who is the earliest historically attested Pope

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   Thank you for that Aliusama. Welcome to the forum (though i am only a member) i hope you find it nice too (this is one of the more friendly forums that i have found).

I will just post this extra comparison of "pope" Callistus and emperor Caracalla.

-- Callistus:
Name Callistus/Cal(l)ixtus.
-- Caracalla
Name Caracalla from "*Gallic* hooded tunic".
[Overthrown by Carausius?]
[Assasinated near Carrhae?]

-- Callistus/Cal(l)ixtus:
Reigned 217/218-222/223. "5"/"7" yrs.
-- Caracalla:
Reigned 197/198-209-211-217. ("19" yrs total co & sole.)

-- Callistus:
"Further there is extant an inscription of a Carpophorus, a freedman of M. Aurelius...."
-- Caracalla:
Created a connection with Marcus Aurelius.

-- Callistus:
"16th" "pope" from "Peter".
-- Caracalla:
"22nd" emperor from Augustus.
[Peter matches 5th emperor Nero, so minus the 4 1st emperors. And/or minus 3 usurpers (Otha, Galba, Vitellius). Or, Domitian "reincarnation of Nero", so minus 3 usurpers & 2 Flavian (Vespasian, Titus)?]

-- Callistus:
"Martyr".
Cemetary/catacombs of Callistus.
'Callistus Domitiorum' "son of Domitius". 
-- Caracalla:
[Murdered/assasinated by a soldier.]
Notorius & unpleasant for massacres & Persecutions he authorized & instigated.
[Connection with female person Domna?]

-- Callistus
Zephyrinus made him coemeritium.
-- Caracalla:
Co-emperor with Severus.

-- Callistus:
Connected with Elagabalus/Heliogabalus (Baal/El worship); & "antipope" Hippolytus ("& his defective theology" & "imperfect Christology" & "ditheism") was contemporary with him & after him.
-- Caracalla:
Heliogabalus/Elagabalus was emperor not long after him.
His father/mother connected with Elagabalus.

-- Callistus:
preceeded by Zepheniah / Zephyrinus.
-- Caracalla:
preceeded by (Septimius) Severus.

-- Callistus
Built an oratory (claimed by popinarii tavern-keepers).
Built a church/basilica. 
/ Patron of the titulus of Basilica of St Maria.
-- Caracalla:
Commissioned building of public bath(-house)s (which included libararies etc).
Forced senate to construct "palaces, theaters, and places of entertainment".

-- Callistus:
"pope/papa" / "bishop of bishops" / "pontiffex maximus".
Successor of Peter who had a bushy beard [and of Linus which means "flax coloured hair" which matches yellow hair in dictionaries ].
["The declaration of Carpophorus that Callistus was no Christian...."
"The orthodoxy of Callistus is challenged by both Hippolytus and Tertullian...."
"Hippolytus, however, regards Callistus as a heretic."]
-- Caracalla:
Emperors from Augustus to Theodosius were Pontiffex Maximus.
[The first 46+ "popes" certainly really match the  emperors and are not real popes/bishops. Callistus is certainly really Caracalla and not really a genuine pope/bishop.]
Caracalla had a "short full beard" [and wore blond whig] (and Geta had "long beard with hair strains").

-- Callistus:
"...was put in charge of collected funds by his master Carpophorus...."
"His master entrusted large sums of money to Callistus, with which he started a bank in which brethren and widows lodged money, all of which Callistus lost."
["He obtained great influence over the ignorant, illiterate, and grasping Zephyrinus by bribes."]
"...he tried to borrow money or collect debts from some Jews."
"...it is clear that he asked the Jewish money-lenders to repay what they owed him...."
"If Pope Victor granted Callistus a monthly pension...."
-- Caracalla:
"New and heavy taxes were levied against the bulk of the population, with additional fees and confiscations targeted at the wealthiest families."
"to increase state revenue" / "raising tax revenue" / "expanding the Roman tax base"
"About the time of his accession he ordered the Roman currency devalued, the silver purity of the denarius was decreased from 56.5% to 51.5%...." / "debasement of the currency"

-- Callistus:
Was a "runaway slave (now free by Roman law from his master...." &,
"The edict of Callistus on penance...."
"... in a famous edict he granted Communion after due penance to those who had committed adultery and fornication. .... ... The edict was an order to the whole Church.... .... ... and the pope in decreeing a relaxation was regarded as enacting a new law. .... ...Again Callistus allowed the lower clergy to marry, and permitted noble ladies to marry low persons and slaves, which by the Roman law was forbidden...."
"...he started to admit into the church converts from sects or schisms who had not done penance. ...and established the practice of absolution of all sins.... Hippolytus found Callixtus's policy of extending forgiveness of sins to cover sexual transgressions shockingly lax and denounced him for allowing believers to regularize liaisons with their own slaves by recognizing them as valid marriages. "
"Further there is extant an inscription of a Carpophorus, a freedman of M. Aurelius...."
"... thinks that Callistus also issued a decree about fasting...."
-- Caracalla:
"the Constitutio Antoniniana (also called the Edict of Caracalla or the Antonine Constitution), granting Roman citizenship to all freemen throughout the Roman Empire...."
"The Constitutio Antoniniana (Latin: "Constitution [or Edict] of Antoninus") (also called Edict of Caracalla or Antonine Constitution) was an edict issued in 212 by Caracalla which declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free women in the Empire were given the same rights as Roman women. Before 212, for the most part only inhabitants of Italia held full Roman citizenship. .... The effect of this was to remove the distinction that citizenship had held since the foundation of Rome and as such the act had a profound effect upon the fabric of Roman society."
&, "He forgot even the proper dignity of his rank...."

-- Callistus:
Connected with "pope" "Victor".
-- Caracalla:
Connected with military? [Alexander mimic/mania?]

-- Callistus:
Consigned to the pistrinum handmill.
-- Caracalla:
"... and even grinding his own flour with them."

-- Callistus:
No reliable historical verificiation. Acts are "spurious". Certain details only  "likely to be historical". "Possible" he was martyred.
-- Caracalla:
Historically verified.

-- Callistus:
prefect Aleaxnder (just after his death).
-- Caracalla:
Aleaxnder the Great mimic/mania.