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. 1Aristarchus of SamosAristarchus of Samos310 BC–230 BC · Scientists19 decades
  2. 2HipparchusHipparchus190 BC–120 BC · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Scientists22 decades
  3. 3Eudoxus of CnidusEudoxus of Cnidus408 BC–355 BC · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Scientists0 decades
  4. 4Apollonius of PergaApollonius of Perga262 BC–190 BC · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Scientists7 decades
  5. 5CtesibiusCtesibius284 BC–221 BC · Scientists18 decades
  6. 6SOSosigenes of Alexandria100 BC–100 BC · Scientists0 decades
  7. 7MOMeton of Athensborn 500 BC · Scientists0 decades
  8. 8YajnavalkyaYajnavalkya800 BC–700 BC · 🇮🇳 India · Scientists17 decades
  9. 9Timaeus of LocriTimaeus of Locri500 BC–500 BC · Scientists0 decades
  10. 10LALiu An179 BC–122 BC · Scientists4 decades
  11. 11Lu BanLu Ban507 BC–444 BC · Scientists1 decades
  12. 12COConon of Samos280 BC–220 BC · Scientists0 decades
  13. 13GDGan De400 BC–400 BC · Scientists2 decades
  14. 14SOSeleucus of Seleucia190 BC–150 BC · Scientists0 decades
  15. 15Bian QueBian Que401 BC–310 BC · Scientists0 decades
  16. 16Jīvaka KaumārabhṛtyaJīvaka Kaumārabhṛtya401 BC–401 BC · Scientistsnot measured—
  17. 17ButadesButades700 BC–600 BC · Scientists0 decades
  18. 18CleostratusCleostratus520 BC–432 BC · Scientists4 decades
  19. 19Shi ShenShi Shen400 BC–400 BC · Scientistsnot measured—
  20. 20TTimocharis320 BC–260 BC · Scientists7 decades
  21. 21KKidinnu400 BC–330 BC · Scientists0 decades
  22. 22AAristyllus400 BC–300 BC · Scientists0 decades
  23. 23Andronicus of CyrrhusAndronicus of Cyrrhus200 BC–100 BC · Scientists0 decades
  24. 24Ecphantus the PythagoreanEcphantus the Pythagoreandied 400 BC · Scientists0 decades
  25. 25LTLucius Tarutius Firmanus100 BC–100 BC · Scientistsnot measured—
  26. 26EEuctemondied 432 BC · Scientists10 decades
  27. 27BOBion of Abdera430 BC–370 BC · Scientists0 decades
  28. 28Du ShiDu Shi50 BC–38 · Scientists0 decades
  29. 29NNaburimannu560 BC–480 BC · Scientists0 decades
  30. 30AAcoreus100 BC–100 BC · Scientists0 decades
  31. 31BubaresBubares600 BC–560 BC · Scientists0 decades
  32. 32DODiades of Pellaborn 350 BC · Scientistsnot measured—
  33. 33CrateuasCrateuas200 BC–100 BC · Scientistsnot measured—
  34. 34LHLuoxia Hong156 BC–87 BC · Scientists0 decades
  35. 35SSudinesborn 250 BC · Scientists0 decades
  36. 36HarkhebiHarkhebi301 BC–201 BC · Scientists0 decades
  37. 37MMandroclesborn 600 BC · Scientists2 decades
  38. 38AAmeinocles800 BC–760 BC · Scientists0 decades
  39. 39CCratesborn 500 BC · Scientistsnot 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.