← 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
Marcus Aurelius22 decades - 2
Hadrian22 decades - 3
Ptolemynot measured- - 4
Septimius Severus22 decades - 5
Commodus22 decades - 6
Antoninus Pius22 decades - 7
Galen22 decades - 8
Tertullian22 decades - 9
Macrinus22 decades - 10
Nagarjuna15 decades - 11
Luciannot measured- - 12
Suetonius22 decades - 13
Cao Cao8 decades - 14
Pertinax22 decades - 15
Didius Julianus10 decades - 16
Lucius Verus22 decades - 17
Pope Victor I0 decades - 18
Irenaeus22 decades - 19
Pope Evaristus0 decades - 20
Pope Alexander I0 decades - 21
Guan Yu7 decades - 22
Apuleius22 decades - 23
Justin Martyr22 decades - 24
Cassius Dio10 decades - 25
Pope Pius I0 decades - 26
Clement of Alexandria22 decades - 27
Polycarpnot measured- - 28
Liu Bei8 decades - 29
Pope Telesphorus0 decades - 30
Antinous22 decades - 31
Pope Anicetus0 decades - 32
Longinusnot measured- - 33
Pope Hyginus0 decades - 34
Caiaphas22 decades - 35
Pope Eleutherius3 decades - 36
Kanishka19 decades - 37
Marcion of Sinope0 decades - 38
Arrian22 decades - 39
Gordian I0 decades - 40
Lü Bu1 decades - 41
Appian22 decades - 42
Dionysius the Areopagite22 decades - 43
Decebalus19 decades - 44
Faustina the Younger0 decades - 45
Zhang Heng1 decades - 46
Pescennius Niger10 decades - 47
Saint Sarah0 decades - 48
Thecla22 decades - 49
Clodius Albinus9 decades - 50
Lucillanot measured- - 51
Dong Zhuo2 decades - 52Valentinusnot measured-
- 53
Vibia Sabina0 decades - 54Tatian22 decades
- 55
Julia Maesa0 decades - 56
Saint Apollonia0 decades - 57
Justinnot measured- - 58
Bruttia Crispina0 decades - 59
Herodes Atticus21 decades - 60
Aśvaghoṣa0 decades - 61Sextus Julius Africanus0 decades
- 62
Aulus Gellius22 decades - 63
Yuan Shao3 decades - 64
Apollos22 decades - 65Avidius Cassius12 decades
- 66
Philip the Evangelist10 decades - 67
Chūai0 decades - 68
Shimon bar Yochai22 decades - 69
Lydia of Thyatira0 decades - 70
Melito of Sardis6 decades - 71Basilides22 decades
- 72
Judah ha-Nasi0 decades - 73
Emperor Ling of Han0 decades - 74
Pausaniasnot measured- - 75
Sun Jiannot measured- - 76
Emperor Seimu0 decades - 77
Faustina the Elder0 decades - 78
Pompeia Plotina0 decades - 79
Domitia Longina0 decades - 80
Zhang Zhongjing6 decades - 81
Blandina22 decades - 82
Agabus22 decades - 83
Yuan Shu1 decades - 84Marcus Cornelius Fronto0 decades
- 85
Cai Yongnot measured- - 86Prince of Hongnongnot measured-
- 87
Gaius Appuleius Diocles0 decades - 88
Xiahou Dun0 decades - 89
Simeon of Jerusalem0 decades - 90Cerinthus22 decades
- 91Emperor Huan of Hannot measured-
- 92
Lucius Annaeus Florus0 decades - 93
Gongsun Zan0 decades - 94
Hegesippus22 decades - 95
Vologases V of Parthianot measured- - 96
Aelius Aristides6 decades - 97Tiberius Julius Alexander0 decades
- 98
Calgacus2 decades - 99
Liu Biao1 decades - 100
Gaiusnot measured-
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.