List of people known as The Great
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[edit] Introduction
The first ruler who is known for certain to have used "the great" is the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great.[1]
The first western ruler who is known for certain to have used "the great" as a personal surname may have been a Seleucid ruler in control of Babylonia, Antiochus III (223-187), although it is very likely that Alexander of Macedon (336-323) had already received this surname. 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 was called "the Great", and the fact that he called himself the "unconquerable god", suggests that he did not need to stress his mere human greatness.
Later rulers and commanders have also used 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. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as a honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.
A modern legacy is the series of TV-shows that tried to choose "the Greatest Britons" (Winston Churchill), "Le Plus Grand Français" (Charles de Gaulle), "The Greatest American" (Ronald Reagan), or "Unsere Besten" (Konrad Adenauer). Only the Czechs preferred a fictional character (Jara Cimrman).
[edit] "The Greats"
The following people normally have the words "the Great" appended to their names.
- Abbas the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Akbar the Great, India
- Alaric the Great, of the Visigoths
- Albert the Great (aka Albertus Magnus), Medieval German philosopher and theologian (but note that "the Great" translates his family name, de Groot)
- Alexander the Great, King of Macedon
- Alfred the Great of Wessex, English
- Alfonso the Great of Leon
- Anthony the Great early Christian saint of Egypt
- Antiochus the Great, Seleucid Empire
- Ashoka the Great, India
- Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, Thailand
- Boleslaus the Brave, sometimes called the Great, Poland
- Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the Great, Thailand
- Canute the Great, Danish, King of Denmark, England, and Norway
- Casimir the Great, Poland
- Catherine the Great, Russia
- Charles the Great, more commonly known as "Charlemagne"
- Chulalongkorn the Great, Thailand
- Constantine the Great, Rome/Byzantium
- Cyrus the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Darius the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Frederick the Great, Prussia
- The Great Gama,Rustam-e-Hindustan
- Genghis Khan the Great, Mongolia
- Gertrude the Great of Helfta, medieval mystic
- Gustavus Adolphus the Great, Sweden
- Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo, Korea
- Hanno the Great, Carthage
- Henry IV the Great, France
- Herod the Great, Judea
- Ivan the Great, Russia
- John the Great, Portugal
- John Paul II the Great, Pope
- Justinian the Great, Byzantium
- Kamehameha the Great, Hawai'i
- Karim Khan the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Llywelyn the Great, Wales/Gwynedd
- Louis the Great, Hungary and Poland
- Louis the Great, France
- Mithridates the Great, Parthia
- Mithridates the Great, Pontus
- Moctezuma the Great, Aztec empire
- Mubarak Al-Sabah the Great, Kuwait
- Nabíl-i-A`zam, Persia
- Napoleon the Great, France
- Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor
- Pacal the Great, Maya state of Palenque
- Peter the Great, Russia
- Peter III the Great, Aragont
- Pompey the Great, Rome
- Prokop the Great, Hussite leader in Bohemia
- Rameses the Great, Ancient Egypt
- The Great Randi, American illusionist
- Reza Shah the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Rhodri the Great, Wales/Gwynedd
- Sancho III the Great, Navarre
- Shapur the Great, Sassanid empire, Persia (Iran)
- Sargon the Great, Akkad
- Sejong the Great, Korea
- Simeon I the Great, Bulgaria
- Stephen the Great, Moldova, Romania
- St. Basil the Great, Cappadocia
- St. Gregory the Great, pope
- Saint James the Great, apostle
- St. Leo the Great, pope
- St. Macarius the Great, Egyptian hermit
- St. Nicholas the Great, pope
- Theodoric the Great, Ostrogoths
- Theodosius the Great, Rome
- Tigranes the Great, Armenia
- Valdemar I the Great, Denmark
- Vytautas the Great, archduke of Lithuanian Grand Duchy
- William V the Great, Aquitaine
- Xerxes the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Yu the Great, China
[edit] Related
- Muhammad Ali, boxer (The Greatest)
- Alexandru cel Bun, ("the Kind") Romanian voivode
- Julio César Chávez, boxer (The Great Mexican Champion)
- Agostino Chigi, il Magnifico ("The Magnificent")
- Ellaalan, "the Just" , Sri Lanka
- Frederick William of Brandenburg, Großer Kurfürst ("the Great Elector")
- Jackie Gleason (the Great One)
- Wayne Gretzky (the Great One)
- Lorenzo il Magnifico, ("The Magnificent")
- Lozang Gyatso, 5th Dalai Lama, "The Great Fifth Dalai Lama", Tibet
- Leelavathi Naaichchi, " the Brave " , Sri Lanka .
- Mihai Viteazul, ("the Brave"), Romanian voivode
- Pegun, "the Magnanimous", India .
- Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy
- The Rock, wrestler/actor (Rocky, also known as The Great One)
- Shivaji, "The Great Maratha"
- Stefan Dušan, ("The Forceful"), Serbian tzar
- Ştefan cel Mare ("The Great"), voivod of Moldavia
- Stefan Visoki ("The Tall"), Serbian despot
- Suleyman the Magnificent
- Felix Trinidad, boxer (Tito, also known as The Great Puerto Rican Champion)
- The Great Kat, heavy metal guitarist and violinist
[edit] Fictional characters
- Sheila the Great from Judy Blume's Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
- Edward the Great - title of an Iron Maiden 'greatest hits' album, named for the band's mascot Eddie.
- Gonzo the Great character from The Muppet Show.
- The Great Brain.
- The Great Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel.
- The Great Gazoo from the cartoon series The Flintstones.
- The Great Merlini.
- The Great Pumpkin from Peanuts comic strip.
- The Great Rupert from the 1950 film of the same name.
- The Great Skeeve from the novels of Robert Asprin
- The Great Santini.
- The Great Suprendo from Sesame Street.
- Nate the Great, from the Nate the Great series, by Marjorie W. Sharmat.
[edit] Notes
- ^ In the Cyrus 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 the Great, in the Behistun Inscription (online).
- ^ Plautus, Mostellaria 775.
