# Think of a figure who lived BCE **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404 "2016-07-20T07:25:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/61 "2016-07-20T16:41:32Z")
Djoser ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/62 "2016-07-20T16:51:18Z")
Another vote for So Crates. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/63 "2016-07-20T16:58:39Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Tutankhamun Make that 8 (?) for Tut. Buried in his jammies … ---
**Author:** ![GunnarFranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@GunnarFranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GunnarFranz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/64 "2016-07-20T17:14:04Z")
Mostly ancient Greek philosophers. Plato if you believe in him/Socrates/Epicurus/Aristotle. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/65 "2016-07-20T17:25:09Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I guess my interpretation was who do we have the most evidence that they existed BCE. Interesting way of looking at it. And your choice of Tutankhamun makes me think a bit, so please bear with me while I wax philosophical. We have Tut’s body, and his stuff. We don’t have the bodies of Alexander or Caesar (well, Alexander is somewhere beneath the streets of Alexandria, so maybe some day we’ll get lucky). Even so, if I were to claim that Caesar never existed, I’d probably have to come up with a crazier conspiracy theory than if I were to suggest the same for Tut. We have the body of [Ötzi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi). So, he most definitely existed. Except that his name wasn’t actually Ötzi, and we obviously know next to nothing about who he was. It would seem weird to say that we have more evidence for his existence than for Caesar’s. What would that even mean, exactly? It doesn’t even seem to compute. I will say that I’m drawn to artifacts that have some direct link with famous historical figures. Anything that makes them feel more real. Weird fact: We may have [Cleopatra’s handwriting](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/7804771/Cleopatra-papyrus-goes-on-display.html). That is, one word of it, in Greek: γινέσθοι. It’s not impossible that a scribe wrote it, but it may well have been Cleopatra herself. For some reason, that gives me a tingly feeling. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/66 "2016-07-20T17:25:12Z")
Cyrus the Great Parshvanatha Otzi the Iceman ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/67 "2016-07-20T17:32:12Z")
Wow, a lot more varied than I thought. Guess I play too much _New Vegas_. I go to the Greeks after JC, interesting to see the religious figures popping up, they’d be quite far down the list for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/68 "2016-07-20T17:32:53Z")
Confucius. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/69 "2016-07-20T17:36:22Z")
Socrates. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/70 "2016-07-20T18:17:04Z")
Third vote for Hammurabi from me. Odd, perhaps, since the Greek mathematicians fascinate me more. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/71 "2016-07-20T18:34:39Z")
King Herod ---
**Author:** ![JackaRoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@JackaRoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackaRoe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/72 "2016-07-20T18:43:09Z")
Is Jesus a valid choice? Isn’t BCE is based on when he died? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/73 "2016-07-20T18:44:13Z")
Jesus’s Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/74 "2016-07-20T18:49:58Z")
> [@JackaRoe](#): > > Is Jesus a valid choice? Isn’t BCE is based on when he died? Born. Well… roughly. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/75 "2016-07-20T19:35:50Z")
Julius Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/76 "2016-07-20T21:39:53Z")
[Jinmu Tenno (神武天皇)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Jimmu). Assuming he isn’t just legendary, but 127 million Japanese can’t be wrong. Well, ok, technically they could be. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/77 "2016-07-20T21:43:06Z")
Julius Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/78 "2016-07-20T22:48:26Z")
I must agree I first thought of Gaius Julius Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/79 "2016-07-20T22:50:25Z")
Vercingetorix ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404/80 "2016-07-20T23:01:48Z")
Socrates, but then I’ve always been a gadfly [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-of-a-figure-who-lived-bce/760404.md?page=5)