Which historical era would you want to live in? Most people have their favorite eras of history, be it the Renaissance, or the '90s in Seattle, but rarely do we get to choose which time period(s) we would deposit ourselves into forever if we could. Imagine that you have a time machine and could choose which historical era you want to live in. Different people will debate and disagree on what is the best time in history. Depending on what you can or can’t live without, you might be surprised at the era you'd prefer. Even though there’s no TARDIS to take you back, it’s a fun philosophical question to ask: what age would you want to live in? Does it matter to you if the mortality rate is just under 90%? Can you live without pizza? Find out who you are by looking through the historical eras on this list, then vote up the era you would want to live in the most!
Tap upor downto vote. Your vote is added to Ranker's counts.
Voting identifies your browser with an anonymous fingerprint, stored only as a salted hash, to count one per visitor. Privacy
Source: Ranker, ranked by its voters.
Where You'd Live: Like, totally, The Valley. Or Orange County, if your parents were bogus. What You'd Do: You'd either be at the mall, the galleria, or a Black Flag show in some seedy dive in Hollywood. Who You'd Hang Out With: Everyone knows that in the '80s you had a very clear cut line of who to hang out with: the brains, the athletes, the basket cases, the princesses, or the criminals. The Highlight of Your Day: Getting away from your parents.
Where You'd Live: The suburbs. What You'd Do: After the atrocities of World War II, Americans wanted everything to go back to normal. There was a population boom, and large families were moving away from big cities like New York to settle down in smaller communities. You'd either be working at a high-paying job in the city before returning home for a hot dinner, or, if you were coming of age in the '50s, you'd spend your days reading EC comics and putting baseball cards in your spokes. Who You'd Hang Out With: Guys from work, gals from around the neighborhood, or the kids who lived on your street. The Highlight of Your Day: If you were a father trying to balance your job and the family at home, the highlight of your day was more than likely that first drink after you got out of the office.
Where You'd Live: If you wanted to be anyone who was anyone, you'd live in New York, Chicago, Paris, or Berlin. What You'd Do: Celebrate being ALIVE! Post World War I, people flocked to the big city to drink, dance, and take part in full blown debauchery until the break of dawn. You might even write the next great American novel. Who You'd Hang Out With: If you went to Paris you'd be hanging out with expats like Hemingway and the Fitzgeralds. If you went north to London, you'd be seen out on the town with the Bright Young Things, a collective of socialites whose only rule in their manifesto was that they had to party. The Highlight of Your Day: Going out for one drink or maybe 16.
Where You'd Live: You'd probably spend your time in the Haight tuning in, turning on, and dropping out. Or if you got drafted, you'd be stuck in a jungle somewhere in Vietnam. Or maybe living in the South, protesting civil rights injustice. What You'd Do: You'd just groove, man. Who You'd Hang With: You'd be following The Dead on tour, or hanging out with the beats while they wrote their best stuff. Or living at Spahn Ranch with the Manson Family. The Highlight of Your Day: Picking up a groovy new pair of bell bottoms.
Where You'd Live: Most of Europe benefited from the Renaissance period, but Italy was the epicenter for the change from the Middle Ages, so it's presumably the place to be. What You'd Do: More than anything you would become self-aware and realize that you were living in one of the most interesting time periods in the world to date. There's a good chance you would write music, make a painting, or create a sculpture for someone in the bourgeois class. Who You'd Hang Out With: Depending on where you lived, you could hang out with William Shakespeare, Gutenberg, or even Machiavelli. Just uh... watch your back with that last guy. The Highlight of Your Day: Combining intellectual and physical excellence to transcend the mortal flesh. Sounds like fun!
Where You'd Live: You'd probably be near Cyprus, but you might live as far north as Naples, or even Istanbul. What You'd Do: Your day to day would either be spent with the three F's: farming, philosophizing, or fighting, specifically with another culture that you were trying to stamp out. Most commonly, people in Ancient Greece were just trying to get by, but there were still plenty of artsy-fartsy types running around trying to figure why the sky is blue. Who You'd Hang Out With: When you weren't going to war or inventing modern agriculture, you'd hang out with other commoners at the theater. The Highlight of Your Day: Getting an update on the new Euripides play.
