215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1000-1 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 coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Julius Caesar100 BC-44 BC · Italy · Politicians22 decades
  2. 2Aristotle384 BC-322 BC · Academics22 decades
  3. 3Alexander the Great356 BC-323 BC · Historical Figures22 decades
  4. 4Plato428 BC-348 BC · Academics22 decades
  5. 5Homer900 BC-800 BC · Writers22 decades
  6. 6Confucius551 BC-479 BC · China · Academics12 decades
  7. 7Augustus63 BC-14 · Italy · Politicians22 decades
  8. 8Socrates470 BC-399 BC · Brazil · Academics22 decades
  9. 9Cleopatra69 BC-30 BC · Egypt · Historical Figures22 decades
  10. 10Archimedes287 BC-212 BC · Academics22 decades
  11. 11Qin Shi Huang259 BC-210 BC · China · Historical Figures4 decades
  12. 12Cicero106 BC-43 BC · Italy · Politicians22 decades
  13. 13Pythagoras582 BC-490 BC · Academics22 decades
  14. 14Virgil70 BC-19 BC · Italy · Writers22 decades
  15. 15Cyrus the Great600 BC-530 BC · Historical Figures22 decades
  16. 16Ashoka304 BC-232 BC · India · Historical Figures8 decades
  17. 17Hannibal247 BC-183 BC · Politiciansnot measured-
  18. 18Laozi579 BC-500 BC · Academics11 decades
  19. 19Herodotus484 BC-425 BC · Turkey · Writers22 decades
  20. 20Gautama Buddha500 BC-500 BC · Academics16 decades
  21. 21Sophocles496 BC-406 BC · Writers22 decades
  22. 22Euclid333 BC-285 BC · Academics22 decades
  23. 23Tiberius42 BC-37 · Italy · Politiciansnot measured-
  24. 24Sun Tzu544 BC-496 BC8 decades
  25. 25Ovid43 BC-17 · Italy · Writers22 decades
  26. 26Hippocrates460 BC-370 BC · Doctors22 decades
  27. 27Diogenes400 BC-323 BC · Turkey · Academicsnot measured-
  28. 28Sappho650 BC-570 BC · Writers22 decades
  29. 29Aesop620 BC-564 BC · Academics21 decades
  30. 30Heraclitus535 BC-470 BC · Turkey · Academics22 decades
  31. 31Aeschylus525 BC-456 BC · Writers22 decades
  32. 32Thucydides460 BC-395 BC · Writers22 decades
  33. 33Mark Antony83 BC-30 BC · Italy · Politicians22 decades
  34. 34Darius the Great550 BC-486 BC · Historical Figures11 decades
  35. 35Epicurus342 BC-270 BC · Academics22 decades
  36. 36Spartacus103 BC-71 BC · Historical Figures22 decades
  37. 37Euripides480 BC-406 BC · Writers22 decades
  38. 38Pompey106 BC-48 BC · Italy · Politiciansnot measured-
  39. 39Thales of Miletus625 BC-545 BC · Turkey · Academics22 decades
  40. 40Xerxes I519 BC-465 BC · Politicians2 decades
  41. 41Nebuchadnezzar II642 BC-561 BC · Historical Figures4 decades
  42. 42Chanakya375 BC-283 BC · Politicians13 decades
  43. 43Pericles494 BC-429 BC · Politicians22 decades
  44. 44Democritus460 BC-360 BC · Academics22 decades
  45. 45Xenophon430 BC-354 BC · Academics22 decades
  46. 46Horace65 BC-8 BC · Italy · Writersnot measured-
  47. 47Herod the Great74 BC-4 BC · Historical Figures22 decades
  48. 48Hesiod776 BC-700 BC · Turkey · Writers22 decades
  49. 49Philip II of Macedon385 BC-336 BC · Historical Figures6 decades
  50. 50Eratosthenes276 BC-194 BC · Academics22 decades
