Hatshepsut c. 1507–c. 1458 BCMurasaki Shikibu c. 973–c. 1014Leonardo da Vinci 1452–1519Isaac Newton 1643–1727Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791Alexander Pushkin 1799–1837Gregor Mendel 1822–1884Bram Stoker 1847–1912Franz Kafka 1883–1924Li Bai 701–762Nezahualcoyotl 1402–1472Molière 1622–1673Phillis Wheatley c. 1753–1784Sojourner Truth c. 1797–1883Fyodor Dostoevsky 1821–1881Menelik II 1844–1913Mata Hari 1876–1917Augustine of Hippo 354–430Zheng He 1371–c. 1433Shah Jahan 1592–1666Antoine Lavoisier 1743–1794Sacagawea c. 1788–1812Queen Victoria 1819–1901Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840–1893Rosa Luxemburg 1871–1919Seneca c. 4 BC–AD 65Ibn Khaldun 1332–1406Johannes Kepler 1571–1630Tupac Amaru II 1738–1781Davy Crockett 1786–1836Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815–1902Liliuokalani 1838–1917Wilbur Wright 1867–1912Julius Caesar 100–44 BCMansa Musa c. 1280–c. 1337Miguel de Cervantes 1547–1616Catherine the Great 1729–1796Juana Azurduy 1780–1862Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811–1896Mark Twain 1835–1910Anton Chekhov 1860–1904Alexander the Great 356–323 BCThomas Aquinas 1225–1274Oda Nobunaga 1534–1582Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790Meriwether Lewis 1774–1809Abraham Lincoln 1809–1865Louisa May Alcott 1832–1888Booker T. Washington 1856–1915Socrates c. 470–399 BCSaladin c. 1137–1193Anne Boleyn d. 1536George Frideric Handel 1685–1759Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827Hans Christian Andersen 1805–1875Jules Verne 1828–1905Oscar Wilde 1854–1900Sun Tzu c. 544–c. 496 BCHildegard of Bingen 1098–1179Michelangelo 1475–1564Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz c. 1648–1695Black Hawk 1767–1838Victor Hugo 1802–1885Red Cloud 1822–1909Taytu Betul c. 1851–1918
Matsuo Bashō 1644–1694Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–1797John Brown 1800–1859Louis Pasteur 1822–1895Alexander Graham Bell 1847–1922Srinivasa Ramanujan 1887–1920Charlemagne c. 748–814Joan of Arc c. 1412–1431Blaise Pascal 1623–1662Alexander Hamilton c. 1755–1804Manuela Sáenz 1797–1856Clara Barton 1821–1912Sarah Winnemucca c. 1844–1891Pancho Villa 1878–1923Empress Theodora d. 548Sejong the Great 1397–1450Artemisia Gentileschi 1593–after 1654Abigail Adams 1744–1818Lord Byron 1788–1824Florence Nightingale 1820–1910Yaa Asantewaa c. 1840–1921Emily Wilding Davison 1872–1913Marcus Aurelius 121–180Geoffrey Chaucer c. 1343–1400Njinga of Ndongo c. 1583–1663Toussaint Louverture 1743–1803Moshoeshoe I c. 1786–1870Frederick Douglass c. 1818–1895Robert Smalls 1839–1915Robert Falcon Scott 1868–1912Virgil 70–19 BCPetrarch 1304–1374William Shakespeare 1564–1616George Washington 1732–1799Simón Bolívar 1783–1830Charles Dickens 1812–1870Sakamoto Ryōma 1836–1867Swami Vivekananda 1863–1902Archimedes c. 287–212 BCMarco Polo 1254–1324Mary, Queen of Scots 1542–1587Leonhard Euler 1707–1783Ching Shih 1775–1844Edgar Allan Poe 1809–1849Lewis Carroll 1832–1898Theodore Roosevelt 1858–1919Plato c. 428–c. 348 BCRichard the Lionheart 1157–1199Grace O'Malley c. 1530–c. 1603Voltaire 1694–1778Sequoyah c. 1770–1843Benito Juárez 1806–1872Geronimo 1829–1909Arthur Rimbaud 1854–1891Pericles c. 495–429 BCHéloïse c. 1101–1164Lucrezia Borgia 1480–1519Peter the Great 1672–1725Tecumseh c. 1768–1813Alexandre Dumas 1802–1870Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi c. 1828–1858José Martí 1853–1895Ramesses II c. 1303–c. 1213 BCAvicenna c. 980–1037Niccolò Machiavelli 1469–1527