Where You'd Live: You'd definitely live in the Capitol Hill District - that's where all the cool kids were. What You'd Do: Work in a coffee shop, play bass in a local band, or even go to art school. Unless you were a square, then you'd probably work at Boeing. Who You'd Hang Out With: Dudes in your band, other baristas, guys who wore long sleeve shirts under short-sleeve tees. The Highlight of Your Day: Visiting Jimi Hendrix's grave or checking out a show at RCKCNDY.
Where You'd Live: Western Europe and the 13 American Colonies. What You'd Do: Attend debates about freedom of thought, rational inquiry, critical thinking, and religious tolerance, as well as attend public concerts and read every book you could get your hands on. Who You'd Hang Out With: In the Age of Enlightenment, aristocrats and academics rubbed elbows with the common man. If you wanted to grow your sphere of knowledge, you were expected to reach out to someone beyond your immediate peer group. The Highlight of Your Day: Attending a salon and being invited to take part in a Masonic ceremony.
Where You'd Live: New York in the '70s looked liked a bombed out wasteland, but rent was cheap so you could probably live in Manhattan and not break the bank (by today's standards). But a lot of families were moving to Queens and the Bronx. What You'd Do: The art world exploded in the '70s, so there's a good chance that you'd be painting cryptic graffiti on the subway or starting the next Ramones. Who You'd Hang Out With: Remember, in the '70s, the scenes were still small and EVERYONE hung out so it wouldn't be weird to spend an evening drinking with Joey Ramone, Fab Five Freddy, and Debbie Harry. The Highlight of Your Day: By all accounts, New York in the '70s was terrifying, so the highlight of your day would probably be getting home in one piece.
Where You'd Live: If you were lucky, you'd find yourself in the East End of London, somewhere near Columbia Road. But due to the overpopulation caused by the low mortality rate of the era, you might be stuck south of Bethnal Green Road! What You'd Do: If you're were a child during the Victorian era, you were definitely a chimney sweep or you worked in a factory, so bummer. But this was also the era when cricket and tennis were invented, so you'd at least be able to get some exercise after your day spent covered in soot. Who You'd Hang Out With: You'd probably hang out with other middle class folks at the circus (people LOVED the circus in the good ol' VE) or at a paranormal event featuring a hypnotist or a medium. The Highlight of Your Day: Curling up with a new story by Charles Dickens, or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as you warm your feet on a glass bottle of hot water.
Where You'd Live: The United Kingdom just prior to World War I. What You'd Do: Most Brits spent the Edwardian era attending garden parties, lounging in parks, and playing football with their mates. There's a good chance you'd spend an evening reading P.G. Wodehouse or Rudyard Kipling after an afternoon of croquet. Who You'd Hang Out With: Other members of your class. After the Victorian era, the classes splintered heavily and most of the lower class became servants, pushing them to the fringes of society and rendering them seen, but not heard. It's entirely possible that you could have gone the entire Edwardian era without speaking to someone outside of your class. The Highlight of Your Day: Seeing a new George Bernard Shaw play or even visiting the 1908 Summer Olympic games that were held in London.
Where You'd Live: If you got in on the ground floor of the Roman Empire, you probably lived in Italy, but by 400 AD, if you lived in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa, you were a part of the Roman Empire. What You'd Do: What you'd do in the Roman Empire depended on whether you were a peregrini (a person who was born free), a slave, or a freedman (a freed slave). If you were a slave, you were either performing menial labor or fighting as a soldier, while freedmen where performing civil services, and peregrinis could do whatever they pleased. Who You'd Hang Out With: Your social structure completely dictated who your friends were. Peregrinis hung out with peregrinis, freedmen wanted to hang out with peregrinis, but were stuck hanging out with other freedmen, and slaves obviously hung out with slaves. The Highlight of Your Day: Once again, this depended on your standing within society. The best part of your day could be going to sleep, but it could also be spent in a vomitorium yucking it up with other peregrinis.
