A chain of contemporaries, featuring guys (and gals) I've heard of.
A chain of contemporaries, featuring guys (and gals) I've heard of.
So, this ate up a full day. Thought someone else might think it was neat. The rules were I allowed myself to look up dates, but not whole new figures I wasn't familiar with, and the goal was to go as far back as possible:
Greta Thunberg 2003- Emannuel Macron 1977- Roger Penrose 1931- Elizabeth II 1926-2022 Albert Einstein 1879-1955 Franz-Joseph I 1830-1916 Victoria I 1819-1901 Nepoleon Bonaparte 1769-1821 Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790 Isaac Newton 1642-1727 Galileo Galilei 1564-1642 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 Elizabeth I 1533-1603 Henry VIII 1491-1547 Christopher Colombus 1451-1506 Mehmed the Conquerer 1432-1481 Zheng He 1371-1433 Geoffrey Chaucer 1343-1400 Wat Tyler 1341-1381 Ibn Buttata 1304-1368 Marco Polo 1254-1324 Kublai Khan 1215-1294 Fibbonacci 1170-1245 Ghengis Khan 1162-1227 Saladin 1138-1193 Averroes 1126-1198 Ismail Al-Jazari 1136–1206 Muhammad al-Idrisi 1100-1165 Al-Ghazali 1058-1111 Alexios I Komnenos 1057-1118 Pope Urban II 1035-1099 Willie the Bastard 1028-1087 Avicenna 980-1037 Leif Erikson 975-1020 Erik the Red 950-1003 Herald Fairhair 850-932 Ingolfr Arnarson 849-910 Al-Khwarizmi 780-850 Charlemagne 748-814 Pope Gregory III Unk.-741 An Lushan 703-757 Charles Martel 688-741 Bede 673-735 Empress Wu Zetian 624-705 Aisha bint Abi-Bakr 614-678 Emporer Taizhong 598-649 Prophet Muhammad 570-632 Maurice I 582-602 Gregory of Tours 538-594 Brendan the Navigator 484-577 Justinian I 482-565 Clovis I 466-511 Aleric II 460-507 Theodoric the Great 454-526 Odoacer 433-493 Attila the Hun 406-453 Aleric I 370-411 Theodosius the Great 347-395 Valentinian the Great 321-375 Constantine the Great 272-337 Diocletian 242-311 Valarian 199-264 Ardashir I 180-242 Philip the Arab 204-249 Commodus 161-192 Septimus Severus 145-211 Antoninus 86-161 Hadrian 76-138 Pliny the Younger 61-113 Trajan 53-117 Pliny the Elder 23-79 Josephus 37-100 Nero 37-68 Caligula 12-41 Wang Mang 46-23 BC Augustus 63-14 BC Virgil 70-19 BC Herod the Great 72-4 BC Julius Caesar 100-44 BC Pompey 106-48 BC Cicero 106-43 BC Cato the Younger 95-46 BC Gaius Marius 157-86 BC Gaius Graccus 154-121 BC Tiberius Graccus 163-133 BC Hipparchus 190-120 BC Cato the Elder 234-149 BC Hannibal 247-183 BC Archimedes 287-212 BC Pyrrus 319-272 BC Epicurus 341-270 BC Alexander the Great 353-323 BC Aristotle 384-322 BC Plato 427-348 BC Socrates 470-399 BC Euripedes 480-406 BC Xerxes I 518-465 BC Darius the Great 550-486 BC Croesus 585-546 BC Cyrus the Great 600-530 BC Nebuchadnezzar II the Great 605-562 BC Sappho 630-570 BC
At this point I crapped out, because I hadn't read about Ashurbanipal yet. If I had, I could have gone a few further:
Ashurbanipal 685-631 BC Taharqa Ukn.-664 BC Sennacherib 705-681 BC Sargon II 770-705 BC
Unfortunately my East Asian history is ass, and I'm still not sure about the deeds of You of Zhou, so it ends there. The early 1100's were also weirdly hard, although I'm not sure why - thank god for al-Idrisi's map.
A few things that surprised me: Fibbonacci could have met Ghengis Khan, Benjamin Franklin could have talked to Isaac Newton, and Galileo was literally the same age as Shakespeare.