HISTORY'S MOST NOTORIOUS FIGURES AND MORE
FEATURED FIGURES
Crowned young, conquered young, died young
Built a republic's end, birthed an empire's beginning.
The storm from the steppes that reshaped the world.
His conquest rewrote the fate of a nation.
UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS
In 218 BCE, Hannibal Barca led tens of thousands of soldiers and war elephants across the Alps — a move so bold it stunned the ancient world and brought war to Rome’s doorstep.
In 54 BCE, Quintus Cicero and his legion found themselves surrounded in the wilds of Gaul. Cut off and outnumbered, they faced a siege that would test Roman discipline to its breaking point.
Ambushed by Arminius and his Germanic warriors, three Roman legions were destroyed in one of Rome’s worst defeats. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest shattered the empire’s dreams of conquering Germania.
In 73 BCE, Spartacus — a gladiator turned rebel — ignited a massive slave uprising that swept across Italy, defying Rome’s armies and shaking the Republic to its core.
From ancient fields to modern fronts, these are the clashes that changed empires, forged nations, and shaped history.
QUICK FACTS
VLAD THE IMPALER
1431-1476
Vlad the Impaler was infamous for his brutal tactics — most terrifyingly, he left 20,000 Ottoman corpses impaled on tall spikes outside his capital, creating a gruesome “forest of the dead” that struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. His fearsome legacy helped inspire Bram Stoker’s iconic 1897 novel, Dracula.
MANSA MUSA
1280-1337
Mansa Musa, the richest person in history (worth over $400 billion today), gave away so much gold during his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca that he caused massive inflation and crashed Cairo’s economy for over a decade.
PTOLEMY I SOTER
367-282 BCE
​Ptolemy I Soter, a trusted general and companion of Alexander the Great, seized Alexander’s body after his death and brought it to Egypt, where he established the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled for nearly 300 years until the death of Cleopatra VII.
PUBLIUS VALERIAN
200-260
​​​In 260 AD, Emperor Valerian became the only Roman ruler ever captured alive by a foreign enemy. Defeated by Persia’s Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa, he was taken prisoner and, according to Roman sources, humiliated in captivity—reportedly used as a human footstool.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity".
Seneca