Where You'd Live: If you had anything to do with pirates, buccaneers, or the seafaring life at all you'd probably live in Spain, the Caribbean, or on a boat. What You'd Do: You'd raid Spanish divers who were recovering gold, robbing explorers returning from India with silk and spices, or do your best to build up your loot. Who You'd Hang Out With: Other pirates mostly. Depending which kind of crew you ran with, that meant either ex-military men who wanted something to do or French buccaneers who preferred hunting to robbing. The Highlight of Your Day: Counting your booty and not being beheaded by the English court system.
Where You'd Live: Denmark, Norway, or Sweden. What You'd Do: You would being by hoping to trade with surrounding countries, but due to encroachment by Christian missionaries you would spend the rest of your days pillaging. Unless you weren't a Viking, then you would spend your days getting pillaged. Who You'd Hang Out With: Either other Vikings, or merchants with whom you traded. It was all about business with those darn Vikings. The Highlight of Your Day: Dying in combat.
Where You'd Live: Most of Europe, and if you were lucky, the 13 colonies. What You'd Do: As a member of a colonial party, your days would be spent trying to build a community, hunt or forage for food, and make friends with the natives. Unless you were a conquistador, then you'd probably just spend your day wiping out any natives that you came across. Who You'd Hang Out With: Whomever you came across the Atlantic with. If you were a European colonist, you might even hang out with a few natives who took pity on you and decided to offer a helping hand. The Highlight of Your Day: Learning how to plant corn or maize.
Where You'd Live: More than likely, if you were an adult in the Age of Discovery, you were living on a boat somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. What You'd Do: Most of your time would be spent swabbing decks and mapping new areas of land that you found. You might even get to meet indigenous people! Who You'd Hang Out With: Any down time you had would be spent kicking back with other explorers, regaling each other with tales of exploration. The Highlight of Your Day: On a good day, sleeping on dry land. On the rest, not getting sea sick.
Where You'd Live: If you can think of an antiquated country that was in Europe in the 5th and 15th century, then it was thriving/dying of the black plague during the Middle Ages. What You'd Do: By the time of the High Middle Ages (1001 - 1300), feudalism was all the rage. Your social standing would determine how you spent your entire life, so if you were born to a family of farmers you'd be farming until you croaked. The same goes for being born into royalty. Who You'd Hang Out With: Your family mostly. The appearance of courtly love around the 12th century offered the possibility of meeting new people and hanging out with their family. The Highlight of Your Day: Obviously, witnessing a beheading would be the highlight of anyone's day.
Where You'd Live: Japan. What You'd Do: Beginning what we know as "feudal Japan," the Kamakura period marks a change to land-based economies and a concentration of advanced military technologies in the hands of a specialized fighting class. Meaning, there's a good chance that you would either be a farmer or a samurai. It's rare than a new opportunity presents itself in a caste system, so a lot of citizens opted to try their hand at being a warrior. Who You'd Hang Out With: Mostly other people within your caste system, but you'd also be attending Buddhist monasteries so you could always hang out with a monk if you felt like it. The Highlight of Your Day: Finally getting a copy of Shin Kokin Wakashu, a popular poetry anthology of the time.
Where You'd Live: At this point in history, the Portuguese Empire was massive. So it's possible that you could be living anywhere from western Europe, to the southern bits of Africa, or even what is now known as Brazil. What You'd Do: In this era, an entirely new class was introduced: the merchant class. So you'd probably be trying to make money by trading goods that you acquired while visiting mysterious continents with your other seafaring homies. Who You'd Hang Out With: During the Portuguese renaissance, you might find yourself working on maps with Bartolomeu Dias, or even working on monasteries with Diogo de Boitaca. The Highlight of Your Day: Enjoying new paintings by Jan van Eyck.
Where You'd Live: France and Eastern Europe. What You'd Do: If you were in France during the Napoleonic Era, you were either a part of Napoleon's army, or you were the rest of Europe and you refused to recognize the French hegemony that Napoleon led. Who You'd Hang Out With: You'd be chilling, quite literally, with the rest of Napoleon's army in Russia, as he tried to figure out why he wanted to invade Eastern Europe in the winter. The Highlight of Your Day: Conquering a new country.
