Claim profile
1000–1 BC

The 1st millennium BC

Whose working lives fell in the 1st millennium BC. 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 millennium BC, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.

CountryAll🇮🇹 Italy🇹🇷 Turkey🇨🇳 China🇮🇳 India🇪🇬 Egypt🇫🇷 France🇯🇵 Japan🇪🇸 Spain🇧🇷 Brazil🇩🇪 Germany
FieldAllPoliticiansHistorical FiguresWritersAcademicsModelsArtistsScientistsReligious FiguresDoctorsArchitects
  1. 1ConfuciusConfucius551 BC–479 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Academics12 decades
  2. 2Qin Shi HuangQin Shi Huang259 BC–210 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures4 decades
  3. 3Sima QianSima Qian145 BC–86 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Writers9 decades
  4. 4Zhuang ZhouZhuang Zhou369 BC–288 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Academics10 decades
  5. 5Qu YuanQu Yuan343 BC–278 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Writers11 decades
  6. 6LSLi Si280 BC–208 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians7 decades
  7. 7Emperor Gaozu of HanEmperor Gaozu of Han256 BC–195 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Models0 decades
  8. 8Qin Er ShiQin Er Shi230 BC–207 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Models2 decades
  9. 9Wang MangWang Mang45 BC–23 · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures12 decades
  10. 10Han FeiHan Fei280 BC–233 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Academics10 decades
  11. 11Xiang YuXiang Yu232 BC–202 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians3 decades
  12. 12Shang YangShang Yang390 BC–338 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians7 decades
  13. 13Zhang QianZhang Qian200 BC–114 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures2 decades
  14. 14ZZiying239 BC–206 BC · 🇨🇳 China1 decades
  15. 15Empress Lü ZhiEmpress Lü Zhi241 BC–180 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Modelsnot measured—
  16. 16Emperor Hui of HanEmperor Hui of Han213 BC–188 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures0 decades
  17. 17Han XinHan Xin231 BC–196 BC · 🇨🇳 China1 decades
  18. 18Emperor Jing of HanEmperor Jing of Han188 BC–141 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Models0 decades
  19. 19Emperor Ai of HanEmperor Ai of Han24 BC–1 BC · 🇨🇳 China · Historical Figures0 decades
  20. 20KXKing Xi of Handied 273 BC · 🇨🇳 Chinanot measured—

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.