← Fame through time1-99
The 1st century
Whose working lives fell in the 1st century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 1st century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Jesus22 decades - 2
Saint Peter22 decades - 3
Paul the Apostle18 decades - 4
Neronot measured- - 5
Mary, mother of Jesusnot measured- - 6
Caligula22 decades - 7
John the Baptist22 decades - 8
Seneca the Younger2 decades - 9
Mary Magdalene22 decades - 10
Trajan22 decades - 11
Claudiusnot measured- - 12
Pontius Pilate22 decades - 13
Plutarch22 decades - 14
Vespasian22 decades - 15
Pliny the Elder22 decades - 16
Titusnot measured- - 17
Tacitusnot measured- - 18
Matthew the Apostle11 decades - 19
Epictetus22 decades - 20
Domitian22 decades - 21
Thomas the Apostle22 decades - 22
Josephus21 decades - 23
Jude the Apostle0 decades - 24
Boudica3 decades - 25
Pope Linus0 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.