Confucius died in 479 BCE in Si River, aged about 72. A Chinese philosopher and teacher from the state of Lu, Confucius, whose name Kong Fuzi means Master Kong, lived at a time of political disorder and tried without lasting success to gain office to put his ideas into practice. He taught the importance of ethical conduct, ritual propriety, respect for family and learning, and good government by moral example. His sayings were collected by his disciples in the Analects, and he is not known to have written down his teachings himself. Confucianism became the official ideology of imperial China and shaped the culture, education and social values of East Asia for more than two thousand years.
Before and after
- 494 BCEBirth of Pericles
- 12 August 490 BCEBattle of Marathon
- 484 BCEBirth of Herodotus
- 11 August 480 BCEBattle of Thermopylae
- 479 BCEDeath of Confucius
- from 478 BCE to 403 BCEFounding of Delian League
- from 476 BCE to 221 BCEWarring States period
- 470 BCEBirth of Socrates
- 466 BCEDiscovery of Halley's Comet
More in Art, literature & culture
- 551 BCEBirth of Confucius
- 6th century BCEOrigins of Judaism
- c. 375 BCEWriting of the Allegory of the Cave
- 33 CEOrigins of Christianity
- 381 CEFirst Council of Constantinople
- from 22 June 431 CE to 31 July 431 CEFirst Council of Ephesus
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 5th century BCE.