Micheal BC (small)
Imhotep
Suśruta
Miltiades
Hippocrates
Pyrrhus
Hannibal
Vercingetorix
We are proud to have with us Michael who has experienced, for all of us, lives that have become famous warriors, healers and prophets. He will briefly share some of those lives with us.
Why do you choose lives of so many warriors, healers and prophets?
Warriors break and healers fix. It is a ying yang cycle of break and make. Prophets teach. They have enough knowledge to be able to predict what is going to happen in the future. Many healers are prophets. Many of them can predict how long you have to live after diagnosing your illness and studying your lifestyle. The more knowledge you have the better and the farther into the future you can see. If you know that 2 trains have entered a one track tunnel from the different sides and that both of the engineers are distracted and are not looking where they are going, and if there is a curve in the tunnel that prevents seeing clearly the light from approaching trains, and that you know the speed of each train, then you can predict with very high certainty when and where the trains will collide.
The future exists only in our imagination. No one, not even prophets can predict the future with absolute certainty. The past exists only in our memories. Everyone has a past they remember but lives are so short and so are the memories of the traces they leave behind. Resident souls who are not absent in a reincarnation have many past lives to remember. The present exists only in experience and it is only a brief moment. Souls with many life experiences have much to remember and have acquired much knowledge. They communicate with people using intuition. When a person has many souls who try to communicate with them, and they are open to listen and follow their intuitive feelings, and if they are willing to share their thoughts with other people, then they become prophets that can predict far into the future very accurately.
No one knows the answer to that, but it is believed that souls live as long as life is allowed to die. Heaven has lost many souls when man founded Heaven Inc. and what they call immortality. But we all hope that one day immortal brains will die and return as living souls to live mortal lives forever.
Can souls predict the future?
No one knows the answer to that, but many of us are studying and researching and trying to find an answer. One mysterious case is Dr. Joe Ova who is unfortunately not with us any more after he helped to rescue his wife Dr. Lucy Fer from Heaven Inc. Unfortunately he ended up being captured and imprisoned there as an immortal brain of a poodle.
In one of his past lives far back in the past, he wrote a book “A Short History of a Long Future” that predicted very very far into the future and his prediction have proved to be very very accurate. How it was done continues to be a mystery. Some of us feel that there is a higher “heaven” for souls and those souls must die to reach it. Perhaps the answer to your question will one day be found there.
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Imhotep (Joseph) (2,650BC-2,600BC)
I was considered to be the first architect, and engineer, and physician in early history.
I was born Joseph, son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac, and great grandson of Abraham. I lived in the land of Canaan and had 11 brothers. When I was 17, I had 2 dreams that made my brothers plot my demise. In the first dream, I and my brothers gathered bundles of grain, of which those my brothers gathered bowed to mine. In the second dream, the sun and moon that symbolized my father and mother, and 11 stars that symbolized my brothers bowed to me. These dreams greatly angered my brothers.
We were far from home when we saw a camel caravan carrying spices and perfumes to Egypt. My brothers ended up selling me to these merchants. They painted goat's blood on my coat and showed it to my father as proof of my death.
I was sold to the captain of the Pharaoh's guard and became his personal servant. When the captain's wife tried to seduce me, I ran away. She claimed that I tried to rape her. I was caught and imprisoned. The warden of the jail put me in charge of the other prisoners. Soon afterward the Pharaoh's chief cup-bearer and chief baker offended the Pharaoh and were thrown into the prison. They had dreams that I interpreted for them. I told them that their dreams meant that the chief cup-bearer would be reinstated but the chief baker would be hanged. My interpretation turned out to be true. When the cup-bearer was freed and reinstalled in office, he forgot about me. After 2 years, the Pharaoh dreamt of 7 lean cows which devoured 7 fat cows; and of 7 withered ears of grain which devoured 7 fat ears. When the Pharaoh's advisers failed to interpret these dreams, the cup-bearer remembered me and told the Pharaoh that I would be able to interpret his dream. I interpreted the dream as 7 years of abundance followed by7 years of famine, and advised the Pharaoh to store surplus grain.
