BC / ADBCE / CE

c. 500 BCE–c. 301 BCE

Life of Siddhartha Gautama

Religion · Buddhist traditions · Origins and memory

Scholarly dating of Gautama can fall up to a century after the traditional chronology of 563–483 BCE. The interval represents biographical uncertainty, not a two-century lifespan.

Precision, calendar, and review
Start
century · approximate
End
century · approximate
Dating in the source document
~ siglos V–IV a. C.
Calendar and convention
Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
Year zero
The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
Documentary review
2026-09-04

Reading the date: dating window; it does not mean the event lasted for that entire interval.

Sources

  1. Met — Life of the Buddha (opens in a new tab)
    Source provenance and scope
    Publication date
    2003-10-01
    What this date describes
    The cited source or edition; it may postdate the historical event.
    Bibliographic date checked
    2026-09-23

    The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.

This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.

Cite this record

Suggest a correction in the atlas