Persian king (486 – 465 BC) of the Achaemenian dynasty. The son of Darius I, he had been governor of Babylon before his succession. He ferociously suppressed rebellions in Egypt (484) and Babylonia (482). To avenge Darius's defeat by th...

Philip II of Macedon was a Greek king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III. In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of Perinthus. Philip began another siege in 339 of...

Archimedes of Syracuse was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Generally consider...

Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI, also known as Mithridates the Great (Megas) and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia (now in Turkey) from about 119 to 63 BC. Mithridates was a king of Persian origi...

Pompey (the Great), was a distinguished and ambitious Roman military leader, provincial administrator and politician of the 1st century BC, the period of the Late Republic. Hailing from an Italian provincial background, Pompey first disting...

Gaius Julius Caesar is remembered as one of history's greatest generals and a key ruler of the Roman empire. As a young man he rose through the administrative ranks of the Roman republic, accumulating power until he was elected consul in 59...

Claudius was Roman emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul, the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy. Because he was afflicted with a...

Servius Sulpicius Galba, also called, was Roman Emperor from June 8, 68 until his death. He was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. Galba's primary concern during his brief reign was in restoring state finances, and to t...

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, more commonly known by his nickname Caligula, was the 3rd Roman Emperor who reigned from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41. Caligula was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty whic...

Commodus was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His ac...

Caracalla, formally known as Antoninus, was a Roman emperor from AD 198 to 217. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. Caracalla reigned jointly with his father from 198 until Severus' d...

Born to a noble family of Wessex, England, as Wynfrid or Wynfrith, Boniface (in Latin, Bonifatius) is known as the "Apostle of Germany" for his work in Christianizing that country. First a benedictine monk and then ordained as a pr...

Count Floris V of Holland (1254-1296), the "Keerlen God" (Peasant God), is one of the most important figures of the first, native dynasty of Holland (833-1299). His life has been documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his c...

John the Fearless (French: Jean sans Peur, Dutch: Jan zonder Vrees), also John II, Duke of Burgundy, known as John of Valois and John of Burgundy, was Duke of Burgundy from 1404 to 1419. He was Regent for his mentally ill first cousin Charl...

James I, King of Scots (reign: 1406 – 37), was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons. By the time he was eight years of age both of his elder brothers w...