The Independence of Cyprus (August 16th)

After the Russo-Turkish War ended in 1878, Cyprus was leased to the British Empire from the Ottoman Empire during the Congress of Britain. Cyprus would be used as a base for the British to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian aggression.

By 1906, Cyprus had become a strategic colonial point for Britain. When the Famagusta harbor was finished, Cyprus was a strategic naval outpost to both overlook the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. In 1914, Britain contained full control of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire. During World War II, Britain offered Cyprus to Greece in exchange for military aid. Though Greece refused the offer, many Greeks enlisted in the British Army in hopes that the island would be united with Greece.

On August 16th, 1960, Cyprus was given independence in the Zurich and London Agreement between the UK, Greece, and Turkey. Though there were movements to reunite with both "motherlands," Cyprus remained independent, even withstanding an Invasion from Turkey.

Leonidas I (#83)

Leonidas I

Background

Leonidas was born around the year 540 BC in Sparta. Leonidas was the second son of King Anaxandridas II's first wife. Leonidas had two brothers: Dorieus, the eldest son of Anaxandridas's first wife, and Cleomenes, the son of the king's second wife. Because he was not expected to be king, Leonidas went through the harsh Spartan public school system in order to qualify for citizenship.

Rise to Power

When King Anaxandridas II died in 520 BC, Cleomenes became king. Dorieus was outraged by the decision because Cleomenes was the youngest son and Dorieus, the eldest. Dorieus left Sparta and attempted to start a colony in Africa and later in Sicily. Though he found success in Italy, he was killed soon after the colony's foundation. Leonidas remained in Sparta, marrying Cleomenes's daughter, Gorgo, in 490 BC. During Cleomenes's reign, the Greek states were at war with Persia, but before the war ended, Cleomenes was accused of insanity and fled Sparta in 490 BC. Leonidas succeeded Cleomenes as king, and when Persia invaded Greece again in 481 BC, Leonidas was chosen to lead the combined Greek forces. 

Battle of Thermopylae

In August of 480 BC, Leonidas marched to Thermopylae with 300 Spartans. The other city-states of Greece sent additional troops, forming an army of about 14,000. There is some dispute over the reason for sending so few into battle, but most agree that it was because of the Olympic Games being held at the same time. Xerxes I, ruler of Persia, attacked the Greek army after five days of waiting. Leonidas and his men were able to hold of the Persians for the first two days, killing approximately 20,000 Persians while losing only 2,500 Greek soldiers. In the process, two of Xerces' brothers were killed. 

The End

On the seventh day of the Battle of Thermopylae, Ephialtes, a Greek traitor, led a group of Persians through a mountain pass to attack the Greeks from behind, When Leonidas found out, he sent away the entire Greek Army other than his 300 Spartans to keep them from being killed in the battle. 900 Helots and 700 Thespians, though, refused to leave Leonidas's side. Attacked from both the front and the back, Leonidas  and his men held their post, but all were killed, though Spartans were able to recover Leonidas's body before the Persians could. Leonidas is on our list because he was both a tragic hero of the Ancient world, he also had a famous movie made about him.

Ptolemy (#110)

Background

Claudius Ptolemy was a Roman citizen born around the year AD 90, and he lived in Egypt under Roman rule. Ethnically, Ptolemy was Greek, and all of Ptolemy's works were written in Ancient Greek.

Life and Work

One of Ptolemy's most important surviving works is the Almagest, which is the only surviving comprehensive ancient document on astronomy. Using Babylonian astronomical data and Greek mathematics, Ptolemy created tables to predict the positions of planets in the future and the past. Also, Ptolemy created a star catalog, including forty-eight constellations. One of the key problems in Ptolemy's work was the idea of a geocentric universe, where everything revolved around the Earth. He explained the back-and-forth movement of planets by stating that the planets had sub-orbits within their larger orbit around the Earth. Because it was one of the few astronomical documents to survive into the Middle Ages, it was considered the law on astronomy during that time, and his geocentric ideas were not disproved until Nicolaus Copernicus wrote De revolutionibus in 1543. Ptolemy also wrote Planetary Hypotheses, which used his planetary model to compute the dimensions of the Solar System. Ptolemy also wrote Geographia, a work which mapped out the known world. His maps goes from Cape Verdes in the West to the middle of china in the East, and is fairly accurate considering the time this map was made. Ptolemy knew that his map only covered a quarter of the globe, but his map was still used widely up through the Middle ages. Ptolemy also wrote on astrology, where he predicted the future of people while also taking into account differences in race, country, and upbringing. Ptolemy is also remembered through his works Harmonics, where he argued that musical intervals should be based on mathematical ratios, and Optics, in which Ptolemy wrote on the properties of light, reflection, refraction, and color.

The End

Ptolemy died around the year AD 168. Ptolemy is listed on this list before Copernicus because not only did he work in more fields, but also because Ptolemy's works helped for the scientific basis for Europe in the Middle Ages, where they turned into a legend, calling him Ptolemy, King of Alexandria. Copernicus wasn't called the King of  Krakow. Also, Ptolemy has two craters (one on the Moon and one on Mars) named after him.