The pharaoh took a liking to me and made me one of his high officials. I ended up marrying the priest's daughter. During the 7 years of abundance, I ensured that the storehouses were full. When the famine came, it was so severe that people from surrounding nations came to Egypt to buy bread. They were sent directly to me. The famine caused the Egyptians to sell their properties to me for seed and I mandated that because people would be sowing and harvesting seed on government property, a fifth of the produce be given as a tax to the Pharaoh. Being a Jew, I had an ihherant knack for business.
In the second year of famine, my brothers were sent to Egypt to buy goods. When they came to Egypt, they stood before me but did not recognize me as their brother. But I recognize them and accused them of being spies and demanded that Benjamin, who had stayed at home be brought to me.
When they returned with Benjamin, I was overcome by emotion when I saw him. I secretly ordered that my silver cup be put in Benjamin's sack. Before they started on their return journey back home to Canaan, I ordered the steward to question my brothers about my "missing" silver cup. The steward found the cup in Benjamin's sack and I demanded that the one who possessed the cup in his bag become my slave. Judah pleaded with me that Benjamin be allowed to return to his father, and that he himself be kept in Benjamin's place as a slave.
I broke down into tears. I could not control myself any longer and revealed that I was in fact their brother, Joseph. It had been over 20 years since I had last seen my father. I commanded them to go and bring their father and his entire household into Egypt because there were 5 more years of famine left.
My father's family, the house of Israel, acquired many possessions and multiplied exceedingly during the course of 17 years. Then my father called all of his sons in and prophesied their blessings or curses to all 12 of them in order of their ages. My 11 brothers and I would be later referred to as the 12 Tribes of Israel. To me he declared that I am a fruitful bough by a well and that my branches will run over the wall. After relaying his prophecies, he died and I had his body sent back home and buried in a cave on the property of his grandfather Abraham that he bought from the Hittites.
My father Jacob, later given the name Israel, is regarded as a Patriarch of the Israelites. He was the third Hebrew progenitor with whom god made a covenant. He is considered to be the father of Israel and the father of the Jews. He is the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham.
I served under the Third Dynasty King Djoser as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. I outlived Djoser by a few years and went on to serve in the construction of king Sekhemkhet's pyramid which was abandoned due to his brief reign. I was one of very few mortals to be depicted as part of a pharaoh's statue. I was one of only a few commoners ever to be accorded divine status after death. The center of my cult was Memphis. I was also revered as a poet and philosopher. My sayings were famously referred to in poems. The location of my self-constructed tomb was well hidden and it remains unknown, despite efforts to find it.
I was credited with having been instrumental in ending the famine of 7 years during the reign of Djoser. I was also credited with being the founder of medicine. I wrote a medical treatise containing anatomical observations, ailments, and cures.
I designed the Pyramid of Djoser. A building of such a size made entirely out of stone had never been constructed before. The Pyramid was designed as a tomb for the pharaoh to forever honor him and also to serve as a place to worship the sun that symbolized the dead king’s ascent to the sun and passage across the heavens. I was the first one to use columns in architecture.
Egyptians considered me as a creative and inventive intellectual. The fact that I was an architect, which was extremely unique at that time, got me special treatments from the royal family and privileges inside the royal palace. This earned me the title of “chief of engineering”, among other titles such as “prime minister”, “crown prince” and “head of the Royal Court”. Later, my architecture had tremendous influence on Christian architecture. I was also honored by the Romans, particularly the emperors Claudius and Tiberius whom had inscriptions that praised me on the walls of many of their Egyptian temples.
The preservation of the king's body like the conservation of the nation was very important responsibility for me. I lived to the age of 110, living to see my great-grandchildren. Before I died, I made the children of Israel swear that when they left the land of Egypt they would take my bones with them back home. The children of Israel remembered their oath and when they left Egypt during the Exodus 1,300 years later Moses took my bones with him.
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I was an ancient Indian physician, known as the main author of one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine, considered as a foundational text of Ayurveda, a system of Hindu traditional medicine. The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, especially the extraordinarily accurate and detailed accounts of surgery. That is why long after I died, I was considered "the father of surgery". I have been also called "the first plastic surgeon". I learned medicine and surgery from the king who was an incarnation of the god of medicine Dhanvantari.
