark The French Revolution overturns the monarchy and makes citizenship, rights and sovereignty immediate political questions.
  13. Historical landmark Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species and changes how life’s history is understood.
  17. Historical landmark Bell receives a patent for the telephone, turning the human voice into an electrical signal.
  22. Documented link

    Sigmund Freud + Carl Gustav Jung

    Vienne

    Freud and Jung meet and begin an intellectual collaboration.

  23. Plausible co-presence

    Carl Gustav Jung + Albert Einstein

    Zurich

    Their paths pass through Zurich in a nearby period. This connector does not claim a meeting.

  27. Historical landmark The First World War industrializes mass destruction across Europe and beyond.
  30. Historical landmark The Second World War and the Holocaust reshape the world’s political and moral landscape.

The contemporary world

1945 to today

The transistor, computer networks, popular culture and living authors enter the conversation in turn.

  1. Historical landmark The first working transistor points toward electronics without hot, fragile vacuum tubes.
  6. Historical landmark The first ARPANET message travels between UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute.
  9. Historical landmark Star Wars reaches cinemas. Yoda joins the saga on screen three years later, in The Empire Strikes Back.
  14. Historical landmark At CERN, Tim Berners-Lee proposes an internet-based hypertext system that becomes the World Wide Web.
  15. Historical landmark The Berlin Wall falls, the clearest public symbol of the Cold War’s ending in Europe.

Today

Living Prokoptons

The branches of living authors remain open. Ancient voices do not silently learn the present: all modern context remains labeled.