How widely would early troubadours, for instance, have been popular? I’m sure locally known singers or lute players existed but who was known across England, or France or whatever? Did people travel to hear Socrates speak or did he only speak locally and his wisdom spread by word of mouth?
My personal favorite, although not that early: Roger the Farter
Adam wasn’t a king as far as I know
Genghis Khan was pretty famous.
Have you ever heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? MORONS!
(more scientific morons): Archimedes, Pythagoras, Hippocrates
Literature: Homer, Herodotus, Sappho
They all wrote stuff yet there were no printing presses, public libraries or schools with access to the latest teachings of scholars. And homework tonight: Read the first half of The Iliad
ETA: Some of them learned directly - dunno that Plato or Aristotle ever met Socrates but they definitely knew a lot of his teachings. ETA2: Plato was Socrates student and both probably read all of the Iliad.
I’m certain that OP was looking for real people.
Khan literally means ruler/king. See thread title.
Yeah they did, I mean only a pretty small elite did (even if relatively equitable historically speaking ancient Greece still consisted of a massive poor illiterate agrarian masses with a tiny rich elite.) But going to study under or debate with a famous philosopher was definitely a thing.
I think singers and musicians were considered pretty low class and not considered “worthy” celebrities (kinda comparable to porn stars nowadays, they may be famous but only in a seedy kinda way). This is the subtext to roman historians making a big deal of Nero being a musician.
Athletes were a little more respectable and there many examples of famous athletes in the greco roman world who were not royalty…
https://greekreporter.com/2024/05/05/diocles-15-billion-athlete-ancient-world
Will Kempe isn’t particularly early, but otherwise he fits the OP well. The specialist comic in Shakespeare’s plays for the Chamberlain’s Men, and somewhat of a star in his own right. The Nine Days Wonder indicates that his fame spread outside London.
In February and March 1600, he undertook what he would later call his “Nine Days Wonder”, in which he morris danced from London to Norwich, a distance of about 110 miles or 177 km, a journey which took him nine days (spread over several weeks), often amid cheering crowds.
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In Ancient Rome successful chariot racers could become famous. One such was Scorpus:
In that vein and a few decades earlier was Will Sommers, the jester to Henry VIII. I believe the first known named jester.
Thespis
Ancient Rome definitely had celebrity actors, including Roscius, who was still a familiar enough name by the nineteenth century for Ira Aldridge to be billed as the “African Roscius.” I imagine there must have been some in Greece, as well.
Aesop. Aesop’s Fables were widely known in Ancient times and were centuries old by the time Socrates/Plato/Aristotle were alive.
Though at this point we may have to debate who was real and who was mythical.
Jesus’ disciples/apostles weren’t kings or queens.
Stephen, the first known Christian martyr.
Polycarp, who was believed to be the last living person to have known one of the Twelve.
The OT prophets with Biblical books named after them. And Elijah and Nathan, who didn’t have books named after them, but are memorialized in the books of Kings and Samuel, respectively.
ETA:
Yeah, I was thinking about that too. IIRC, King David is the earliest Biblical character that the historians think there’s evidence of existence, so I left Adam, Abraham, Moses, etc. out of this post.
That famous Egyptian architect, Imhotep, whose name is still mentioned in blockbuster movies today. But waaaaaaaay back in the day he became so famous they made him a god in his hometown three thousand years after he died.
He was not a king, but a member of nobility, so perhaps he does not count, but El Cid was pretty famous and even got his own epic poem, El Cantar de mio Cid.
I’m fairly sure Imhotep is the earliest named non-regal person who is mentioned in contemporary documents, but there may be others.
Poets and playwrights of ancient Greece and Rome. Euripedes. Ovid. Sappho. There are a lot of Greeks I can think of. Pythagoras. Hippocrates. Long list. And a much longer list of Roman statesmen, poets, generals …
I guess it would be good to define ‘early’. Anything BCE?
He was awarded multiple monuments and was honored by both the Greens and the Blues while still young. It was unusual for either faction to do so during a charioteer’s lifetime, except in advanced age.