John the Baptist
Christian literature is reluctant to deal with John the Baptist, although he was the one who "initiated" Jesus and he was the first one to be killed (beheaded by Herod's son Herod Antipas). The Jewish historian Josephus did not know Jesus but he did know very well John the Baptist. Josephus reports how John the Baptist created a large movement that came to threaten Herod Antipas. In the gospels Jesus seems to be one of the Baptist's disciples that somehow started his own movement (the gospels mention that he made his first recruits among John's disciples). John's movement disappears with his death, but John was still revered over the centuries (as attested by countless legends and paintings about his beheading).

(The Mandaeans, a religious sect centered on the Iran/Iraq border, claim that the Baptist was their greatest leader (although they deny he was the founder of their religion) and that Jesus, who started his career as one of John's disciples, was a false prophet who stole John's teachings and corrupted them, then misled the people who followed him with corrupt teachings. Andrew Rush )