Claim profile
1–99

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 Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.

CountryAll🇮🇹 Italy🇮🇱 Israel🇹🇷 Turkey🇪🇸 Spain🇩🇪 Germany🇫🇷 France🇪🇬 Egypt🇨🇳 China🇰🇷 South Korea🇺🇸 United States
FieldAllPoliticiansHistorical FiguresReligious FiguresWritersAcademicsDoctorsScientistsModelsBusiness ProfessionalsArchitects
  1. 1NeroNero37–68 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writersnot measured—
  2. 2CaligulaCaligula12–41 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  3. 3TitusTitus39–81 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politiciansnot measured—
  4. 4Pontius PilatePontius Pilateborn 12 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  5. 5DomitianDomitian51–96 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  6. 6Pliny the YoungerPliny the Younger61–113 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers22 decades
  7. 7JuvenalJuvenal55–200 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writersnot measured—
  8. 8GalbaGalba3 BC–69 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  9. 9Pope LinusPope Linus10–79 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  10. 10NervaNerva30–98 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  11. 11VitelliusVitellius15–69 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  12. 12OthoOtho32–69 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  13. 13MessalinaMessalina20–48 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politiciansnot measured—
  14. 14GermanicusGermanicus15 BC–19 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  15. 15Pope AnacletusPope Anacletus25–90 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  16. 16Poppaea SabinaPoppaea Sabina30–65 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Historical Figures0 decades
  17. 17Pope Sixtus IPope Sixtus I42–126 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  18. 18BritannicusBritannicus41–55 · 🇮🇹 Italy22 decades
  19. 19SejanusSejanus20 BC–31 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  20. 20Marcus Velleius PaterculusMarcus Velleius Paterculus19 BC–31 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0 decades
  21. 21Claudia OctaviaClaudia Octavia40–62 · 🇮🇹 Italy0 decades
  22. 22StatiusStatius45–96 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writersnot measured—
  23. 23Drusus Julius CaesarDrusus Julius Caesar13 BC–23 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  24. 24Agrippa PostumusAgrippa Postumus12 BC–14 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Historical Figures0 decades
  25. 25Gnaeus Domitius CorbuloGnaeus Domitius Corbulo7–67 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  26. 26Gaius Suetonius PaulinusGaius Suetonius Paulinus10–60 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades

How this is measured

  • Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
  • Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
  • Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
  • What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.