This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.
Sargon of Akkad's royal title is often transliterated as "Sargon the Great."
In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a simplification/colloquialism of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.[1]
The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".
The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).
Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great and the Hindu king Shivaji the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.
As there is no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.
"The Greats"
The following people normally have the words "the Great" appended to their names.
- Abbas the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Abraham the Great of Kaskhar, monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
- Abraham the Great of Kidunja, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
- Akbar the Great, ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India.
- Alain I the Great, Albret
- Alaungpaya the Great, Burma
- Albert the Great (aka Albertus Magnus), medieval German philosopher and theologian
- Alexander the Great, King of Persia, Macedonia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
- Alfonso the Great of León
- Alfred the Great of Wessex, English
- Anawrahta the Great, Burma
- Anthony the Great, early Christian saint of Egypt
- Antiochus the Great, Seleucid Empire
- Ashoka the Great, Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty, known as the emperor of all ages in The Outline of History
- Askia the Great, Mohamed Toure, Ruler of the Songhai Empire
- Babai the Great, 6th century Assyrian church leader
- Bayinnaung the Great, Burma
- Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, Thailand
- Bolesław the Brave, sometimes called "the Great", Poland
- Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia
- Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the Great, Thailand
- Canute the Great, Danish, King of Denmark, England, and Norway
- Casimir III the Great, Poland
- Catherine the Great, Russian Empire
- Chandragupta Maurya the Great, Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
- Chandragupta II the Great / Vikramaditya, one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta empire in India
- Charles the Great, more commonly known as "Charlemagne"
- Chulalongkorn the Great, Thailand
- Clothar the Great, Merovingian France
- Conrad the Great, Meissen
- Constantine the Great, Rome/Byzantium
- Cyrus the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Darius the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Devapala, a powerful king of Pala dynasty of Magadha in India
- Dharmapala of Bengal, second ruler of the Pala Empire of Bengal in India
- Dušan the Mighty, sometimes called "the Great", ruled the Serbian Empire
- Ferdinand the Great, Castile and León
- Frederick the Great, Prussia
- Frederick the Great, Holy Roman Empire
- Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, known as "The Great Elector" ("Großer Kurfürst")
- Genghis Khan, was first Khan of the Mongol Empire
- Gero I the Great of Marca Geronis
- Gertrude the Great of Helfta, medieval mystic
- Gustavus Adolphus the Great, Sweden
- Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo, Korea[3][4]
- Hanno the Great, Carthage
- Harshavardhana, Indian emperor who ruled Northern India
- Eudes-Henry the Great, Burgundy
- Henry IV the Great, France
- Herod the Great, Judea
- Hongwu the Great, Ming Dynasty, China
- Hugh the Great, Franks
- Ivan the Great, Tsardom of Russia
- Jangsu The Great, Korea
- John the Great, Portugal
- John II the Great, Aragon
- John Paul the Great, pope[citation needed]
- Justinian the Great, Byzantium
- Kamehameha the Great, Hawai'i
- Kanishka the Great, of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia & parts of India
- Karim Khan the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Krishnadevaraya the Great, Vijayanagara, India
- Kublai Khan, a prominent Mongol ruler in the 13th century and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty
- Lachit Borphukan, Assam, India
- Llywelyn the Great, Wales/Gwynedd
- Lobsang Gyatso the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, Tibet
- Louis the Great, Hungary and Poland
- Louis the Great, first Duke of Bourbon
- Louis the Great, France
- Mangrai the Great, King of Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
- Meiji the Great, Japan
- Mahyar the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Menander I or Milinda, one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom in northern India and present-day Pakistan
- Mithridates the Great, Parthia (Iran)
- Mithridates the Great, Pontus / Bosporan Kingdom
- Moctezuma the Great, Aztec empire
- Mstislav the Great, Kievan Rus
- Nader Shah the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Napoleon I the Great, First French Empire
- Narai The Great, Thailand
- Naresuan The Great, Thailand
- Nicholas II of Russia, last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, and claimant to the title of King of Poland
- Odo the Great, Aquitaine
- Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Empire
- Pacal the Great, Palenque
- Parâkramabâhu the Great, Sri Lanka
- Petar Krešimir IV the Great, Croatia
- Peter the Great, Russian Empire
- Peter III the Great, Aragon
- Photius the Great, Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
- Pompey the Great, Rome
- Prokop the Great, Hussite leader in Bohemia
- Quang Trung The Great, emperor of Vietnam
- Rajaraja The Great, Indian emperor of the Cholas[5][6][7].
