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Who is the most famous person in human history?

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G

Greddleok

Member
Probably Hitler. I don't think there is a major country or major culture that wasn't touched by World War 2.

Jesus is an iffy one since there is a severe lack of information about whether he actually existed or not (i.e. not as a deity, but as an actual person).
 
Peterthumpa

Peterthumpa

Member
Heartfyre said:
Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, or Winston Churchill, I would suggest. Modern history will always have more famous figures, even if ones such as Caesar or Charlemagne have significant, lasting influence.
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I think the bolded qualify as american and british history first and foremost. Pretty sure most of Africa / South America / Asia have no idea who they were, and even some parts of Europe as well.
 
C

Camp Freddie

Member
RowdyReverb said:
But how do we know that Michael Jackson actually existed? Do we have any real proof?
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Those pictures of him looking like a white guy are clearly revisionist bullshit. If you look at the ethnic composition of 70's soul/disco/motown and his proposed genealogy, it's clear that he'd be an african-american.

Sorry
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
Brashnir said:
Considering population numbers around the world, it's probably Gautama Buddha.
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I think Catholicism is the biggest religion in the world, followed closely by Islam?

Arc said:
Jesus and Mohammed happened because of things Ceasar did.
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He may have been the catalyst, but does that make him more well-known?

Tence said:
I would argue Muhammad Ali, Maradonna and even CR are more famous outside the US
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I think Muhammed Ali is probably the most famous sportsman of all time. I can't really think of another single person who stood out so much in their sport who would be relevant worldwide.
 
W

Wanace

Member
I read the entire first page @100ppp and didn't see Alexander the great, and on page fiVe we are still debating Jesus? Smh
 
A

autumnleaf

Member
Alanood said:
I'm sure if you go to Africa and ask people there most of them won't recognize him.
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They would recognise him as Bugs Bunny's co-star.

Ali is almost certainly the most famous sportsman ever. MJ, Jesse Owens, Pele, Maradona, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher, Usain Bolt are some others.
 
N

NEO0MJ

Member
Wait, people here are doubting that Mohammad was real?

Tence said:
I would argue Muhammad Ali, Maradonna and even CR are more famous outside the US
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Yeah. Michael was pretty well known worldwide for a basketball player but he doesn't touch someone like Ali.
 
H

hobblygobbly

Member
Religion: Jesus
Politics: Adolf Hitler
Science: Einstein
Sport: Pelé or Cristiano Ronaldo... I'm not sure which one, but definitely someone from football (soccer), it is by far the most played and followed sport globally for generations.
Music: Bach (or Beethoven/Mozart, tough call)
Literature: Shakespeare
Philosophy: Karl Marx
 
B

Bo-Locks

Member
David Beckham possibly has a chance of being the most recognisable / famous sports star. I haven't seen his name mentioned yet.
 
P

Possumowner

Member
hobblygobbly said:
Religion: Jesus
Politics: Adolf Hitler
Science: Einstein
Sport: Pelé or Cristiano Ronaldo... I'm not sure which one, but definitely someone from football (soccer), it is by far the most played and followed sport globally for generations.
Music: Bach (or Beethoven/Mozart, tough call)
Literature: Shakespeare
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Agree with everything... though I'd definitely have Beethoven in music
 
P

PHOENIXZERO

Member
It'd be easier to believe in historical Jesus if we actually had something, anything from when he was alive not references written decades after his crucifixion. There is no known contemporary evidence of him and no Tacitus and Josephus aren't it. The gospels as far as we know weren't even written until decades later as well and they took a lot of "inspiration" from older mythologies/stories. Besides, if you want to do a religious figure Moses without evidence would be the correct answer.

As for historically, probably Hitler seeing how much the world's population has exploded since WWII there's simply more people who would know the name. Though in reality it's probably some celebrity that's been alive in the last 20 years.
 
D

Dantooine

Banned
Ok, if Jesus and Mohammed are allowed I'll throw in Darth Vader, or Father Christmas.

Michael Jackson might actually take it over Hitler.
 
O

Octavianus

Banned
People in this thread are including fictional characters into the descussion so I will do the same: It's Santa Clause. Darth Vader and Mario are up there as well.
 
P

Pandy

Member
Machina said:
Sadly it's got to be Hitler. Infamy is just as important as the opposite
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That might change in a few decades, but for now I'd agree he's still number 1.

The only other person would be Trump, but I don't know how much of the world gets shovel fed US news like we do in the UK.
 
O

OfTheOverflow

Member
Well this is a thread and a half. From a Western adult atheists POV, maybe Jesus? He mightn't be the most fanatically reveered (he is to a lot of people obviously) but I'd say most people have at least heard of the guy.

