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EPOCHDAILY

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How to play

Identify today's historical figure in 8 guesses. Each guess shows how your pick compares with the mystery person on eight clues: Born, Died, Lifespan, Region, Birthplace, Field, Occupation and Era.

The eight clues

  • BornThe year they were born
  • DiedThe year they died
  • LifespanHow many years they lived
  • RegionTheir part of the world
  • BirthplaceThe state they were born into
  • FieldTheir area of achievement
  • OccupationTheir main role
  • EraWhen they made their mark

Colours and symbols

RegionWestern Europe

Green ✓: exact match.

FieldLiterature

Amber ≈: close, or a partial match.

EraAncient

Grey ✕: no match.

Years and arrows

Born1879

1879 ↓ means today's figure was born earlier than 1879. ↑ means later.

Died1934

Amber with an arrow means close: born or died within 10 years, or a lifespan within 5 years. The arrow still shows the direction.

Years before the Common Era are shown as BCE (356 BCE). There is no year 0. Lifespans are approximate.

Field and occupation

  • Field is green when it's the same, and amber when the two fields are closely related:Science & Mathematics ↔ Invention & Engineering · Science & Mathematics ↔ Philosophy · Philosophy ↔ Religion · Philosophy ↔ Literature · Literature ↔ Visual Arts · Literature ↔ Music · Visual Arts ↔ Music · Politics & Governance ↔ Military · Politics & Governance ↔ Social Reform · Politics & Governance ↔ Business & Economics · Religion ↔ Social Reform · Business & Economics ↔ Invention & Engineering · Exploration ↔ Business & Economics · Film & Performance ↔ Music · Film & Performance ↔ Literature · Film & Performance ↔ Sports
  • Occupation shows your guess's main occupation. It's green if the main occupation matches, and amber if the two people share any role (for example, a Painter who was also a Sculptor). An amber tile like Philosopher +4 means the match may be one of their four other roles: tap it to see them (Hard mode doesn't list them).

Region, birthplace and era

  • These are exact matches only: green or grey.
  • Region is where the person came from, using broad world regions. The UK counts as Northern Europe, France and Germany as Western Europe, and Turkey as the Middle East.
  • Birthplace is the state they were born into, by its historical name. Napoleon is from the Kingdom of France, Einstein from the German Empire and Gandhi from British India.
  • Era is when they made their principal mark, not when they were born. The boundaries are approximate:
Ancient
before 500 CE
Medieval
500–1400
Renaissance
1400–1600
Early Modern
1600–1789
Industrial / 19th Century
1789–1900
Modern / 20th Century
1900–1945
Contemporary
1945–present

Hard mode

Switch on Hard mode before your first guess for an extra challenge: every guess must be someone who could still be the answer, given all the clues so far. A guess that contradicts a clue still uses up one of your guesses but reveals no clues, so check before you guess. Your shared score gets an asterisk, like 5/8*. Stuck? You can turn it off mid-game, but that game then counts as a normal result, without the asterisk.

Good to know

  • Tap any square on the board for a plain-language explanation.
  • Stuck after five guesses? Reveal one hint per game (it adds a 💡 to your shared score). There are no hints in Hard mode.
  • Everyone gets the same figure each day. A new one arrives at midnight, your local time.
  • Win or lose, you'll learn who they were and why they mattered.

Epoch Daily #8 · Saturday, October 10, 2026

Portrait of Confucius

Confucius

Philosopher · 551–479 BCE

Chinese teacher and philosopher whose sayings were collected in the Analects.

Why they mattered

Confucius taught that a good society rests on virtue, ritual, education and duty within families. His ideas became the official philosophy of the Chinese state for some two thousand years and still shape cultures across East Asia.

At a glance

Lived
551–479 BCE, about 72 years
Birthplace
State of Lu
Region
East Asia
Known as
Philosopher, Statesman
Field
Philosophy
Era
Ancient

Read more on Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)

Could you have guessed them?

Confucius was the mystery figure in Epoch Daily #8. Every day there is a new figure to find in eight guesses, using clues about when they lived, where they were born and what they did.

More past figures from the Ancient era

All past figures

Portrait, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.