- Rajendra Chola The Great Tamil King of India
- Ramesses the Great, Ancient Egypt
- Ramkhamhaeng the Great, Thailand
- Ramon Berenguer III the Great, Barcelona
- Rhodri the Great, Wales/Gwynedd
- Roman the Great, Kievan Rus
- Samudragupta the Great of the Gupta empire, surnamed 'Napoleon of India'
- Sancho III the Great, Navarre
- Sargon the Great, Akkad
- Sejong the Great, Korea[8]
- Shapur the Great, Sassanid empire, Persia (Iran)
- Shivaji the Great, of India, founder of the Maratha Empire in India
- Sihanouk the Great, Cambodia
- Simeon I the Great, Bulgaria
- St. Basil the Great, theologian, Cappadocia
- St. Euthymius the Great, abbot
- St. Gregory the Great, pope
- St. James the Great, apostle
- St. Leo the Great, pope
- St. Macarius the Great, Egyptian hermit
- St. Nicholas the Great, pope
- Stephen the Great, Moldavia, Romania
- Sultan Agung of Mataram, Mataram (Java)
- Taksin the Great, Thailand
- Tamburlaine the Great, Timurid Empire
- Theobald the Great, Champagne
- Theodoric the Great, Ostrogoths
- Theodosius the Great, Rome
- Tigranes the Great, Armenia
- Tiridates the Great, Armenia
- Umar the Great, the second caliph of Muslim Empire
- Valdemar I the Great, Denmark
- Vladimir the Great, Kievan Rus
- Vytautas the Great, archduke of Lithuanian Grand Duchy
- Wilhelm the Great, Germany and Prussia
- Wilhelm II, German Emperor, last German Emperor
- William the Great, Maleval
- William I the Great, Burgundy
- William V the Great, Aquitaine
- Xerxes the Great, Persia (Iran)
- Yongle the Great Emperor of Ming Empire, China
- Yu the Great, China
- Zetian the Great, Empress of China
- Zhenguan the Great, Tang Dynasty, China
See also
- Epithet
- List of monarchs by nickname
- List of people with the word "the" in their name
- List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
Notes
- ^ In a clay cylinder (online). Note that the expression was used in a propagandistic context: the conqueror wants to show he is a normal Babylonian ruler. The first Persian ruler to use the title in an Iranian context was Darius I of Persia (Darius the Great), in the Behistun Inscription (online).
- ^ Plautus, Mostellaria 775.
- ^ World and Its Peoples:Korea. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. September 2008. p. 887. ISBN 0761476318.
- ^ Alison Behnke (2004). North Korea in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 70. ISBN 0822519089. http://books.google.com/books?id=ovWvhyLc6hAC&pg=RA1-PA70&dq=%22Gwanggaeto+the+Great%22&lr=&ei=yDxFSaDzLYbMM9OO3PEE&client=firefox-a.
- ^ Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (December 1919). "An English History of India". Political Science Quarterly 34 (4): 649. doi:. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-3195%28191912%2934%3A4%3C644%3AAEHOI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H. ""The finances of the state were not more centralized under Louis XIV than under Rajaraja the Great."".
- ^ "Heaven sent: Michael Wood explores the art of the Chola dynasty". Royal Academy, UK. http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/winter2006/features/heven-sent,47,RAMA.html. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ^ "The Chola Dynasty: Accession of Rajaraja, the Great". Sify.com. http://sify.com/itihaas/fullstory.php?id=13219885. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ^ Christoph Bluth; Gareth Schott (2007). Korea. Polity. p. 10. ISBN 0745633560.
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