Ulysses S. Grant 1822–1885Robert Louis Stevenson 1850–1894Cetshwayo c. 1826–1884Al-Khwarizmi c. 780–c. 850Isabella I of Castile 1451–1504Baruch Spinoza 1632–1677Marie Antoinette 1755–1793Mary Shelley 1797–1851Harriet Tubman c. 1822–1913Jesse James 1847–1882Emiliano Zapata 1879–1919Wu Zetian 624–705Johannes Gutenberg c. 1400–1468Rembrandt 1606–1669Olympe de Gouges 1748–1793John Keats 1795–1821Susan B. Anthony 1820–1906Friedrich Nietzsche 1844–1900Ernest Shackleton 1874–1922Constantine the Great c. 272–337Christine de Pizan 1364–c. 1430Miyamoto Musashi c. 1584–1645Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826Shaka c. 1787–1828Karl Marx 1818–1883Chief Joseph 1840–1904Scott Joplin c. 1868–1917Cleopatra VII 69–30 BCIbn Battuta 1304–c. 1368Galileo Galilei 1564–1642John Adams 1735–1826Lin Zexu 1785–1850Ada Lovelace 1815–1852Wild Bill Hickok 1837–1876Nellie Bly 1864–1922Cicero 106–43 BCDante Alighieri c. 1265–1321Akbar 1542–1605Samuel Johnson 1709–1784Jane Austen 1775–1817Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849Empress Dowager Cixi 1835–1908Billy the Kid c. 1859–1881Aristotle 384–322 BCKublai Khan 1215–1294Elizabeth I 1533–1603Émilie du Châtelet 1706–1749Ram Mohan Roy 1772–1833Charles Darwin 1809–1882Emily Dickinson 1830–1886Ned Kelly 1854–1880Herodotus c. 484–c. 425 BCEleanor of Aquitaine c. 1124–1204Suleiman the Magnificent 1494–1566Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750Napoleon Bonaparte 1769–1821Mary Seacole 1805–1881Leo Tolstoy 1828–1910Vincent van Gogh 1853–1890Sappho c. 630–c. 570 BCOmar Khayyam 1048–1131Nicolaus Copernicus 1473–1543William Kidd c. 1645–1701Katsushika Hokusai 1760–1849Nat Turner 1800–1831
How it works
Mary Shelley
01
Pick a name.
Type it, or tap one on the wall.
borntheir lifeafter: dark
02
Ask what only they could answer.
They know their own life, and nothing after it.
The Vigil · An exchange to keep
A letter from Niccolò Machiavelli
“…it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.”
[1] Verified · The Prince, chapter 17 — W. K. Marriott translation (1908)
Illustrative sheet. The marked words are checked against The Prince, chapter 17.03
Keep the letter.
The exchange leaves as a letter, its documented words marked.
Every name on the wall died more than a hundred years ago.
Three lives.Your question.
Choose the room you need tonight.
01 / Power
Machiavelli
When the choice will cost you.
December 1513 · Historical interpretation
Portrait of record · Santi di Tito, c. 1550–1600 — public domain
02 / Time
Seneca
When you cannot keep postponing.
AD 64 · Historical interpretation
Portrait of record · Berlin double herm, 3rd c. — public domain
03 / The work
Grant
When something remains unfinished.
June 1885 · Historical interpretation
Portrait of record · Mathew Brady studio, c. 1870 — public domain
AI interpretations. Availability depends on the surviving record.
