Download People to Know for World History I

People to Know for World History I
Hammurabi: Babylonian king who establish the first known written law code “code of Hammurabi.
The central idea for the law code is “eye for an eye.”
Abraham: Considered the founder of Judaism, and therefore the two other monotheistic religions of
Christianity and Islam.
Moses: Great prophet of Judaism who led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt and into Palestine.
Cyrus and Darius: Emperors of the Persian Empire who practiced religious tolerance over conquered
people, established a bureaucracy, and constructed a road system.
Asoka: King of the Mauryan Empire in India. He united the Indian subcontinent and spread
Buddhism throughout Asia through missionary efforts.
Siddhartha Gautama: Founder of Buddhism who became known as the “Buddha” or enlightened one.
He developed the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and the Eightfold Path to reach enlightenment or
nirvana.
Qin Shi Huangdi: First Emperor of China who built the Great Wall of China as a line of defense against
invasions from the north.
Confucius: Chinese teacher who developed the philosophy of Confucianism. He emphasized a belief
in the goodness of humanity, respect for elders (filial piety and ancestor worship), a code of
politeness, and education. These ideas led to the civil service system.
Zeus: King of the gods in Greek Mythology (Roman Mythology equivalent: Jupiter)
Hera: Wife of Zeus, queen of the gods and goddess of marriage and motherhood in Greek Mythology
(Roman Mythology equivalent: Juno)
Apollo: God of music and poetry in Greek Mythology (Roman Mythology equivalent: Apollo)
Artemis: Goddess of the hunt in Greek Mythology (Roman Mythology equivalent: Diana)
Athena: Goddess of wisdom, war, and peace in Greek Mythology (Roman Mythology equivalent:
Minerva)
Aphrodite: Goddess of love in Greek Mythology (Roman Mythology equivalent: Venus)
Homer: Blind poet of Ancient Greece who wrote epic poems about the Trojan War call the Iliad and
the Odyssey.
Draco: Tyrant of Athens who worked for democratic reform by instituting a harsh but uniform system
of law.
Solon: Tyrant of Athens who worked for democratic reform by cancelling debts of the poor.
Pericles: led the city-state of Athens during its golden age. He extended the direct democracy to give
most adult males an equal voice, and rebuilt Athens, including the Parthenon, from the destruction of
the Persian Wars.
Aeschylus: Greek dramatist who wrote a trilogy of plays about the Trojan War called Orestia.
Sophocles: Greek dramatist who wrote the plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone.
Herodotus: Greek historian known as the “father of history.” He wrote about the Persian Wars.
Thucydides: Greek historian who wrote about the Peloponnesian War. He was concerned with being
objective and getting the facts right.
Phidias: Greek sculptor who worked on the Parthenon.
Archimedes: Greek mathematician and inventor who made scientific contributions.
Hippocrates: Greek physician who recommended a healthy diet and good hygiene.
Euclid: Greek mathematician who developed general rules of geometry
Pythagoras: Greek mathematician for whom the Pythagorean Theorem is named.
Socrates: Ancient Greek philosopher who questioned people about their beliefs (Socratic Method)
Plato: Greek philosopher and student of Socrates who recorded the ideas of his teacher.
Aristotle: Greek philosopher and student of Plato. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a
comprehensive system of Western philosophy.
Philip II: King of Macedonia who conquered most of Greece.
Alexander the Great: Son of Philip of Macedon and student of Aristotle. Alexander conquered an
Empire that stretched from Greece to Egypt and the margins of India. Greek, Hellenistic culture
spread throughout Alexander’s Empire.
Hannibal: Carthaginian General who invaded the Italian Peninsula during the Second Punic War
between Rome and Carthage.
Julius Caesar: Member of the first triumvirate in the Roman Republic who seized power and
declared himself dictator for life. He was assassinated by his political enemies, which led to another
civil war.
Augustus Caesar (Octavian): Became the first emperor of Rome by defeating Marc Anthony in a naval
battle. Augustus Caesar established the Roman Empire by instituting civil service, rule by law, a
common coinage, and secure travel and trade.
Marc Anthony: Member of the Second Triumvirate who was defeated in the last civil war of the
Roman Republic. Marc Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide after they were defeated by
Octavian.
Jesus of Nazareth: Jewish Rabbi who was proclaimed to be the Messiah or Liberating King of the
Jewish people. He is the founder of Christianity. He was crucified by the Roman Empire, but
Christians believe Jesus resurrected from the dead; and that the God of the Jews is saving all of
humanity through him.
Paul: Apostle of Jesus who spread the message of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.
Constantine: First Emperor of Rome to be converted to Christianity and he made it legal in the
Empire with the Edict of Milan. Constantine also moved the capital city from Rome to Byzantium.
Byzantium was re-named Constantinople in his honor.
Ptolemy: Roman writer from Alexandria who was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer,
astrologer, and poet. The writings of Ptolemy influenced later Islamic and European science.
Virgil: One of Rome's greatest poets. Virgil’s poem Aeneid has been considered the national epic of
ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day.
Justinian: Emperor of the Byzantine Empire during the sixth century. His greatest accomplishments
were the reconquest of former Roman territories, expansion of trade, and codification of Roman law.
Muhammad: Founder and prophet of Islam. Muslims believe Muhammad received revelations from
God that were later recorded in the Quran.
Ali: was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. When Ali was killed it led to a
split in the Muslim community between Sunni and Shi’a. Shi’a Muslims believe Ali was the rightful
successor to Muhammad.
Charlemagne: King of the Franks who was anointed Holy Roman Emperor in 800. He united most of
Western Europe through conquest and built churches, roads and schools.
William the Conqueror: leader of the Norman Conquest who united most of England.
Henry II: English king who made legal changes that were the basis for English Common Law.
King John: King of England who signed the Magna Carta, limiting the king’s power.
Hugh Capet: Established the French throne in Paris. The Capetian Dynasty gradually expanded their
control over most of France.
Joan of Arc: French peasant girl who unified the French against the English in the Hundred Years War.
Ferdinand and Isabella: Monarchs who united Spain with their marriage. They drove the last of the
Moors out of Spain in 1492 and financed the expedition of Christopher Columbus.
Charles V: King of Spain who expanded the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere.
Ivan the Great: Russian ruler who threw off the Mongols, centralized Russian power in Moscow, and
expanded the Russian nation.
Pope Urban: Roman Catholic Pope who gave a speech in 1095 that initiated the First Crusade.
Saladin: Islamic general who led the Muslims in a holy war to re-conquer the Crusader states from
the Western Europeans. He fought against King Richard the Lionhearted of England.
Machiavelli: Italian Renaissance writer whose most famous work was The Prince. The Prince was an
early modern treatise on government supported absolute power of a ruler by any means necessary.
Leonardo da Vinci: Italian Renaissance artist, scientist and inventor. His most famous works were
Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
Michelangelo: Italian Renaissance artist who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted
David.
Petrarch: Italian Renaissance humanist writer and scholar who wrote sonnets.
Gutenberg: Inventor who merged several technologies to make a printing press that would lead to a
dramatic increase in the production of books and the dissemination of ideas.
Erasmus: Northern Renaissance writer and author of The Praise of Folly. Erasmus was a Christian
humanist who advocated a Christianity of the heart.
Sir Thomas More: Northern Renaissance writer and author of Utopia. Utopia was a book about a city
that had no evil of greedy residents.