Unique. He wasn't more publicized until after his death like the other "messiah's" were while alive.
Jesus warns of false messiahs and prophets (Matt. 24:5, 11, 24). These individuals, whom John refers to as false teachers and prophets (Rev. 2:14-15;19:29) were not in short supply. Josephus reports that the Zealots suborned many false prophets to rally the people against Rome (Wars 6.5.2).
One individual who seduced a large following was Theudas, a self-proclaimed prophet whom Josephus calls a magician. This man deluded several souls into following him to the Jordan River, which he promised to divide in order to provide passage through as they retreated. It didn't work; Fadus sent troops after him and his band and captured and slew them. Theudas ended up beheaded.
Another false messiah who rose shortly after Christ was Judas the Galilean, who led a failed messianic movement to protest tribute to Rome. Josephus doesn't relate the death of Judas but does record the execution of his two sons (Antiquities 20.5.2), and calls him a teacher of his own peculiar sect, referring to the Zealots (not from one of the philosophical schools like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes were (Wars 2.8.2)). Judas was of a school that Josephus mocks as self-aggrandizing.
Doubts persist as to whether this Theudas and Judas of whom Josephus writes are the same as the two individuals of whom Luke writes in the Book of Acts (5:36-37), but in either case, these false teachers came to nothing. Their lives mattered not a whit to the world at large.
Luke records the fate of another false prophet, Bar-Jesus, after he opposes the Gospel that Paul and Barnabas preach (Acts 13:6-12). His life also came to nothing.
The last false messiah during the Jewish Wars, though certainly not the last imposter to ever claim to be Christ, was Simon bar Kokhba, who led his insurgents against Roman occupation in Judea after the Great Revolt and Kito's War ended in failure for the Jews. History estimates that over half a million Jews were killed in this third and final campaign, directly at the hands of the Romans and due to famine and disease. Bar Kokhba died in the fortress of Betar, and, like all the false messiahs before him, was laid to rest without effecting the change he intended. Rome maintained its presence and the Jewish political state came once and for all all to a complete collapse.
The false teachers who rose up to liberate Israel and Judea from their pagan overlords wooed followers with their boastful language and military prowess. They envisioned themselves claiming victories and returning home as heros. They saw themselves ensconced in history as mighty warriors and faithful servants who would restore the glory of their homeland. They would all fail.
From Jesus of Nazareth we get a rather different portrait of what Messiah ought to be. In Jesus we have neither a military leader nor a self- proclaimed savior. Jesus did not promise a restored and glorified Israel. He did not die a hero's death or win the favor of his countrymen. Quite the opposite. In his unique, humble way, he promised the kingdom of God to a new people under a new covenant and then died a slave's death. His mission was not to suffer merely for the salvation of Israel but for the salvation of the world. And he succeeded.
