Eras
Every figure in the atlas is filed under one of these 8 eras.
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Ancient Greece
The Cradle of the West · ~800-146 BCE · 14 figures
The civilization that invented democracy, philosophy, and Western science. From the epics of Homer to the conquests of Alexander, Greece laid the intellectual foundations of the Western world.
- Earliest born: Homer (750-700 BCE)
- Latest born: Archimedes (287-212 BCE)
- Most-linked cities: Athens (10), Alexandria (3), Pella (2)
The Roman World
Republic & Empire · ~753 BCE-476 CE · 16 figures
From a small city on the Tiber to the mightiest empire the ancient world had ever seen. Rome gave the West its laws, its roads, its languages, and its idea of universal civilization.
- Earliest born: Hannibal Barca (247-183 BCE)
- Latest born: Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
- Most-linked cities: Rome (16), Alexandria (3), Carthage (3)
Medieval Europe
Faith, Feudalism & Kingdoms · ~500-1400 CE · 15 figures
A thousand years of cathedrals and crusades, monks and monarchs. Far from a "dark age," medieval Europe forged the nations, universities, and legal traditions that shaped the modern world.
- Earliest born: Justinian I (482-565)
- Latest born: Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
- Most-linked cities: Rome (6), London (5), Jerusalem (4)
The Renaissance
Rebirth of Art & Ideas · ~1350-1600 · 16 figures
An explosion of art, science, and exploration that began in the city-states of Italy and remade European civilization. The age of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, and the printing press.
- Earliest born: Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468)
- Latest born: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
- Most-linked cities: Florence (6), Rome (6), London (4)
Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment
Reason, Science & Liberty · ~1600-1800 · 16 figures
The age when reason challenged tradition. Scientists unlocked the laws of nature, philosophers reimagined government, and thinkers dared to question everything from monarchy to the motion of the planets.
- Earliest born: Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
- Latest born: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- Most-linked cities: London (7), Paris (7), Berlin (4)
Age of Revolution
Liberty, Equality & Empire · ~1750-1850 · 14 figures
An era of upheaval that toppled monarchies and birthed nations. The American, French, and Haitian revolutions reshaped the world, while Napoleon redrew the map of Europe.
- Earliest born: George Washington (1732-1799)
- Latest born: Lord Byron (1788-1824)
- Most-linked cities: Paris (7), London (5), Berlin (3)
Industrial & Victorian Age
Steam, Steel & Social Change · ~1800-1910 · 18 figures
The century that transformed human life more than any before it. Steam engines, railways, evolution, abolition, and the rise of mass democracy remade the world at dizzying speed.
- Earliest born: Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
- Latest born: Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)
- Most-linked cities: New York City (7), London (5), Washington, D.C. (5)
The Modern Era
World Wars, Science & Civil Rights · ~1880-1965 · 16 figures
The age of Einstein and the atom, two world wars and the struggle for civil rights. A century that produced humanity's greatest horrors and its most inspiring moral triumphs.
- Earliest born: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
- Latest born: Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
- Most-linked cities: London (10), Paris (8), Washington, D.C. (8)