Claim profile
500–599

The 6th century

Whose working lives fell in the 6th 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 6th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.

CountryAll🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇮🇹 Italy🇫🇷 France🇯🇵 Japan🇮🇳 India🇲🇽 Mexico🇹🇷 Turkey🇪🇸 Spain🇩🇪 Germany🇪🇬 Egypt
FieldAllHistorical FiguresWritersReligious FiguresPoliticiansAcademicsModelsActorsBusiness ProfessionalsDoctorsArtists
  1. 1Isidore of SevilleIsidore of Seville560–636 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Academics22 decades
  2. 2BodhidharmaBodhidharma483–540 · Academics12 decades
  3. 3Pseudo-Dionysius the AreopagitePseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite500–600 · Academics1 decades
  4. 4AryabhataAryabhata476–550 · 🇮🇳 India · Academics12 decades
  5. 5Dionysius ExiguusDionysius Exiguus475–544 · Academics18 decades
  6. 6Simplicius of CiliciaSimplicius of Cilicia480–560 · Academics0 decades
  7. 7JPJohn Philoponus490–570 · Academics5 decades
  8. 8Anthemius of TrallesAnthemius of Tralles474–534 · Academics0 decades
  9. 9SOStephanus of Byzantium501–600 · Academics9 decades
  10. 10OTOlympiodorus the Younger495–570 · Academics0 decades
  11. 11ZGZu Gengzhi480–525 · Academicsnot measured—
  12. 12ZhiyiZhiyi538–597 · Academicsnot measured—
  13. 13VVarāhamihira505–587 · Academics0 decades
  14. 14GaudapadaGaudapadaborn 550 · Academics8 decades
  15. 15EOEutocius of Ascalon480–600 · Academics0 decades
  16. 16JizangJizang549–623 · Academics0 decades
  17. 17DDignāga480–540 · Academics2 decades
  18. 18AAedesia500–500 · Academics0 decades
  19. 19POPriscian of Lydia500–600 · Academics0 decades
  20. 20ŚŚīlabhadra529–645 · Academics0 decades
  21. 21PParamartha499–569 · Academics6 decades
  22. 22AOAsclepiodotus of Alexandriaborn 500 · Academics0 decades
  23. 23OTOlympiodorus the Elder500–600 · Academics0 decades
  24. 24DushunDushun557–640 · Academics0 decades
  25. 25Dharmapala of NalandaDharmapala of Nalanda530–561 · Academics0 decades
  26. 26BBuddhapālita470–550 · Academics0 decades
  27. 27PTPaul the Persian550–600 · Academics0 decades
  28. 28ZLZhen Luan535–566 · Academics0 decades
  29. 29HHegias500–600 · Academicsnot measured—
  30. 30YYativṛṣabha500–570 · Academicsnot 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.