I was one of the 10 sages residing in the Himalayas. My book contains 184 chapters that describe 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources, 57 preparations based on animal sources, 300 surgical procedures and 120 surgical instruments. The text discusses surgical techniques of making incisions, probing, extraction of foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, tooth extraction, excisions, and trocars for draining abscess, draining hydrocele and ascitic fluid, removal of the prostate gland, urethral stricture dilatation, vesicolithotomy, hernia surgery, caesarian section, management of hemorrhoids, fistulae, laparotomy and management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines and accidental perforation of the abdomen and the principles of fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, apposition and stabilization including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetics. It enumerates 6 types of dislocations, 12 varieties of fractures, and classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery.
My book was translated into Arabic language in 750 AD and the translations made their way into Europe.
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I was born a red-haired baby, the son of a renowned Olympic chariot-racer. I was an Athenian citizen. I became known mostly for my role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for my downfall afterwards.
I was a well-born Athenian who came of age during a tyrannical period in Greece. My family was prominent, due in good part to their success with Olympic chariot-racing. Plutarch, the Greek biographer and essayist called my father a simpleton, but his 3 successive chariot-racing victories at the Olympics made him so popular that Herodotus, the Greek historian claimed that the tyrannical ruler of Athens had him murdered out of jealousy.
My half-brother was childless, so when he died, my brother inherited his tyrannical estate. After 4 years my brother died from being wounded so I was sent to claim his lands. My brother's reign had been tumultuous, full of war and revolt. Wishing to achieve stronger control over my lands than my brother was able to do, when the men of rank from the estate came to his funeral, I imprisoned them. I then ensured my power by employing 500 troops. I also made an alliance with the King of Thrace by marrying his daughter.
When I was 37, Darius I, the king of Persia, led a large army into the area of my estate and forced the populace into submission and made me his vassal. I was compelled to join Darius' expedition north against the Scythians, and was left with other Greek officers to guard a bridge across the Danube, which Darius had used to cross into Russia. I tried to convince the other officers to destroy the bridge and leave Darius and his forces to die, but the others were too afraid to commit treason and Darius was able to escape. When the king got wind of my scheme, my rule became a perilous affair and I had to flee. I joined the Ionian Revolt of 499 BC against Persian rule and 3 years later I returned home. I established friendly relations with Athens by capturing 2 islands and returning them over to Athens, who had ancient claims to them. The Ionian Revolt eventually collapsed and my family and I fled to Athens in 5 ships to escape Persian retaliation. One ship, carrying my son was captured by the Persian fleet and he was made a lifelong prisoner, but was nonetheless treated honorably as a de facto member of the Persian nobility, because I was still considered to be a vassal of Darius I.
The Athens to which I returned was no longer a tyranny. 15 years earlier it had overthrown its tyrannical dictator and had become a democracy. Thus, I initially faced a hostile reception for my tyrannical rule in my estate in Thrace. My trial was further complicated by the politics of my aristocratic rivals. However, I successfully presented myself as a defender of Greek freedoms against Persian despotism, and also promoted the fact that I had been a first-hand witness to Persian tactics, a useful résumé considering the Persians were bent on destroying Athens. Because of these facts, I escaped punishment and was allowed to rejoin my old countrymen.
I was credited with devising the tactics that defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon which marked the first Persian invasion of Greece in the attempt of Darius I to subjugate Greece as retaliation to the Greek involvement in the Ionian Revolt to overthrow Persian Rule. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, and a Persian force. I was elected to serve as one of the 10 generals. In addition to the 10 generals, there was one 'war-ruler' with powers to make decisive decisions during battle. The 10 generals were split 5-5 on whether to attack the Persians at Marathon then, or later. I was firm in insisting that the Persians be fought immediately as a siege of Athens would have led to its destruction. I convinced the war ruler to use his decisive vote to support the necessity of a swift attack.
I also convinced the generals of the necessity of not using the customary tactics of using hoplites. Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of Greek city-states who were primarily free citizens—propertied farmers and artisans—who were able to afford the bronze armor suit and weapons. They formed about half of its able bodied adult male population. Hoplites generally received basic military training and marched with shields and spears in an evenly distributed rectangular shaped group called a phalanx.
