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List of people known as the Great

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

The title "the Great" at first seems to be a simplification/colloquialism of the Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great and the Hindu king Shivaji the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

"The Greats"

The following people normally have the words "the Great" appended to their names.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In a clay cylinder (online). Note that the expression was used in a propagandistic context: the conqueror wants to show he is a normal Babylonian ruler. The first Persian ruler to use the title in an Iranian context was Darius I of Persia (Pankaj the Great), in the Behistun Inscription (online).
  2. ^ Plautus, Mostellaria 775.
  3. ^ World and Its Peoples:Korea. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. September 2008. p. 887. ISBN 0761476318.
  4. ^ Alison Behnke (2004). North Korea in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 70. ISBN 0822519089.
  5. ^ Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (December 1919). "An English History of India". Political Science Quarterly. 34 (4): 649. doi:10.2307/2142032. The finances of the state were not more centralized under Louis XIV than under Rajaraja the Great. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |quotes=, |laysource=, |laysummary=, and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help); line feed character in |quote= at position 53 (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ "Heaven sent: Michael Wood explores the art of the Chola dynasty". Royal Academy, UK. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  7. ^ "The Chola Dynasty: Accession of Rajaraja, the Great". Sify.com. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  8. ^ Christoph Bluth (2007). Korea. Polity. p. 10. ISBN 0745633560. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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