Your Favourite Historical People

Originally posted by Komnenos Originally posted by Menippos Archimedes (good brain - father of integral calculus, hydrostatics, static mechanics - generally regarded as the greatest mathematician and scientist of antiquity and one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time) So that's the bastard who made my school days a living hell! Thanks a lot!

Don't worry,his last sight was the three fingers of a palm

mine r:
Cyrus the great
Darius the great
xerxes I
Ramses II
Surena
Artavasdes
Ardashir I
Shapur I
genghis khan
tamerlane
shah abbas
shah esmail I
Sultan selim
Sultan mehmed ali II
Nader Shah Afshar
Winston Churchill
Atilla the hun
nixon
Reza Pahlavi
Muhamed Reza Shah Pahlavi

Jacques Chirac
because you can pronounce it
Jack's Iraq!

Egil Skallgrimson.

Gregory the Great.

Winston Churchill

Augustus

Claudius (ok, so he's had great press)

Henry II of England

Phillip Augustus of France.

Cnut Sviensson of England, Denmark and Norway

Issac Newton

Ivar the Boneless (just because I like the name--the actual guy was not at all nice)

Albert Einstein (another example of good press)

The Cookie Monster

 

Mord.

Originally posted by Raider "Egil Skallgrimson" Who is he? Can you give me a link or a brief biography?

I don't know if I can give you a web-link about old Egil Skallgrimson, but there is an entire Icelandic Saga about him.  Egil was an Icelander, supposedly of the early to mid 10 century AD.  He was an ornery and sucessful warrior, a consumate drunkard, and the best poet medieval poet Iceland ever produced.  He was not exactly loved by all.  Indeed, Egil was the sworn enemy  King Eric Bloodax (great name, eh!?) and once found himself ship-wrecked into Eric's court in Jorvik (or York), England.  Sensing that his neck was on the line for King Eric's ax, Egil struck (not exactly the best word!) a deal with the King.  Bloodax gave Egil one night to compose a icelandic praise-poem (remember, there were no pens and papers at this time) in order to save his life.  To make a long story short, Egil delivered the poem the next morning and saved his neck.  The King gave the poet his freedom, and as he left the court, Egil shouted a completely insulting poem to Eric.  Fortunately, the two never met again.

Mord (whose probably read the wrong books).

Oh, great thread.

Mine in no particular order:

Saman Khoda

Arsaces

Shahpur (I) the Great

Ardashir (I) the Great

Cyrus (II) the Great

Darius the Great

Khosrow Anushirvan

Attila the Hun

Maulana Rumi

Hafez Shirazi

Saadi Shirazi

Omar Khayyam

General Surena

Mohamad Mossadegh

Julius Caesar

Hannibal Barca

Scipio Africanus

Hadrian

Augustus

Belasarius

Heraclius

And many more if I can remember them.

Originally posted by Makros Baldwin IV of Jerusalem

I have to concur with that choice. 

I'd add Belisarius, Zenobia, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Theodora, Elizabeth Bathory, Rasputin, Augustus, Saladin, the Medicis, and Boudicca (even if she is basically a myth) to that list. I know I'm leaving lots out...... 

My favourite people in history:

Gaius Julius Caesar (dictator)

Augustus

Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Gaius Marius

Marcus Tulius Cicero

Alexander

Danton

Robespierre

Napoleon

Winston Churchill

Stalin

Boleslaw the brave king of Poland

Boleslaw the wrymouth of Poland

Robert Surcouf - pirate

Josef Fouche - boss of police

Mourice Talleyrand - politician

Francois Eugene Vidocq - policeman and detective

Charles Schulmeister - spy

Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, revolutionist, founder of Che-ka

Benvenuto Cellini, artist and adventurer

Maurycy August Beniowski, soldier, adventurer and king of Madagascar

 

 

 

Edited by Mosquito

Originally posted by Maju I actually find that even the best ones are too imperfect to be admired and that the most admirable are probably anonymous. I won't post a list therefore.

Maju, your view is a little cynical but I definitely understand it. That's why I myself only mentioned two (not counting the three living ones). I cannot with my conscience call ruthless emperors and conquerors my favorite historical people even though they may be considered heros by many.

Please also note how few female historical people are being mentioned ...

 

 

Mosquito, I am surprised you didn't mention Lech Walesa. Maybe you didn't because he's a living person. I myself almost wanted to put him on my "living person" list but I changed my mind.

Another "living person" that I think is worth mentioning is Vaclav Havel.