Hammurabi (#111)

Life and Stuff

Hammurabi was born somewhere around 1792 BC. Hammurabi was the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty. At the time, Babylon was one of many city-state cultures that lived in the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia. Babylon had gained some prominence due to its culture's literacy and its military power. By the time Hammurabi came to power, Babylon had conquered the city-states of Borsippa, Kish, and Sippar. Babylon, though, still was just one of many city-states in Mesopotamia. At the beginning of his reign, Hammurabi remained peaceful, working on strengthening city walls and expanding the city's temples. Later on, however, Hammurabi formed an alliance with the kingdom of Larsa to defeat the kingdom of Elam, which controlled a major trade route. Larsa did not, however, contribute the amount of military aid promised, so after defeating Elam, Hammurabi attacked and defeated Larsa as well. This gave Babylon control of the entire lower Mesopotamian plain by 1763 BC. Hammurabi soon turned to attack the northern Mesopotamian kingdoms, including some of Babylon's previous allies. Soon, Hammurabi controlled the majority of Mesopotamia, with only two major city-states remaining independent. Like most leaders, Hammurabi established a code of laws. The Code of Hammurabi helped to maintain order and control throughout the Babylonian Kingdom. The Code of Hammurabi is famous due to the fact that it is one of if not the earliest written law code in the world. The 282 laws written on 12 tablets contained some of the most famous laws, including "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." These laws helped to keep everything fair and even within his kingdom.

The End

Hammurabi helped to turn Babylon into one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world. He also created a law code to keep this empire in order. His creation of the written law code has changed the world in a way that I cannot explain. So I won't.

Pliny the Elder (#112)

Beginnings

Gaius Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Elder, was born in the year 23A.D. He was the son of an equestrian born in Como. He came from the Plinii family, but made his own family name, Secundus.

Life

Pliny entered the army in 46 A.D. at the age of 23. Pliny, during his army work, helped to defeat the Germanic Chauci tribe, and helped construct the canal between the Maas and the Rhine. While in the army, Pliny began studying missile use on horseback.  By 56 A.D., Pliny's service was up, but did not leave the army.  Pliny lived in Rome soon after the Great Fire, and remembers the building of Nero's great palace. Pliny did not personally know Nero, but in his later career as a soldier, Pliny took orders from emperor Vespasian and rode in the army with future emperor Titus. Pliny continued to study nature, observing a solar eclipse in Campania in 59 A.D. As a senior officer in the army in 69 A.D., Pliny was sent to Africa, where he spent time studying poisonous frogs. While working in Hispania from 70-72 A.D., Pliny learned agricultural techniques and studied gold mining methods. Pliny used this information for his books, which he began to write in 69 A.D., the year that Nero's oppressive reign ended. Pliny was wrote about many different topics, creating works that are closer to encyclopedias than to anything else. Though Pliny wrote on history and conspiracy, his most famous works are those on natural history. Pliny's last book is called Naturalis Historia, which is an encyclopedia of the knowledge Pliny gained over his life. The book covers the subjects of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology, mineralogy, and technology. Much of what Pliny wrote about has been confirmed through archaeological finds, and the book remains one of the most important surviving written works of the Roman Empire.

The End

Much of what we know about Pliny the Elder was recorded by his nephew, Pliny the Younger. Among these facts is an account of Pliny the Elder's death. Pliny, in August of 79 A.D., was stationed in Misenum, across the Bay of Naples from Mount Vesuvius, which loomed over Pompeii and Herculaneum. When Vesuvius erupted, Pliny was preparing to observe the volcano more closely when he received word from a friend asking for rescue from Herculaneum. As Pliny's galley's reached Herculaneum, pumice and cinders began to fall. On the beach of Herculaneum, Pliny's men helped to save quite a few people, though in the process, Pliny became weak and couldn't walk without help. Eventually, Pliny died. Most believe that Pliny died due to the combination of toxic volcanic gases and the asthma that Pliny suffered from. Pliny is on our list because not only was he alive for the reign of several of the most famous empires and witnessed the eruption of Pompeii, but because Pliny the Elder was a brilliant naturalist, scientist, and writer, gaining fame not only in his time period, but in our time period as well.

Romulus Augustus (#113)

Early Life and Rise to Power

Romulus Augustus was born in the Roman Empire around the year 460 A.D. He was the son of Orestes, who served as a diplomat for Attila the Hun and later as a leader in the Western Roman Army. In 475, Orestes was appointed the Magister militum by current Emperor, Julius Nepos. This basically meant that Orestes controlled the army. In August of that year, Orestes started a rebellion, overthrowing Nepos and placing Romulus on the throne on October 31st, 475. Augustus now ruled the Western Roman Empire, but during his time, that wasn't saying much. The Western Empire had shrunken significantly since the Pax Romana, and imperial authority only had influence over Italy and parts of Southern Gaul. The Eastern Roman Empire, who had previously appointed Nepos to the throne, did not even recognize Romulus Augustus as ruler. 

