List of founders of ancient religious traditions

List of founders of ancient religious traditions

 

The following figures are believed to have founded or inspired religions or religious philosophies, or to have been the founders of specific churches or denominations or first codifiers or best-known proponents of older known religious tradition. only individuals that are widely accepted as historical are listed. For legendary figures for which historicity cannot be established, see culture hero.

 

In many cases, a religion may be considered as a continuous tradition extending to prehistoric times, without a founder, or with legendary founding figures whose historicity cannot be established (such as Abraham or Lord Rishabha). This notwithstanding, the various historical sub-denominations of such religions will still have founders, such as Paul of Tarsus for Pauline Christianity, Nestorius for Nestorianism, or Martin Luther for Lutheranism, all being sub-denominations of Christianity. Religion develops by means of schisms and reforms (motivated either by revelation or by theological speculation), and it is a matter of subjective judgement at what point such a schism or reform assumes the quality of a "foundation" of a new religion.

Chronologically, foundations of religious traditions may be divided into

 

1. the Axial Age, with the earliest major founding figures such as Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius and Socrates (via Plato);

2. Hellenism to Late Antiquity, with foundations of classical religious traditions and schools such as various sects of Early Christianity, Stoicism, Gnosticism, Upanishadic Hinduism

 

Name of prophet or founder	Religion or belief	Dates of prophet's or founder's life
En-hedu-ana	priestess of Inanna, the earliest author of religious scripture known by name.	23rd century BC
Akhenaten	Atenism	14th century BCE
Zoroaster	Zoroastrianism	Early Iron Age
Solomon	Israelite king who built the first Temple in Jerusalem and codified (proto-)Judaism.	10th century BCE (Solomon's historicity is uncertain, see also Tel Dan Stele)
Numa Pompilius	Roman king who codified and organized the Roman religion	717 BCE - 673 BCE
Mahavira	The final (24th) Tirthankara in Jainism	6th century BCE
Laozi	Taoism	600s BCE
Siddhārtha Gautama	Buddhism	563 BCE - 483 BCE
Confucius	Confucianism	551 BCE - 479 BCE
Pythagoras	Pythagoreanism	520 BCE
Mozi	Mohism	470 BCE - 390 BCE
Leucippus	Atomism	440 BCE
Ezra	restores Judaism to the Second Temple	5th century BCE
Plato	Platonic realism	427 BCE - 347 BCE
Epicurus	Epicureanism	307 BCE
Zeno of Citium	Stoicism	333 BCE - 264 BCE
Patanjali	Raja Yoga	2nd century BCE
Jesus of Nazareth	Early Christianity	6 BCE - 27 CE (the historicity of Jesus is disputed by some authors)
Paul of Tarsus	Pauline Christianity	1st century
Simon Peter	Petrine Christianity	1st century
Judah haNasi	Talmudic Judaism	2nd century
Nagarjuna	Madhyamaka	150 - 250
Plotinus	Neoplatonism	205 - 270
Marcion of Sinope	Marcionism	110 - 160