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The timelineEvery life on one line.Scroll through thousands of years, see who was alive together and open anyone to read their story.OPEN A TIMELINE
The mapWhere it all happened.Watch the world fill up year by year, and follow a life across the map.OPEN THE MAP
The guidesTrue stories you can play.Five minutes, one life, a few guesses on the way. Get it right, or be surprised.TAKE A GUIDE
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8 worlds. Thousands of lives. Pick a door.
RulersNames carved into monuments1,542people5,000years71guides
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ScientistsThree millennia of discovery1,374people2,500years66guides
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MusiciansThe lives behind the melodies771people1,000years5guides
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ArtistsSix centuries of paintings724people900years38guides
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Balkan FunkBetaThree thousand years at the crossroads1,642people2,500years
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WritersBetaHow Stories Were Told1,321people4,500years
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BattlesBetaCareers measured in campaigns1,104people2,500years
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BuildersBeta791people4,500years
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Meanwhile, in other worlds
True, every word.
His bronze David: Europe's first nude since antiquity.DonatelloSpent seven months building a road out to an island.Alexander the Great
About 10,000 mourners filed past her coffin in 1937.Bessie SmithOrphaned young, he spent twenty years at Plato's Academy.Aristotle
Took an alphabet off a captured scribe to write Mongol.Genghis Khan
Her father ordered her raised and taught as a prince.Christina of Sweden
He chained his mug to a radiator to stop it being stolen.Alan TuringCarving Zuccone, he yelled at the marble: 'Speak, damn you!'DonatelloDied at thirty-two with no heir and no instructions.Alexander the GreatTop-paid Black act of her day, touring in a 78-foot railcar.Bessie SmithStrabo says his papers lay hidden in a cellar for years.AristotleSix hundred thousand went into Russia. One in ten came out.Napoleon BonaparteHe chaired the council on orthodoxy while unbaptised.Constantine the GreatAt eighteen he built a calculator for his father's tax work.Blaise PascalHis soldiers dug up the Rosetta Stone. Britain took it.Napoleon BonaparteHis victory arch credits a divinity but never names one.Constantine the GreatAfter a mystic night in 1654 he sewed a note into his coat.Blaise PascalThe regiment sent to arrest him joined him instead.Napoleon BonaparteHe was buried as a thirteenth among the twelve apostles.Constantine the GreatA programming language and a pressure unit bear his name.Blaise PascalHis bronze David: Europe's first nude since antiquity.DonatelloSpent seven months building a road out to an island.Alexander the GreatAbout 10,000 mourners filed past her coffin in 1937.Bessie SmithOrphaned young, he spent twenty years at Plato's Academy.AristotleTook an alphabet off a captured scribe to write Mongol.Genghis KhanHer father ordered her raised and taught as a prince.Christina of SwedenHe chained his mug to a radiator to stop it being stolen.Alan TuringCarving Zuccone, he yelled at the marble: 'Speak, damn you!'DonatelloDied at thirty-two with no heir and no instructions.Alexander the GreatTop-paid Black act of her day, touring in a 78-foot railcar.Bessie SmithStrabo says his papers lay hidden in a cellar for years.AristotleSix hundred thousand went into Russia. One in ten came out.Napoleon BonaparteHe chaired the council on orthodoxy while unbaptised.Constantine the GreatAt eighteen he built a calculator for his father's tax work.Blaise PascalHis soldiers dug up the Rosetta Stone. Britain took it.Napoleon BonaparteHis victory arch credits a divinity but never names one.Constantine the GreatAfter a mystic night in 1654 he sewed a note into his coat.Blaise PascalThe regiment sent to arrest him joined him instead.Napoleon BonaparteHe was buried as a thirteenth among the twelve apostles.Constantine the GreatA programming language and a pressure unit bear his name.Blaise PascalAt nine, his clan rode off and left the family to starve.Genghis KhanShe sent a warship to fetch a philosopher from Holland.Christina of SwedenAt fourteen he cycled sixty miles to school in a strike.Alan TuringSo fond of his statue Zuccone, he swore his oaths by it.DonatelloMarked out a city street plan in barley for lack of chalk.Alexander the GreatHer grave stayed unmarked until Janis Joplin paid for a stone.Bessie SmithHe was hired to tutor a thirteen-year-old Alexander.AristotleAsked a monk for immortality. Was told to hunt less.Genghis KhanNobody would lift her crown, so she removed it herself.Christina of SwedenConvicted in 1952 for being gay, he was pardoned in 2013.Alan Turing
Signed his paintings 'As I Can', a pun on his own name.Jan van Eyck
Son of a scribe, said most writers. Or of a freed slave.Diocletian
Recorded her debut album at just 11 years old, in 1977.BjorkSailed to Portugal to paint a bride for his choosy duke.Jan van EyckFixed a maximum price for everything. It was soon ignored.DiocletianWore a swan dress to the 2001 Oscars and 'laid' fake eggs.BjorkTagged the Arnolfini Portrait: 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434.'Jan van EyckHis mausoleum is now a cathedral for one of his own martyrs.DiocletianWon Best Actress at Cannes for Dancer in the Dark, 2000.BjorkAt nine, his clan rode off and left the family to starve.Genghis KhanShe sent a warship to fetch a philosopher from Holland.Christina of SwedenAt fourteen he cycled sixty miles to school in a strike.Alan TuringSo fond of his statue Zuccone, he swore his oaths by it.DonatelloMarked out a city street plan in barley for lack of chalk.Alexander the GreatHer grave stayed unmarked until Janis Joplin paid for a stone.Bessie SmithHe was hired to tutor a thirteen-year-old Alexander.AristotleAsked a monk for immortality. Was told to hunt less.Genghis KhanNobody would lift her crown, so she removed it herself.Christina of SwedenConvicted in 1952 for being gay, he was pardoned in 2013.Alan TuringSigned his paintings 'As I Can', a pun on his own name.Jan van EyckSon of a scribe, said most writers. Or of a freed slave.DiocletianRecorded her debut album at just 11 years old, in 1977.BjorkSailed to Portugal to paint a bride for his choosy duke.Jan van EyckFixed a maximum price for everything. It was soon ignored.DiocletianWore a swan dress to the 2001 Oscars and 'laid' fake eggs.BjorkTagged the Arnolfini Portrait: 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434.'Jan van EyckHis mausoleum is now a cathedral for one of his own martyrs.DiocletianWon Best Actress at Cannes for Dancer in the Dark, 2000.Bjork