215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time100-199

The 2nd century

Whose working lives fell in the 2nd 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 2nd century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Ptolemy100-170 · Academicsnot measured-
  2. 2Tertullian160-240 · Academics22 decades
  3. 3Nagarjuna150-250 · Academics15 decades
  4. 4Irenaeus130-202 · Turkey · Academics22 decades
  5. 5Justin Martyr100-165 · Academics22 decades
  6. 6Clement of Alexandria150-215 · Academics22 decades
  7. 7Polycarp69-155 · Turkey · Academicsnot measured-
  8. 8Marcion of Sinope85-160 · Turkey · Academics0 decades
  9. 9Thecla100-100 · Turkey · Academics22 decades
  10. 10Valentinusdied 160 · Academicsnot measured-
  11. 11Basilides117-140 · Egypt · Academics22 decades
  12. 12Pompeia Plotina70-121 · Academics0 decades
  13. 13Bardaisan154-222 · Academics10 decades
  14. 14Agrippa the Skeptic100-100 · Academicsnot measured-
  15. 15Carpocrates100-138 · Academics11 decades
  16. 16Favorinus85-200 · Academics20 decades
  17. 17Peregrinus Proteus95-165 · Academics0 decades
  18. 18Zheng Xuan127-200 · Academics5 decades
  19. 19Junius Rusticus100-170 · Academics2 decades
  20. 20Menelaus of Alexandria70-140 · Academics0 decades
  21. 21Xenophon of Ephesus101-300 · Academics0 decades
  22. 22Theon of Smyrna70-135 · Academics1 decades
  23. 23Atticus150-200 · Academicsnot measured-
  24. 24Rabbi Ishmael70-135 · Academics6 decades
  25. 25Polemon of Laodicea90-144 · Academics0 decades
  26. 26Albinus100-200 · Academicsnot measured-
  27. 27Adrianus of Tyre113-193 · Academics0 decades
  28. 28Adrastus of Aphrodisiasdied 199 · Academics0 decades
  29. 29Wang Fu78-163 · Academics7 decades
  30. 30Aspasius80-150 · Academicsnot measured-
  31. 31Xu Yue160-227 · Academics0 decades
  32. 32Xun Yue148-209 · Academics0 decades
  33. 33Apollonius of Chalcedon101-200 · Academics0 decades
  34. 34Oenomaus of Gadaradied 200 · Academics0 decades
  35. 35Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus113-200 · Academicsnot measured-
  36. 36Yin Mo101-201 · Academics0 decades
  37. 37Secundus the Silent100-200 · Academics0 decades
  38. 38Menodotus of Nicomedia100-200 · Academics0 decades
  39. 39Epiphanes100-200 · Academicsnot measured-
  40. 40Agathobulus100-200 · Academics0 decades
  41. 41Publius Egnatius Celer100-100 · Academics0 decades
  42. 42Lesbonaxdied 200 · Academicsnot measured-
  43. 43He Xiu129-182 · Academics0 decades
  44. 44Lucius Calbenus Taurus150-200 · Academicsnot measured-
  45. 45Gaius the Platonistborn 75 · Academicsnot measured-
  46. 46Rabbi Nehemiahborn 101 · Academics0 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.