Who Was Alive
Cai Lun
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Cai Lun

Chinese inventor

Born AD 48–62 · died AD 121
Also known as Ts'ai Lun, Jingzhong

Who was alive at the same time as Cai Lun?

  1. Galba, 3 BC – AD 69
  2. Saint Peter, BC – c. AD 66
  3. Paul the Apostle, c. AD 5 – c. AD 66
  4. Vespasian, AD 9 – AD 79
  5. Mark the Evangelist, c. AD 15 – AD 68
  6. Pope Linus, AD 10 – AD 79
  7. Pliny the Elder, 20s – AD 79
  8. Pope Anacletus, c. AD 25 – 90s
  9. Petronius, c. AD 27 – AD 66
  10. Otho, AD 32 – AD 69
  11. Josephus, AD 37 – c. AD 100
  12. Nero, AD 37 – AD 68
  13. Martial, c. AD 40 – AD 104
  14. Titus, AD 39 – AD 81
  15. Plutarch, c. AD 45 – c. AD 120
  16. Cai Lun, c. AD 55 – AD 121
  17. Epictetus, c. AD 50 – c. AD 131
  18. Domitian, AD 51 – AD 96
  19. Tacitus, c. AD 55 – c. AD 120
  20. Trajan, AD 53 – c. AD 117
  21. Pliny the Younger, c. AD 61 – c. AD 113
  22. Hadrian, AD 76 – AD 138
  23. Antoninus Pius, AD 86 – AD 161
  24. Ptolemy, c. AD 100 – c. AD 170

Drag across the timeline, or use the arrow keys, to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Dashed lines mark world events. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When Cai Lun died, Hadrian was 44 or 45, Antoninus Pius was 34 or 35 and Aśvaghoṣa was 40 or 41.

Born during Cai Lun’s lifetime: Ptolemy, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Justin Martyr, Zhang Heng, Appian, Arrian and Pausanias.

Not quite contemporaries: Caligula died about 6 years before Cai Lun was born, Tiberius died about 10 years before Cai Lun was born, Didius Julianus was born about 11 years after Cai Lun died and Pertinax was born about 5 years after Cai Lun died.

What happened in Cai Lun’s lifetime

Where Cai Lun’s contemporaries were born

Cai Lun is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (60 of 63 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Cai Lun

The 62 best-known contemporaries

62 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Cai Lun. All of them are listed here. See also everyone alive in AD 91.

  1. Paul the Apostle c. AD 5 – c. AD 66
  2. Plutarch c. AD 45 – c. AD 120
  3. Saint Peter BC – c. AD 66
  4. Tacitus c. AD 55 – c. AD 120
  5. Ptolemy c. AD 100 – c. AD 170
  6. Nero AD 37 – AD 68
  7. Pliny the Elder 20s – AD 79
  8. Epictetus c. AD 50 – c. AD 131
  9. Trajan AD 53 – c. AD 117
  10. Vespasian AD 9 – AD 79
  11. Hadrian AD 76 – AD 138
  12. Titus AD 39 – AD 81
  13. Pliny the Younger c. AD 61 – c. AD 113
  14. Domitian AD 51 – AD 96
  15. Pope Linus AD 10 – AD 79
  16. Mark the Evangelist c. AD 15 – AD 68
  17. Josephus AD 37 – c. AD 100
  18. Antoninus Pius AD 86 – AD 161
  19. Galba 3 BC – AD 69
  20. Pope Anacletus c. AD 25 – 90s
  21. Martial c. AD 40 – AD 104
  22. Otho AD 32 – AD 69
  23. Petronius c. AD 27 – AD 66
  24. Pope Sixtus I c. AD 42 – 120s
  25. Vitellius AD 15 – AD 69
  26. Nerva AD 30 – AD 98
  27. Lucan AD 39 – AD 65
  28. Quintilian c. AD 35 – c. AD 96
  29. Hero of Alexandria c. AD 10 – c. AD 75
  30. Ignatius of Antioch c. AD 35 – c. AD 108
  31. Justin Martyr c. AD 100 – c. AD 165
  32. Zhang Heng AD 78 – AD 139
  33. Appian c. AD 95 – c. AD 165
  34. Arrian c. AD 91 – c. AD 176
  35. Pausanias c. AD 113 – c. AD 180
  36. Statius AD 45 – AD 96
  37. Polycarp c. AD 69 – AD 155
  38. John the Evangelist AD 10 – AD 98
  39. Saint Timothy AD 17 – AD 97
  40. Dioscorides c. AD 32 – c. AD 90
  41. Apollonius of Tyana c. AD 15 – c. AD 100
  42. Rabbi Akiva c. AD 50 – AD 135
  43. Kanishka AD 78 – AD 144
  44. Marcion of Sinope c. AD 90 – c. AD 160
  45. Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella AD 4 – AD 70
  46. Aśvaghoṣa AD 80 – AD 150
  47. Silius Italicus AD 26 – AD 101
  48. Antinous c. AD 111 – AD 130
  49. Ban Zhao AD 45 – AD 116
  50. Gnaeus Julius Agricola AD 40 – AD 93
  51. Frontinus c. AD 30 – AD 103
  52. Valerius Flaccus c. AD 45 – c. AD 95
  53. Saint Titus 10s – 100s
  54. Wang Chong AD 27 – AD 97
  55. Dio Chrysostom c. AD 40 – c. AD 120
  56. Poppaea Sabina AD 30 – AD 65
  57. Florus c. AD 72 – c. AD 140
  58. Marcus Cornelius Fronto c. AD 100 – c. AD 165
  59. Vologases I of Parthia AD 25 – c. AD 80
  60. Herod Agrippa II c. AD 27 – c. AD 100
  61. Nicomachus c. AD 60 – c. AD 120
  62. Herodes Atticus c. AD 101 – AD 177