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. 1Julius CaesarJulius Caesar100 BC–44 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  2. 2AugustusAugustus63 BC–14 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  3. 3CiceroCicero106 BC–43 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  4. 4TiberiusTiberius42 BC–37 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politiciansnot measured—
  5. 5PompeyPompey106 BC–48 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politiciansnot measured—
  6. 6Mark AntonyMark Antony83 BC–30 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  7. 7Cato the ElderCato the Elder234 BC–149 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians19 decades
  8. 8Marcus Vipsanius AgrippaMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa63 BC–12 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  9. 9Gaius MariusGaius Marius157 BC–86 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians4 decades
  10. 10LiviaLivia59 BC–29 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politiciansnot measured—
  11. 11Numa PompiliusNuma Pompilius753 BC–671 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  12. 12Gaius MaecenasGaius Maecenasdied 8 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  13. 13Tiberius GracchusTiberius Gracchus162 BC–133 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  14. 14Nero Claudius DrususNero Claudius Drusus38 BC–9 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians1 decades
  15. 15Publius Quinctilius VarusPublius Quinctilius Varusdied 9 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  16. 16Servius TulliusServius Tullius600 BC–535 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians22 decades
  17. 17Lucius Tarquinius PriscusLucius Tarquinius Priscus700 BC–578 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  18. 18Dionysius I of SyracuseDionysius I of Syracuse430 BC–367 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  19. 19Quintus SertoriusQuintus Sertoriusborn 123 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  20. 20TLTitus Labienus98 BC–45 BC · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0 decades
  21. 21Gaius OctaviusGaius Octavius100 BC–59 BC · 🇮🇹 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.