The 5 Most Influential People of Different Eras

[Valiens Nantaris]

Because I thought this might be rather interesting.

List the five people you believe were the most important, influential and significant before the year 476CE. Please do not criticise other people's other choices though you can of course comment on them.
You don't have to give reasons for your choices, but you can if you like.

My 5:

1. Jesus. I may be an atheist, but no one can deny that real or not Jesus is either the most or second most influential person in all history.
2. Alexander the Great. A conqueror who ultimately changed the world he was in and made possible western civilisation as we know it.
3. Aristotle. A brilliant thinker for his times whose influence lasted centuries and still indirectly impacts us today.
4. Confucius. As a major thinker behind one of the cornerstones of Chinese society, Confucius' impact on China and the larger world cannot be doubted.
5. The Buddha. Another of the key religious figures of antiquity, though with less adherents today, Buddhism is still a major force even today.

If this was confined to secular/non-religious figures, I would say:

1. Alexander the Great
2. Aristotle
3. Julius Caesar
4. Qin Shi Huang
5. Cyrus the Great

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

I would argue your list as i would replace

1. Alexander the Great
2. Aristotle
3. Julius Caesar
4. Qin Shi Huang
5. Cyrus the Great

With a list that went...

1. Alexander the Great
2. Aristotle
3. Hannibal Barca
4. Julius Ceasar
5. Sun Tzu

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]
Nice work!

I strongly considered Hannibal, but because he lost I decided he didn't just have what it took. He'd be in my top 10 for sure though.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Reason i considered him is he effectively, having lost or not, instilled so much fear into the roman republic they hunted him down for the rest of his life after his own people (Or rather the Carthaginian nobles) Gave them false documents that said he was planning to attack again. He also rebuilt Carthage to become as great as it had been before the 1st punic war in terms of a financial situation, and effectively changed carthage's whole government, also creating the volatile mix that would result in the removal of carthage from the map.

... I may have studied Hannibal alot...

And the last point, he was the Roman Boogyman, not even kidding. Romans used him as a thing to scare children for centuries.

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Jesus. I may be an atheist, but no one can deny that real or not Jesus is either the most or second most influential person in all history. Alexander the Great. A conqueror who ultimately changed the world he was in and made possible western civilisation as we know it. Aristotle. A brilliant thinker for his times whose influence lasted centuries and still indirectly impacts us today. Confucius. As a major thinker behind one of the cornerstones of Chinese society, Confucius' impact on China and the larger world cannot be doubted. The Buddha. Another of the key religious figures of antiquity, though with less adherents today, Buddhism is still a major force even today.

Exactly. I would have swapped one of them with Julius Caesar, maybe. But I'm not too sure.

I'm a philosophical person. That's why.

 

[Kaiden Rohn]

You see, those people didn't matter, in the long run. Nothing really important that influences our lives specifically, happened until I think about 1200 ad.

edit:

I suppose I should elaborate. All of these people, all of them had influences on the state of affairs today, but ultimately, they were trumped a few hundred years later by one person, a group of people, or followers of their ideas, or people who literally undid everything they did.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Kaiden 'Papa' Rohn"]
Really. I'm sure the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Confucian adherents of the world would be interested to hear this.

There is an alternative theory that things take on greater influence the further back you go. For instance, the changes to history would have been far greater had the Persians won the Persian War than if, say, the Anglo-Saxons had won at Hastings. Both massive changes, but one relied on the other to happen indirectly.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]
Carthego delenda est!

 

[Stephanie Swail]

I wish I knew more about this subject to participate, but I don't, but love the choices I recognise.

Alexander The Great for sure. I adore ancient history - but I won't derail the thread with that!


Fascinating read.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

I would say the lists above is good. However, I would probably have had Di Vinci there somewhere. (not sure if he is Antiquity enough)

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Ærin Firebrand"]
He'd fit into a category on Renaissance and Early Modern periods.

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

Hannibal doesn't belong. Outside of being an able military commander, he had no real influence outside of that epoch. To me, the most influential people of antiquity would need to have a social and political influence that extends beyond that time and can still be felt today. Hannibal may have taught the Roman army a few things, but even maneuvers which to which he is widely credited, such as the double envelopment, weren't his inventions specifically.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Ludolf Vaas"]
A very good point.
For example Caesar did not invent the Legions, but the way he used them to make himself master of Rome and break the Republic for his nephew to remake...that's an example of someone whose military exploits affected long term history.

 

[Alice Red]

1) Sun Tzu
2) Julius Caesar
3) Sun Tzu
4) Cao Cao
5) Sun Tzu

I'm biased, sue me.

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

Guys, I think the thread is "5 most influential people of antiquity", not "5 most influential military commanders of antiquity".

 

[Alice Red]

Hey, I did say I'm biased. We all are really. If we weren't, every objective list would include Plato and Aristotle, as well as Saint Peter and Jesus.

 

[sabrina]

1: The Doctor, without him none of us would be today
2: churchil, he stopped the world for change for worse possible way, by refusing to even try negotiate with hitler.
3: gengis khan, he changed the world from horse back
4: Emperor Hadrian, he kicked the jews out of israel and built walls, this move on the jews has repercussion still today.
5: Albert Einstein, as he was a genius.

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

Hey, I did say I'm biased. We all are really. If we weren't, every objective list would include Plato and Aristotle, as well as Saint Peter and Jesus.

FIrst would have to be Jesus Christ in my opinion. There's simply no one else who has had as much singular influence on Western society.

But I think a list of the best military commanders would be worth discussing.

 

[sabrina]

FIrst would have to be Jesus Christ in my opinion. There's simply no one else who has had as much singular influence on Western society.

But I think a list of the best military commanders would be worth discussing.

Gengis khan had more of an effect, with out him we would still been in the dark ages

 

[Alice Red]

[member="Ludolf Vaas"]

If I got to metaphorically masturbate over people like Saladin and Oda Nobunaga, I'm more than happy to participate in a thread like that.

[member="sabrina"]

Genghis Khan made sure there's a 1 in 4 chance we are related. That's about it for actual advances of humanity.

 

[Beowoof]

1. Jesus Christ
2. Julius Caesar
3. Hammurabi
4. The Buddha
5. Alexander the Great

[member="sabrina"], most of your list is not prior to 476 AD.