At the time of the battle, Sparta and Athens were the 2 largest city states. The Persian force landed in the bay near the town of Marathon. The Athenians, joined by a small force, marched to Marathon, and succeeded in blocking the 2 exits from the plain of Marathon. The Athenians also sent a message asking for support to the Spartans. When the messenger arrived in Sparta, the Spartans were involved in a religious festival and gave this as a reason for not coming to aid the Athenians.
The Athenians and their allies chose a location for the battle, with marshes and mountainous terrain that prevented the Persian cavalry from joining the main Persian army. I was the Athenian general and I ordered a general attack against the Persians. I reinforced my flanks, luring the Persians' best fighters into my center. The inward wheeling flanks enveloped the Persians, routing them. The Persian army broke in panic towards their ships, and large numbers were slaughtered. Their defeat at Marathon marked the end of the first Persian invasion of Greece, and the Persian force retreated to Asia.
The Battle of Marathon was a watershed in the Greco-Persian wars, showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten. The battle also showed the Greeks that they were able to win battles without the Spartans, as they had heavily relied on Sparta previously. This win was largely due to the Athenians, and Marathon raised Greek esteem of them and greatly contributed to the rise of the Classical Greek civilization which has been enduringly influential in western society. Because of this, the Battle of Marathon is often seen as a pivotal moment in Mediterranean and European history. The legendary Greek messenger running from Marathon to Athens with news of the victory became the inspiration for the marathon race, an athletic event introduced as a part of the Olympics.
The following year I led an Athenian expedition of 70 ships against the Greek-inhabited islands that were deemed to have supported the Persians. The expedition was not a success. My motivation was to attack Paros, as I was slighted by them in the past. My fleet attacked the island, which had been conquered by the Persians, but I failed to take it. I suffered a grievous leg wound during the campaign and became incapacitated. My failure prompted an outcry on my return to Athens, enabling my political rivals to exploit my fall from grace. Charged with treason, I was sentenced to death, but the sentence was converted to a fine. I was sent to prison where I died of gangrene from my wound.
After Darius died, his son Xerxes I restarted the preparations for a second invasion of Greece, which finally began in 480 BC. Leonidas I was chosen to lead the combined Greek forces determined to resist the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 481 BC. He was one of the 2 kings of Sparta during the Greco-Persian wars and the leader of one of the most ferocious military units in history: the 300 Spartan hoplites. He’s remembered best for his unmatched boldness and fearless character. During the end of the battle of Thermopylae he remained alone fighting against hundreds of thousands of Persian soldiers before he was killed.
Leonidas marched out of Sparta to meet Xerxes' army at Thermopylae with a small force of 1,200 men, where he was joined by forces from other Greek city-states, who put themselves under his command to form an army of 7,000 strong. They left their garrison at Sparta and marched in full force towards Thermopylae. The rest of the allies failed to do likewise, for the Olympiad coincided with these events. They faced a Persian army who had invaded from the north of Greece under Xerxes I with 250,000 men. Xerxes waited 4 days to attack, hoping the Greeks would disperse. Finally, on the fifth day the Persians attacked. Leonidas and the Greeks repulsed the Persians' frontal attacks for the fifth and sixth days, killing roughly 10,000 of the enemy troops. On the seventh day, a Greek traitor led the Persian general by a mountain track to the rear of the Greeks. At that point Leonidas sent away all Greek troops and remained in the pass with 300 Spartans, 900 Helots, and 700 Thespians who refused to leave. The Thespians stayed entirely of their own will, declaring that they would not abandon Leonidas and his followers. Of the small Greek force, attacked from both sides, all were killed except for the 400 Thebans, who surrendered to King Xerxes without a fight. Leonidas was killed.
Following decisive Greek victories a year later, the Persians were forced to withdraw for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all of their European territories. Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history, as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as the Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greek development that laid many of the foundations of Western civilization.
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Hippocrates (460BC-370BC)
I was born in Greece to become the founder of the Hippocratic School of medicine, thus establishing medicine as a profession. I became to be considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine and referred to as “the father of Western medicine”. I was credited with greatly advancing the systematic study of clinical medicine, summing up the medical knowledge of previous schools, and prescribing practices for physicians through the Hippocratic Oath.
My work was so strongly opposed by people of power, that I was sent to prison for 20 years. There in prison, I wrote medical publications such as 'The Complicated Body”. My father was a physician. I learned medicine from my father and grandfather. I taught and practiced medicine throughout my life, traveling at least as far as Thessaly and Thrace.
