Catherine the Great

About Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great, officially an Empress, fundamentally shaped the Russian Empire during her long reign from 1762 to 1796. As a paramount example of an enlightened despot, she significantly expanded Russian territory through successful wars against the Ottoman Empire and aggressively pursued Westernization and modernization of Russian culture, law, and administration. Her extensive patronage of the arts and sciences is a key reason why MIT's Pantheon project ranks her as the 291st most historically important figure globally.

Despite her high historical standing, Catherine's modern internet visibility suggests a significant disconnect. She garners 2.6 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, placing her in an 'overattention' category, indicated by a +6x Attention Gap relative to her importance. This suggests high cultural currency, but the comparison with contemporary figures is stark: she receives fewer than half the views of Robert De Niro (#562 importance, 5.7M views) and considerably less than Bob Dylan (#736 importance, 12.7M views).

Furthermore, the data indicates that interest is not stable; her Wikipedia viewership has experienced a 6.4% year-over-year decline, with a noticeable negative momentum of -19% when comparing Q1 to Q3 in 2025, signaling a potential erosion of contemporary online attention.