Ancient Civilizations in Credo: Notable People

Athenian statesman and general. Of the family of Alcmaeonidae, he was a ward of Pericles and was for many years a devoted attendant of Socrates.

Or Alexander III, King of Macedon, who conquered Greece (336), Egypt (331), and the Persian Empire (328), and founded Alexandria.

Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor. He is famous for his work in geometry (on the circle, sphere, cylinder, and parabola), physics, mechanics, and hydrostatics.

Greek playwright, Athenian comic poet, greatest of the ancient writers of comedy.

Greek philosopher, b. Stagira. He is sometimes called the Stagirite. Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great and founded the Peripatetic School. Aristotle studied (367–347 B.C.) under Plato at the Academy and there wrote many dialogues that were praised for their eloquence. Aristotle's father, Nicomachus, was a noted physician.

Philosopher; particularly made his mark in the application of his theories of the universe to everyday morality and the simple goal of living a good life. Ancient writers believed that Democritus was the student of Leucippus. They are associated together as the first philosophers to hypothesize that invisible material objects—atoms—make up the universe.

The Macedonian generals and administrators who succeeded Alexander the Great.

Greek philosopher; defined philosophy as the art of making life happy and strictly subordinated metaphysics to ethics, naming pleasure as the highest and only good.

Greek mathematician (fl. 300 B.C.) whose works, and the style in which they were presented, formed the basis for all mathematical thought and expression for the following 2,000 years (although they were not entirely without fault).

Greek tragic dramatist, ranking with Aeschylus and Sophocles. Born in Attica, he lived in Athens most of his life, though he spent much time on Salamis. He produced his first plays in 455 but did not win a victory in the competition until 441. He is said to have produced 92 plays (we know the titles of about 80), but won first prize only four times in his life (and once after his death with plays that he had left unperformed).

Called the Father of History. ?485-?425 BC, Greek historian, famous for his History dealing with the causes and events of the wars between the Greeks and the Persians (490-479).

Principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet. Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Athenian statesman and leader of the popular party, who contributed greatly to Athens' political and cultural supremacy in Greece.

Greek philosopher. Plato's teachings have been among the most influential in the history of Western civilization.

A Greek late Classical sculptor from Athens, Praxiteles was the foremost representative of the Attic School in the middle years of the 4th century B.C.

Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, founder of the Pythagorean school, best known for two teachings: the transmigration of souls and the theory that numbers constitute the true nature of things. Migrated from his native Samos to Crotona and established a secret religious society or order similar to, and possibly influenced by, the earlier Orphic cult.

Sappho of Lesbos (late seventh/early sixth century BCE) was the most famous woman poet of antiquity.

Greek philosopher of Athens. Famous for his view of philosophy as a pursuit proper and necessary to all intelligent men, he is one of the great examples of a man who lived by his principles even though they ultimately cost him his life.

Greek tragic dramatist, younger contemporary of Aeschylus and older contemporary of Euripides, b. Colonus, near Athens. Author of the classic tragedy Oedipus Rex.

Greek historian, b. Athens. He was one of the well-to-do young disciples of Socrates before leaving Athens to join the Greek force (the Ten Thousand) that was in the service of Cyrus the Younger of Persia.

c.83 B.C.–30 B.C., Roman politican and soldier. Rival of Octavian (later Augustus) and lover of Cleopatra. Also known as: Marcus Antonius, Marc Antony

First Roman emperor. Augustus Caesar was born as Gaius Octavius in 63 BCE. His father had been governor of Macedonia; his mother was Julius Caesar’s niece. The young Gaius became Caesar’s protégé, adopted son and heir, and his eventual successor. Upon adoption, named Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian); Augustus was a title of honor granted (27 BCE) by the senate.

Roman general and dictator, considered Rome's most successful military commander. He formed with Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Elder) the First Triumvirate in 60 B.C.

Or Cato the Censor, Lat. Cato Major or Cato Censorius, Roman statesman and moralist; his full name was Marcus Porcius Cato. He fought in the Second Punic War and later served as quaestor (204), aedile (199), praetor (198), consul (195), and censor (184).

Ancient Roman family, of the plebeian Licinian gens. It produced men who achieved great note in the 2d cent. and 1st cent. B.C.

Titus Livius; Roman historian. Born in Patavium (Padua), probably to a noble family. He lived most of his life in Rome. Livy's history reflects his admiration for the civilization of early Rome, and his belief that the importance of history was its applicability to contemporary life. Of his history of Rome in 142 books, only 35 survive.

Latin name Publius Ovidius Naso; poet, b. Sulmo (present-day Sulmona), in the Apennines. Although trained for the law, he preferred the company of the literary coterie at Rome. His verse includes poems on love, Ars Amatoria, on myths, Metamorphoses, and on his sufferings in exile, Tristia. He enjoyed early and widespread fame as a poet and was known to the emperor Augustus.

(Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus), Roman general, the rival of Julius Caesar. Sometimes called Pompey the Great, he was the son of Cnaeus Pompeius Strabo (consul in 89 B.C.), a commander of equivocal reputation.

Or Virgil (Latin: Publius Vergilius Maro); Roman poet, b. Andes dist., near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul; the spelling Virgil is not found earlier than the 5th cent. CE. Vergil's father, a farmer, took his son to Cremona for his education. Vergil worked on the Aeneid, a national epic honoring Rome and foretelling prosperity to come. The adventures of Aeneas are unquestionably one of the greatest long poems in world literature.

(Achilleus, 'child of sorrow'). In Greek mythology, the son of a mortal, Peleus, and the sea-nymph Thetis. He was thus a hero: immortal and mortal striving to coexist in the same mind and body. Foremost Greek hero of the Trojan War; the object of widespread hero worship, Achilles is the main character of Homer's epic The Iliad.

(Bellerophontes, 'killer of Bellerus'). In Greek mythology, the son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus. He was originally called Hipponous, but took the name Bellerophon after he lost his temper with his brother Bellerus one day and murdered him. A victim of slander, Bellerophon was sent against the monstrous chimera, which he killed with the help of Pegasus, a winged horse.

In Greek mythology, the most beautiful of women; daughter of Leda and Zeus , and sister of Castor and Pollux and Clytemnestra.

In Greek mythology, an immortalized hero (Roman Hercules); son of Zeus and Alcmene; and famed for his strength. While serving Eurystheus, king of Argos, he performed 12 labours, including the cleansing of the Augean stables.

In Greek legend, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and his wife, Jocasta. When Oedipus was grown, he learned from the Delphic oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother.

From Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Twin brothers, sired by war-god Mars, and the mythical founders of Rome.

In Greek mythology, a hero of Attica , who was believed to have united the states of the area under a constitutional government in Athens.