Life as Emperor and the Fall from Power

Though Augustus was emperor and coins were minted with his face and name, the real power still belonged to Romulus's father, Orestes. Orestes soon ran into trouble with barbarians, though. As Roman power had fallen, Western Rome had begun to hire barbarians as mercenaries rather instead of training Romans. When Orestes took power, several tribes serving as mercenaries demanded a third of the land in Italy from Orestes. When Orestes refused, the Heruli, Scirian, and Turcilingi mercenaries revolted under the chieftain Odoacer. Orestes was captured in August of 476 near Piacenza, where he was executed. Odoacer then attacked Ravenna, which was the current capitol of the Western Empire. In September 4th, 476, the city was captured and Romulus was captured. This is widely accepted as the ended of the Western Roman Empire, and is sometimes even accepted as the end of the entire Roman Empire (The Eastern Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire). 

The End

After his abdication, Romulus Augustus all but disappeared. Odoacer became the ruler of Italy until Byzantine Emperor Justinian I reconquered it in the 540s. Until then, the remnants of Western Rome were under Germanic rule. That ends the story, and Augustus disappears. Most sources agree that he survived and lived in the castle of Lucullan Villa in Campania. The castle was, however, converted into a monastery by the year 500, so most historians suspect that he died around the that time. Augustus makes that list not because he did anything, but because he did nothing and stuff happened around him. He was put in the throne by his father. He was thrown out of the throne by Odoacer. He didn't initiate the historical events, but he found himself caught in the middle of it all. He watched the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Erik the Red (#114)

Childhood

Erik Thorvaldsson was born around 950 A.D. in Norway. Erik was the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson, but is better known as Erik the Red, probably due to his red hair. Thorvald was exiled from Norway for committing manslaughter, so he and his family, including Erik, moved to Iceland.

Life

Erik, after marrying a woman named Thjodhild, moved to the island of Oxney. After finishing his house, he went back to a man named Thorgest to retrieve some, setstokkr, or items of mystical importance that he had given Thorgest to keep safe. When Erik wasn't given his setstokkr, he took some from Thorgest's house, though it is unknown whether they were Thorgest's or Erik's. When Thorgest followed Erik, two of Thorgest's sons were killed by Erik along with several others. Erik was thus exiled from Iceland for three years. Erik then moved west, and is one person credited with discovering Greenland, though he was definitely the first person to settle there. Greenland got its name from Erik. The whole name was part of an advertisement scheme to draw people to Greenland even though it was very cold and icy there. Erik created the settlement of Eystribyggo in Greenland where the settlement grew to the size of 5,000 with Erik as their leader.

The End

Erik the Red died  around the year 1003 A.D. He is important for discovering Greenland, creating one of the largest advertisement lies in history, and for having the son, Leif Erikson, who would later be one of the many discoverers of America.

Nicolaus Copernicus (#115)

Young Life and College

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Poland from two merchant families. He was the youngest of four children. At first, while being supported by his uncle, Copernicus studied at the University of Krakow in 1491, where he attained the mathematical and astronomical skill for his later achievements. He also was able to study the natural-science writings of Aristotle and Averroes while studying in Krakow.  In 1495, Copernicus left Krakow because of his uncle Watzenrode wanted him to study law in Italy, hoping for Copernicus to join the Warmia canonry, which Watzenrode was the Prince-Bishop of. In 1497, Copernicus registered in the Bologna University of Jurists. In Bologna, Copernicus studied law, the humanities, and astronomy. He became the assistant of astronomer Domenci Maria Novara da Ferrara. Under Ferrara, he began to find peculiarities in Ptolemy's geocentric universe theory based on observations of the star Aldebaran. Copernicus moved to Rome in 1500, where he continued his astronomical studies. Copernicus also went to the University of Padua, where he studied medicine, which include astrology. Over his education, Copernicus learned Latin, Greek, German, and Italian along with his native Polish.

Work

Copernicus, after his studies, became his uncle's secretary and physician in Heilsberg. He took part in almost all of his uncles political, administrative, and economic activities. This is where Copernicus began work on his heliocentric theory. Copernicus also made trips on business from his uncle. In 1510, Copernicus ended work for his uncle, and worked as a translator of Greek and Latin texts. In 1514, the first outline of the heliocentric world was written. Throughout his life, Copernicus worked as a assistant to politicians and religious leaders while continuing to study astronomy. By 1532, his manuscript on heliocentrism was basically complete, but he resisted publishing due to fears of scorn. His book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, was published under Georg Rheticus, who had published other works of Copernicus. Along with Andreas Osiander, Rheticus worked to have the book published in 1542.

The End

Legend has it that the first copy of De revolutionibus ever printed was placed in Copernicus's hand on May 24, 1543, the day that Copernicus died. Copernicus makes our list for being one of the few people in the world who changed the world's mind. Before him, the common theory was that everything orbited the Earth. Copernicus proved them all wrong. He changed the way people looked at the world, and not many people can do that.

