This is an index of occupations of famous ancient people on this site. Occupation should be thought of loosely as what the individuals, human, legendary, or divine, spent their time on or were known for. Taking a quick look over the occupations, you may be surprised not to find a category of "warrior." Soldiers who made a name for themselves generally rose to power and became leaders of men or of nations. Therefore, for famous ancient military men, you'll have to look under "rulers."
Christians Christians include the Church fathers and theologians who set the agenda for Christianity as well as some of the heretics whose views of Christianity never made the mainstream.
Heroes (Legendary) Heroes of Greek legend seem to make a career out of it, traveling far beyond the world known to non-heroic mortals. There's Hercules going to the ends of the earth and even to the Underworld on his quests. There's Jason who called upon all the other living heroes of the age to join him on his adventures beyond the civilized world. Theseus winds his way through a labyrinth. Perseus travels the world to provision himself for his perilous encounter with the Medusa.
Historians Some of the men on this list should more properly be called annalists, geographers, or biographers, but together they have provided us with most of the factual details we have about the ancient world.
Doctors/Physicians
The Greek doctors revolutionized medicine, making it less a matter of superstition and more a method of, well, being methodical and observant.
Mathematicians These are the most impressive of the lot, to me. We still talk about Euclidean geometry and Eratosthenes figured out the circumference of the earth reasonably well and well before the Christian world rejected the flat-earth theory.
Monsters It's a bit of a stretch referring to monstering as an occupation, but without these characters from Greek legend, what would a hero have used to prove his or her mettle?
Philosophers A fascinating bunch these, arguing about whether or not there is an underlying atomic structure to everything in the world or whether there are mathematical principles to everything. They also came up with advice about how to live well that would serve us as well today as it did way back when.
Playwrights These are the writers of tragedy, old comedy, new comedy, and Roman comedy. If you enjoy the theater today or watch sitcoms on television, you owe a debt of gratitude to these guys.
Writers In addition to specialized categories of the history and play writers, Greek and Latin writers wrote epics, odes, lyrics, elegies, poems praising victors, satires, and letters.
| 