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295 BCE

This year falls in the Classical antiquity (c. 500 BCE–500 CE). Large empires rule much of Eurasia, among them Persia, the Maurya and Gupta states of India, Han China and Rome. Classical Greece, the spread of Buddhism and the rise of Christianity belong to this era, which ends as the western Roman Empire falls in the fifth century CE.

Within fifteen years

Philosopher · Classical antiquity · ChinaHan Feizic. 280–233 BCChinese thinker of the Han royal house who wrote the classic of Legalism, teaching that the ruler holds power by law, method, and position. He died in a Qin prison in 233 BC, likely forced to suicide by his fellow student Li Si.

Philosopher · Classical antiquity · ChinaXunzic. 310–c. 235 BCChinese Confucian thinker who answered Mencius by teaching that human nature is bad and must be shaped by ritual and teachers. Two of his students, Han Feizi and Li Si, built Legalism. He lived about 310 to 235 BC.