← Fame through time2001 BC and earlier
The 3rd millennium BC and earlier
Whose working lives fell in the 3rd millennium BC and earlier. 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 3rd millennium BC and earlier, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Sargon of Akkad4 decades - 2
Narmer11 decades - 3
Menes22 decades - 4
Hor-Aha0 decades - 5
Scorpion II0 decades - 6
Mentuhotep II1 decades - 7
Djet1 decades - 8
Iry-Hor0 decades - 9
Scorpion I0 decades - 10
Pepi I Meryrenot measured- - 11
Gudea14 decades - 12
Hotepsekhemwy0 decades - 13
Anedjibnot measured- - 14
Shulginot measured- - 15
Semerkhet0 decades - 16
Merenre Nemtyemsaf Inot measured- - 17
Khafra8 decades - 18
Enmerkar3 decades - 19
Lugal-zage-sinot measured- - 20
Manishtushunot measured- - 21
Urukagina3 decades - 22
Mentuhotep III0 decades - 23
Menkauhor Kaiunot measured- - 24
Qi of Xianot measured- - 25
Mentuhotep IV0 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.