I’d be a bit happier if the OP defined “famous” – still known? famous during his/her lifetime?
And even more, when “early” was. Before Christ? Before the invention of modern English? Before the age of print?
Without any parameters this is too idle and vague a discussion for me.
Wasn’t he a prince before seeking enlightenment?
When you go that far back, I feel like the no royalty rule should be relaxed a bit. “King” in the era of city states was about equivalent to “Mayor with an army.” There would have been lots of princes completely unknown and obscure, and Gautama is famous for something else entirely.
Diogenes was famous enough that Alexander the Great sought him out. That seems pretty “celebrity” to me. Of course, this may not have happened…
Was Samuel Richardson the first author to have a fan club? The Pamelists, or something, named after his first hit book “Pamela”.
A book so popular, it got a spoof called “Shamela” in 1741.
There are those that claim that Pamela was the first novel in the English language:
… but was he cynic?
Or a little bit shady
I read it when I took a course “The History of the Novel”.
It was either Pamela, Moll Flanders, or a couple other candidates.
Jenny Lind is considered by many to the first American pop star. First in a long line of divas in American culture. And yes I know she was from Sweden.
Morons.
Absent recorded sound, and bearing in mind the difficulties of travel, I guess one’s dependent on legend and hearsay, as with Blondel:
And in turn, Aristotle was Plato’s student. (And Alexander the Great was Aristotle’s student.)
That’s a big ‘maybe.’
The Tel Dan Stele [about 840 BCE] mentions (the inscription is not complete) House of David as a royal line, although interpolating that to the existence of a king named David is stretching things.
Indeed. Although “army” is perhaps too grand a label for “some men with pitch forks and clubs” who could not stand up to “chariots of iron.”
I think there is plenty of evidence that Jesus of Nazareth existed.
I’m guessing his fame did not spread widely during his lifetime, but after his death and alleged resurrection, Christianity was kind of developed, especialy with Paul writing Romans.
How long would it have been until the person of Jesus was widely known about? Widely is probably subjective, but I am wondering how rapid-fire the name of Jesus and the story about him dying on the cross, etc., spread.
As Jesus’s name spread, Paul’s spread along with it so the same goes for both of them.
I read a book that ranked the 100 most influential people in history and it actually went:
There are an awful lot of Buddhists and Hindus for that to be 100% true I think.
The author’s logic/thought was that Mohammad actively spread his religion, while Jesus was more of the source of the religion and Paul did the big writing and spreading of the new faith.
I don’t remember the list, so I don’t know where Buddha or influential Hindus would be on the list.
It was just one guy’s analysis of history and his opinion. It was also not entirely focused on religion. Einstein, I believe, was the only 20th century person to make the top 10-15
I read that book too or a similar one. It was in the 90s. In addition Muhammad was a military leader who conquered territory much of which is still held by his adherents.