73 Ancient People You Should Know

Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) was one of the most important western philosophers, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle's philosophy, logic, science, metaphysics, ethics, politics and system of deductive reasoning have been of inestimable importance ever since. In the Middle Ages, the Church used Aristotle to explain its doctrines.

Ashoka (304 - 232 B.C.), a Hindu convert to Buddhism, was king of the Mauryan Dynasty in India from 269 until his death. With his capital at Magadha, Ashoka's empire extended into Afghanistan. Following bloody wars of conquest, when Ashoka was considered cruel, he changed: He eschewed violence, promoted tolerance, and the moral welfare of his people. He also established contact with the Hellenistic world. Ashoka posted "the edicts of Ashoka" on great animal-topped pillars, chiseled in the ancient Brahmi script. Mostly reforms, the edicts also list public works projects, including universities, roads, hospitals, and irrigation systems.

See King Ashoka: His Edicts and His Times

Attila the Hun was born around 406 A.D. and died 453. Called the Scourge of God by the Romans, Attila was the fierce king and general of the barbarian group known as the Huns who struck fear in the hearts of the Romans as he plundered everything in his path, invaded the Eastern Empire, and then crossed the Rhine into Gaul. Attila successfully led his forces to invade the Eastern Roman Empire in 441. In 451, on the Plains of Chalons, Attila suffered a setback against the Romans and Visigoths, but he made progress and was on the verge of sacking Rome when in 452 the pope dissuaded Attila from sacking Rome.

The Hun Empire extended from the Steppes of Eurasia through most of modern Germany and south into Thermopylae.

St. Augustine (13 November 354 - 28 August 430) was an important figure in the history of Christianity. He wrote about topics like predestination and original sin. Some of his doctrines separate Western and Eastern Christianity. Augustine lived in Africa during the time of the attack of the Vandals.

Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus (September 23, 63 B.C.- August 19, A.D. 14), the grand-nephew and primary heir of Julius Caesar, began his career by serving under Julius Caesar in the Spanish expedition of 46 B.C. Upon his grand-uncle's assassination in 44 B.C., Octavian went to Rome to be recognized as the (adopted) son of Julius Caesar. He dealt with the assassins of his father and the other Roman power contenders, and made himself the one-man head of Rome -- the person we know of as emperor. In 27 B.C., Octavian became Augustus, restored order and consolidated the principate (the Roman Empire). The Roman Empire that Augustus created lasted for 500 years.

See: Augustus Timeline.

Boudicca was queen of the Iceni, in ancient Britain. Her husband was the Roman client-king Prasutagus. When he died, the Romans assumed control of his area of eastern Britain. Boudicca conspired with other neighboring leaders to rebel against Roman interference. In 60 A.D., she led her allies first against the Roman colony of Camulodunum (Colchester), destroyed it, and killed thousands living there, and afterwards, in London and Verulamium (St. Albans). After her massacre of the urban Romans she met their armed forces, and, inevitably, defeat and death, perhaps by suicide.

Caligula or Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (A.D. 12 - 41) followed Tiberius to be the third Roman emperor. He was adored at his accession, but after an illness, his behavior changed. Caligula is remembered as sexually perverted, cruel, insane, extravagant, and desperate for funds. Caligula had himself worshiped as a god while still alive, instead of after death as had been done before. Several assassination attempts are thought to have been made before the successful conspiracy of the Praetorian Guard, on January 24, 41.

Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 B.C.), a novus homo from Tusculum, in Sabine country, was an austere leader of the Roman Republic known for coming into conflict with his contemporary, the more flamboyant Scipio Africanus, winner of the Second Punic War.

Cato the Younger is the name of one of Julius Caesar's staunchest opponents. Cato the Elder is his ancestor.

Cato the Elder served in the military, especially in Greece and Spain. He became consul at 39 and later, censor. He influenced Roman life in law, foreign and domestic policy, and morality.

Cato the Elder despised luxury, especially of the Greek variety his enemy Scipio favored. Cato also disapproved of Scipio's leniency towards the Carthaginians at the conclusion of the Second Punic War.

Catullus (c. 84 - 54 c. B.C.) was a popular and talented Latin poet who wrote invective poetry about Julius Caesar and love poetry about a woman thought to be a sister of Cicero's nemesis Clodius Pulcher.

King Ying Zheng unified the warring states of China and became the First Emperor or Emperor Ch'in (Qin) in 221 B.C. This ruler commissioned the gigantic terracotta army and subterranean palace/mortuary complex found, via pottery sherds, by farmers digging in their fields, two millennia later, during the tenure of one his greatest admirers, Chairman Mao.