Pandy said:
The only other person would be Trump, but I don't know how much of the world gets shovel fed US news like we do in the UK.
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Most western countries I'd imagine get his shit shovelled in their faces. I know a lot of people complain that news in Australia is scarcely 'Australian'.
 
M

manueldelalas

Time Traveler
PHOENIXZERO said:
It'd be easier to believe in historical Jesus if we actually had something, anything from when he was alive not references written decades after his crucifixion. There is no known contemporary evidence of him and no Tacitus and Josephus aren't it. The gospels as far as we know weren't even written until decades later as well and they took a lot of "inspiration" from older mythologies/stories. Besides, if you want to do a religious figure Moses without evidence would be the correct answer.

As for historically, probably Hitler seeing how much the world's population has exploded since WWII there's simply more people who would know the name. Though in reality it's probably some celebrity that's been alive in the last 20 years.
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When you look for historicity, you not only search for what is written, you also look for what isn't written.

You know what isn't written about Jesus? Texts that contradict those that are written, remotely near the time they were written.

Jesus is a historical figure, and we are much more sure of this than most other famous historical figures at the time.

There is also the things that were written. If you were inventing or creating a fictional character Son of God, you don't write stuff like his baptism, that he kicked some merchants out of some temple, or that he was crucified and died. He wouldn't have need a baptism, he would be a pacifist and went straight to heaven in a fire carriage or something.

The only problem historians face when determining the life of Jesus, is that there is too much written about him, whereas most historical characters have too little written about them.
 
N

Nev

Banned
Morrigan Stark said:
Pretty sure people in Japan don't say "Jesus Christ" very often. Stop being so anglocentric.
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Accuses someone of being anglocentric -> Completely ignores that Jesus is a also a common word for the 500 million Spanish speakers in the world.

The irony.
 
T

ty_hot

Member
Once I read an article that stated that at that time, the most known person on Earth was Jesus, followed by the USA president Clinton and then Ronaldo (the first and real one). By `known` they meant that when they showed a photo, people would know how to name him/her correctly.

Nowadays it should be something similar, Jesus - Obama (Trump doesnt have enough exposure time for foreigners) - Cristiano Ronaldo (more of a marketing guy than Messi). I would even argue that Ronaldinho could be near the top as well. Usain Bolt could be very well known as well, he has beaten so many records and appeared so much on TV and he has been in Olympics in 3 different continents... but probably still way behind the others.

Michael Jackson is not known (as in recognizable in a picture) for young people, I believe. Ofc american people know him, but do people in Ugana know him? These very poor places end up getting to know sports (football) and religious figures mostly.

A more intereting question would be who is the most famous WOMAN in human history.
 
Airola

Airola

Member
PHOENIXZERO said:
It'd be easier to believe in historical Jesus if we actually had something, anything from when he was alive not references written decades after his crucifixion. There is no known contemporary evidence of him and no Tacitus and Josephus aren't it. The gospels as far as we know weren't even written until decades later as well and they took a lot of "inspiration" from older mythologies/stories. Besides, if you want to do a religious figure Moses without evidence would be the correct answer.
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Do you require as much contemporary evidence of other ancient historical figures as you require of Jesus? If you do, it might be so that you should stop believing in the existence of several of them too.


The next thing I'm about to say doesn't really relate to what you wrote as it's about the later writings:
I don't understand why some don't want to accept the references for Jesus in the Bible as any sort of evidence towards his existence. People often want to see evidence outside of the Bible. But the thing is that those texts weren't always part of the Bible. So if we could go back in time when the letters and all were unrelated to each other, completely separate things written by different people, would people still say they don't count?
I mean, denying their reliability just because they are in the Bible is basically the same as denying any other collection of writings about some certain person just because they were at some point collected and put together.



So..
For Jesus to be completely fictional person there seems to be awfully lot of mentions about him as a real person. I'd say there are more references about him than some other historical figures whose existence we don't generally doubt.



And by the way, some of the contents of Paul's letters can be traced to comment on situations that happened very close to Jesus' death. So there is contextual connection. It's not a historical accounting of things like the gospels but it's someone writing to letter to someone else and saying something like "hey remember the time when this and that happened, when we were here and there" and those references can be traced back to very close of Jesus' death. So unless there was some elaborate plan to write about something that didn't really happen to just fool people they are casually writing about a person who didn't really exist then there are too many things connected to Jesus' existence to not believe he existed. And if you go to the route of it being this big plan to deceive people, well, all I say is I understand conspiracy theories are interesting things to delve into and good luck to you in your endeavors :D
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
Dantooine said:
Ok, if Jesus and Mohammed are allowed I'll throw in Darth Vader, or Father Christmas.

Michael Jackson might actually take it over Hitler.
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Theres lots of historical evidence to back up Jesus and Mohammed existing. Theres just no evidence that they were anything more than normal humans. Pretty sure Jesus was just a prominent and controversial political figure in his time.
 
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