  51. 51Chandragupta Maurya340 BC-297 BC · India · Historical Figures9 decades
  52. 52Aristophanes445 BC-385 BC · Writers22 decades
  53. 53Leonidas Idied 480 BC · Models0 decades
  54. 54Scipio Africanus235 BC-183 BC · Politicians22 decades
  55. 55Cato the Elder234 BC-149 BC · Italy · Politicians19 decades
  56. 56Pyrrhus of Epirus318 BC-272 BC · Historical Figures0 decades
  57. 57Sulla138 BC-78 BC · Politicians22 decades
  58. 58Sima Qian145 BC-86 BC · China · Writers9 decades
  59. 59Ptolemy I Soter365 BC-285 BC · Historical Figures1 decades
  60. 60Marcus Licinius Crassus115 BC-53 BC · Politicians0 decades
  61. 61Livy59 BC-17 · Italy · Writers22 decades
  62. 62Solon630 BC-560 BC · Writers22 decades
  63. 63Zhuang Zhou369 BC-288 BC · China · Academics10 decades
  64. 64Darius III380 BC-330 BC · Historical Figures13 decades
  65. 65Demosthenes384 BC-322 BC · Politicians22 decades
  66. 66Strabo63 BC-23 · Academics22 decades
  67. 67Emperor Wu of Han156 BC-87 BC · Writers8 decades
  68. 68Parmenides515 BC-470 BC · Italy · Academics22 decades
  69. 69Vitruvius80 BC-15 BC · Italy · Architects22 decades
  70. 70Alcibiades450 BC-404 BC · Politicians22 decades
  71. 71Saint Anne55 BC-12 · Religious Figures22 decades
  72. 72Polybius200 BC-120 BC · Writers22 decades
  73. 73Catullus84 BC-54 BC · Italy · Writers22 decades
  74. 74Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa63 BC-12 BC · Italy · Politicians0 decades
  75. 75Vercingetorix80 BC-46 BC · France22 decades
  76. 76Seleucus I Nicator358 BC-281 BC · Historical Figures0 decades
  77. 77Ashurbanipal685 BC-631 BC · Historical Figures13 decades
  78. 78Themistocles524 BC-459 BC · Politicians22 decades
  79. 79Anaximander610 BC-546 BC · Turkey · Academics22 decades
  80. 80Gaius Marius157 BC-86 BC · Italy · Politicians4 decades
  81. 81Empedocles494 BC-434 BC · Italy · Academics22 decades
  82. 82Caesarion47 BC-30 BC · Egypt · Historical Figures19 decades
  83. 83Croesusborn 596 BC · Politicians22 decades
  84. 84Zeno of Citium334 BC-263 BC · Academics3 decades
  85. 85Anaxagoras500 BC-428 BC · Turkey · Academics22 decades
  86. 86Lucretius94 BC-55 BC · Italy · Writers22 decades
  87. 87Emperor Gaozu of Han256 BC-195 BC · China · Models0 decades
  88. 88Emperor Jimmu711 BC-585 BC · Japan · Historical Figures6 decades
  89. 89Cato the Younger95 BC-46 BC · Politicians4 decades
  90. 90Zeno of Elea490 BC-425 BC · Italy · Academics11 decades
  91. 91Mencius372 BC-289 BC · Academics22 decades
  92. 92Qu Yuan343 BC-278 BC · China · Writers11 decades
  93. 93Aspasia470 BC-400 BC · Turkey · Academicsnot measured-
  94. 94Cambyses II559 BC-522 BC · Historical Figures0 decades
  95. 95Pindar517 BC-437 BC · Writers22 decades
  96. 96Aristarchus of Samos310 BC-230 BC · Scientists19 decades
  97. 97Sennacherib745 BC-681 BC · Historical Figures22 decades
  98. 98Roxana347 BC-310 BC · Historical Figuresnot measured-
  99. 99Pāṇini520 BC-460 BC · Academicsnot measured-
  100. 100Tomyris600 BC-600 BC · Models14 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.