Sir Francis Drake (#116)

Early Life

Sir Francis Drake was an Englishman born, supposedly, in 1544. He was the eldest of twelve sons born to a Protestant farmer, Edmund Drake. His family fled from Devonshire to Kent during religious persecution during the Prayer Book Rebellion. In Kent, Edmund Drake found a job ministering to men in the King's navy. Because of this job, Francis Drake became an apprentice on a  coastal merchant ship.

Life

Drake made his first trip to the New World when he was 23. In 1572, Drake went on his first major independent expedition, in which he planned to attack the Isthmus of Panama, where he succeeded in capturing the city of Nombre de Dios along with silver and gold on its way to Spain from Peru. Drake stayed in the area for over a year, working with pirates and the French to get out of Panama with the gold. His success in Panama brought him fame, and in 1577, Queen Elizabeth I sent Drake to start an expedition against Spain in the Pacific. He left England with six ships, though three were deserted before they reached the Pacific. Drake   was able to make it to Cape Horn, and his route is now known as Drake Passage. When he reached the Pacific, Drake had only one ship remaining. Drake sailed up the Pacific coast of America, taking 37,000 ducats worth of money from Spanish Peru. Drake made it as far north as California, somewhere north of Point Loma. He crossed the Pacific, reaching Indonesia, the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1580, Sierra Leone. Upon returning to England in the same year, the amount of spices and Spanish treasure brought home was so large that the half-share given to the Queen surpassed the rest of the crown's income for the entire year. This made Drake the second person to lead an expedition around the world. Drake was knighted, though he was sworn to secrecy about the expedition. After a slight political career, Drake began sailing again when war broke out between Spain and England in 1585. He sacked Santo Domingo and Cartagena along with the fort of San Augustine. When Drake found out about a Spanish invasion of England, he captured the Spanish ports of Cadiz and Corunna, which delayed the invasion by another year. When the Spanish Armada finally came, Drake led an invasion and relied mainly on fire-ships (Ships set on fire) to break the formation of the Spanish Fleet and make them flee into open see, where Drake led the British fleet into battle. The victory of the English established Britain as the dominant naval power in the Atlantic/

The End

At an age of about 55, Drake died of dysentery, leaving no sons, though he had two wives. His estate went to his nephew, Francis. Drake wasn't very important, but it is a known fact that nobody cares about second place. They only care about who's in first. Drake is on this list because even though he was the second person to circumnavigate the world, he still acquired fame. 

Lewis Carroll (#117)

Childhood to College

Lewis Carroll was born in England on January 27, 1832 as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He was born into a family of army officers and Church of England clergymen. Carroll suffered from a stammer, but was very smart for his age, supposedly reading The Pilgrim's Progress wwhen he was only seven. After an unhappy three years at Rugby School (from 1846 to 1849), Carroll went to Christ Church college in Oxford, where he earned considerably honors in the field of mathematics.

Life and Work

Photography

In 1856, Dodgson began learning photography under his uncle, Skeffington Lutwidge, and continued on to become a famous 'gentleman photographer'. This job allowed Dodgson to enter higher society by making portraits of many notable people, including Michael Faraday and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Dodgson stopped his photography in 1880, after taking over 3,000 images, though only about 1,000 survive. Dodgson later said he stopped because of the difficulty of keeping a working photography studio.

Inventing

Carroll invented many games, including an early form of scrabble and the Word Ladder, where one word changes into another through a series of one-letter changes. He also invented the nyctograph, a writing device for note-taking in the dark. He also invented a steering device for a velociam tricycle, a new parliamentary system, and a rule for finding the day of the week for any date.

Literature

Lewis Carroll is best known for his two books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871). In these books, a young girl named Alice finds herself in the strange and random world of Wonderland, where she meets man strange characters, including a talking Dodo, Humpty-Dumpty, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, a smiling cat, and the Mad Hatter. Many suspect that Alice is based on the daughter of Henry Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church, but Carroll denied these theories. These two books have given us such works of literature as Jabberwocky and The Walrus and the Carpenter. The same nonsense style found in these books is found again in Carroll's last great work, The Hunting of the Snark (1876).

Mathematics

Dodgson, due to his continued teaching of mathematics at Christ Church, wrote almost a dozen books on geometry, matrix algebra, and mathematical logic. Dodgson also used mathematics to create his own voting system, now known as Dodgson's Method. His mathematical work is what gave Dodgson the financial security to pursue other interests.

The End

After publishing The Hunting of the Snark, Carroll became less popular as an author, though he was now able to live on money from his previous books. He continued to teach at Christ Church until 1881. Carroll died on January 14, 1898 from pneumonia following influenza. Carroll is on our list for being successful due to the complete sense of random in his books. He is also on here for being a Renaissance Man of sorts, covering many subject areas over the course of his life.