Philosophers through history
The atlas holds 85 people and 2,215 moments here, from 620 BC to 2025. The most recorded lives are Baruch Spinoza, Geoffrey Chaucer and James Madison. Across the Ancient World and the Age of Exploration.
Notable people
Baruch Spinoza
from 1632 to 1677
10 moments here
Dutch philosopher Baruch (Benedictus) de Spinoza lived entirely in the Dutch Republic. His securely documented locations trace a life centered on…
Geoffrey Chaucer
from 1359 to 1400
16 moments here
English poet, courtier, diplomat, and civil servant, best known for The Canterbury Tales. His documented career included military service in France,…
James Madison
from 1751 to 1836
29 moments here
James Madison (1751–1836) was a Virginia planter, revolutionary politician, delegate to the Continental and Confederation congresses, architect of…
Marcus Aurelius
from 121 to 180
18 moments here
Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and Stoic philosopher. This chronology records securely attested physical presence from his birth and Roman residences…
Arthur Schopenhauer
from 1788 to 1860
38 moments here
German philosopher and writer, born in Danzig and dead in Frankfurt am Main. His documented movements included childhood residences in Hamburg and Le…
Horace
from 65 BC to 8 BC
15 moments here
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known as Horace, was a Roman lyric poet, satirist, and former republican military tribune.…
Omar Khayyam
from 1048 to 1131
5 moments here
Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. The securely dated portions of his documented life place him in Nishapur,…
Aesop
from 620 BC to 564 BC
2 moments here
Greek fabulist and storyteller traditionally credited with Aesop’s Fables. His historical existence and biography are uncertain; this atlas records…
Ibn Khaldun
from 1332 to 1406
15 moments here
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was a Tunis-born historian, jurist, political official, teacher, and author of the Muqaddimah.…
Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
from 780 to 825
3 moments here
Persian mathematician, astronomer, geographer, and author active under the Abbasid caliphs. Biographical evidence is exceptionally sparse and his…
Sun Tzu
from 544 BC to 496 BC
2 moments here
Sun Tzu (traditionally Sun Wu) was a Chinese military strategist traditionally placed in the late Spring and Autumn period.…
Jonathan Swift
from 1667 to 1745
21 moments here
Anglo-Irish writer, satirist, political pamphleteer, and Church of Ireland cleric, best known for Gulliver's Travels, A Tale of a Tub, and A Modest…
Petrarch
from 1304 to 1374
38 moments here
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) was an Italian scholar, poet, cleric, diplomat, and foundational humanist.…
Thales of Miletus
in 547 BC
1 moment here
Ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, and engineer from Miletus. The surviving biographical record is sparse and much later than his lifetime;…
Murasaki Shikibu
from 973 to 1013
8 moments here
Japanese novelist, poet, and lady-in-waiting of the Heian court, best known for The Tale of Genji.…
Montesquieu
from 1689 to 1755
29 moments here
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French jurist, historian, and political philosopher.…
Plutarch
from 66 to 95
4 moments here
Greek Platonist philosopher, biographer, essayist, magistrate, and Delphic priest. He was born at Chaeronea between 45 and 47 CE and died after 119…
Thomas Hobbes
from 1588 to 1679
11 moments here
English philosopher and political theorist, best known for Leviathan (1651). Hobbes’s documented movements include study at Oxford, European travel…
Rumi
from 1207 to 1273
9 moments here
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was a Persian-language poet, jurist, teacher, and Sufi mystic. Born at Wakhsh in the Khwarazmian Empire, he moved with his…
Seneca the Younger
from 5 to 65
9 moments here
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, commonly called Seneca the Younger, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, writer, and statesman.…
Euripides
from 480 BC to 406 BC
6 moments here
Euripides was an Athenian tragic playwright traditionally born on Salamis around 480 BC and conventionally said to have died in Macedon around 406…
Desiderius Erasmus
from 1466 to 1536
27 moments here
Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, theologian, editor, and author. Erasmus was born in the Burgundian Netherlands, educated in the Low…
Democritus
in 460 BC
1 moment here
Greek atomist philosopher traditionally dated c. 460–c. 370 BC. Ancient biographical testimony is sparse, late, and sometimes contradictory; this…
Giordano Bruno
from 1548 to 1600
31 moments here
Italian Renaissance philosopher, Dominican friar, writer, and cosmological theorist. Born at Nola, Bruno studied and lived in Italy, Switzerland,…