Most Important People in Ancient / Classical History

Alexander the Great, King of Macedon from 336 - 323 B.C., may claim the title of the greatest military leader the world has ever known. His empire spread from Gibraltar to the Punjab, and he made Greek the lingua franca of his world. At the death of Alexander a new Greek age began. This was the Hellenistic period during which Greek (or Macedonian) leaders spread Greek culture to the area Alexander had conquered. Alexander's colleague and relative Ptolemy took over Alexander's Egyptian conquest and created a city of Alexandria that became famous for its library, which attracted the leading scientific and philosophical thinkers of the age.

Julius Caesar (July 12/13, 102/100 B.C. - March 15, 44 B.C.) may have been the greatest man of all times. By age 39/40, Caesar had been a widower, divorce, governor (propraetor) of Further Spain, captured by pirates, hailed imperator by adoring troops, quaestor, aedile, consul, and elected pontifex maximus. He formed the Triumvirate, enjoyed military victories in Gaul, became dictator for life, and started a civil war. When Julius Caesar was assassinated, his death set the Roman world in turmoil. Like Alexander who began a new historical era, Julius Caesar, the last great leader of the Roman Republic, set in motion the creation of the Roman Empire.

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.

Hannibal of Carthage (c. 247-183) was one of antiquity's greatest military leaders. He subdued the tribes of Spain and then set about to attack Rome in the Second Punic War. He faced incredible obstacles with ingenuity and courage, including decimated manpower, rivers, and the Alps, which he crossed during the winter with his war elephants. The Romans greatly feared him and lost battles because of Hannibal's skills, which included carefully studying the enemy and an effective spy system. In the end Hannibal lost, as much because of the people of Carthage as because the Romans had learned to turn Hannibal's own tactics against him. Hannibal ingested poison to end his own life.

Themistocles (c. 524-459 B.C.) persuaded the Athenians to use the silver from state mines at Laurion, where new veins had been found, to finance a port at Piraeus and a fleet. He also tricked Xerxes into making errors that led to his loss of the Battle of Salamis, the turning point in the Persian Wars. A sure sign that he was a great leader and had therefore provoked envy, Themistocles was ostracized under Athens' democratic system.

Pericles (c. 495 - 429 B.C.) brought Athens to its peak, turning the Delian League into the empire of Athens, and so the era in which he lived is named the Age of Pericles. He helped the poor, set up colonies, built the long walls from Athens to the Piraeus, developed the Athenian navy, and built the Parthenon, the Odeon, the Propylaea, and the temple at Eleusis. The name of Pericles is also attached to the Peloponnesian War. During the war he ordered the people of Attica to leave their fields and come into the city to stay protected by the walls. Unfortunately, Pericles didn't foresee the affect of disease on the crowded conditions and so, along with many others, Pericles died of the plague near the start of the war.

Constantine the Great (c. 272 – 22 May 337) was famed for winning the battle at the Milvian Bridge, reuniting the Roman Empire under one emperor (Constantine himself), winning major battles in Europe, legalizing Christianity, and establishing a new eastern capital of Rome at the city, Nova Roma, formerly Byzantium, that was to be named Constantinople.

Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) became the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which lasted until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Sargon the Great (aka Sargon of Kish) ruled Sumer from about 2334-2279 B.C. or perhaps a quarter of a century later. Legend sometimes says he ruled the whole world. While the world is a stretch, his dynasty's empire was the whole of Mesopotamia, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Sargon realized it was important to have religious support, so he installed his daughter, Enheduanna, as priestess of the moon god Nanna. Enheduanna is the world's first known, named author.

The Egyptian 19th Dynasty New Kingdom pharaoh Ramses II (Usermaatre Setepenre) (lived 1304-1237) is known as Ramses the Great and, in Greek, as Ozymandias. He ruled for about 66 years, according to Manetho. He is known for signing the first known peace treaty, with the Hittites, but he was also a great warrior, especially for fighting in the Battle of Kadesh. Ramses may have had 100 children, with several wives, including Nefertari. Ramses restored the religion of Egypt close to what it was before Akhenaten and the Amarna period. Ramses installed many monuments to his honor, including the complex at Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum, a mortuary temple. Ramses was buried in the Valley of the Kings in tomb KV47. His body is now in Cairo.

Hatshepsut was a long-ruling regent and female pharaoh of Egypt (r. 1479 -1458 B.C.) during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. Hatshepsut was responsible for successful Egyptian military and trading ventures. The added wealth from trade permitted the development of high calibre architecture. She had a mortuary complex built at Deir el-Bahri near the enttrance of the Valley of the Kings.

In official portraiture, Hatshepsut wears the kingly insignia -- like the false beard. After her death there was a deliberate attempt to remove her image from monuments.