Chinua Achebe vs El Greco
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Chinua Achebe | El Greco | |
| Field | Literature | Art |
| Sub-field | Novelist | Painting |
| Born | 1930 | 1541 |
| Died | 2013 | 1614 |
| Country of birth | Colonial Nigeria | Spain |
| Star sign | Scorpio | Libra |
Who they are
Chinua Achebe
Father of African Literature · Author of Things Fall Apart 20 million copies sold · 57 languages translated · Most widely read African novel in history Born November 16, 1930 · Ogidi, Nigeria · Died March 21, 2013
Full biography of Chinua Achebe →
El Greco
Domenikos Theotokopoulos — called El Greco, simply "the Greek," by the Spanish who could not pronounce his name — was born in Crete around 1541. He arrived in the world as a Byzantine icon painter, trained in the flat gold-ground tradition of Eastern Christianity, and ended his life as one of the most radical Western painters who ever lived, a figure so far ahead of his time that the twentieth century had to rediscover him to understand what he had been doing.
What they share
- Both are documented on this site with a verified biography.
Where they part
- Different fields: Literature for Chinua Achebe, Art for El Greco.
- Born in different countries: Colonial Nigeria and Spain.
- 389 years separate their births (1930 and 1541).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Chinua Achebe or El Greco?
- El Greco. Chinua Achebe was born in 1930, El Greco in 1541.
- What field is each of them in?
- Chinua Achebe is filed under Literature (Novelist). El Greco is filed under Art (Painting).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.