I had a theory that diseases were caused naturally. I allied philosophy and medicine. I separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits. Indeed there was not a single mention of a mystical illness in the entirety of my written works “The Hippocratic Corpus”.
Ancient Greek schools of medicine were split on how to deal with disease. The Knidian School of medicine focused on diagnosis. Medicine at the time when I lived knew almost nothing of human anatomy and physiology because of the Greek taboo forbidding the dissection of humans. The Knidian School consequently failed to distinguish when one disease caused many possible series of symptoms.
The Koan School of medicine which I advocated achieved greater success by applying general diagnoses and passive treatments to focus on patient care and prognosis, not diagnosis. The type of medicine and its philosophy that I advocated became to be very different to the medicine practiced 2500 years after I died. Physicians ended up focusing on specific diagnosis and specialized treatment, and the passive treatments I advocated were strongly denounced by future physicians.
Another important concept in my type of medicine was that of a crisis - a point in the progression of disease at which either the illness would begin to triumph and the patient would succumb to death, or the opposite would occur and natural processes would make the patient recover. After a crisis, a relapse might follow, and then another deciding crisis. According to this doctrine, crises tend to occur on critical days, which were supposed to be a fixed time after the contraction of a disease. If a crisis occurred on a day far from a critical day, a relapse might be expected.
My type of medicine was humble and passive. The therapeutic approach was based on the healing power of nature. According to this doctrine, the body contained within itself the power to re-balance the 4 humors - blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm or mucus. I claimed that they influence the body and its emotions. The 4 humors correspond to the 4 elements of air, fire, earth and water. The 4 humors also correspond to the 4 fundamental personality types. Sanguine is optimistic, active and social, choleric is short-tempered, fast or irritable, melancholic is analytical, wise and quiet, and phlegmatic is relaxed, peaceful, sluggish, apathetic and indifferent. The 4 humors are characterized as wet, hot, dry and cold.
My therapy focused on simply easing this natural process. To this end, I believed that rest and immobilization were of capital importance. In general, my type of medicine was very kind to the patient; treatment was gentle, and emphasized keeping the patient clean and sterile. For example, only clean water or wine were ever used on wounds, though "dry" treatment was preferable. Soothing balms were sometimes employed.
I was reluctant to administer drugs and engage in specialized treatment that might prove to be wrongly chosen; generalized therapy followed a generalized diagnosis. However, potent drugs were used on certain occasions. This passive approach was very successful in treating relatively simple ailments such as broken bones which required traction to stretch the skeletal system and relieve pressure on the injured area.
One of the strengths of my type of medicine was its emphasis on prognosis, or forecasting how the disease develops. In my time, medicinal therapy was quite immature, and often the best thing that physicians could do was to evaluate an illness and induce its likely progression based upon data collected in detailed case histories.
My type of medicine was notable for its strict professionalism, discipline, and rigorous practice. My work “On the Physician” recommended that physicians always be honest, calm, understanding, and serious and that he paid careful attention to all aspects of his practice. The physician had to follow detailed specifications for, lighting, personnel, instruments, positioning of the patient, and techniques of bandaging and splinting in the ancient operating room and had to keep his fingernails short.
My type of medicine gave importance to the clinical doctrines of observation and documentation. These doctrines dictated that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods in a very clear and objective manner, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other physicians. I made careful, regular note of many symptoms including complexion, pulse, fever, pains, movement, and excretions. I measured a patient's pulse when taking a case history to know if the patient lied. I extended clinical observations into family history and environment. Clinical inspection and observation were considered to be an art. Because of that many called me "The Father of Clinical Medicine".
My followers and I were first to describe many diseases and medical conditions. I was given credit for the first description of clubbing of the fingers, an important diagnostic sign in chronic lung disease, lung cancer and cyanotic heart disease. For this reason, clubbed fingers – where the fingers thicken at the tips - became to be referred to as "Hippocratic fingers". I was also the first physician to describe “Hippocratic face” in prognosis. This was the change produced in the face by impending death or long illness, excessive evacuations, excessive hunger, and the like. The nose looks sharp, the eyes sunken, the temples fallen in, the ears cold and drawn in and their lobes distorted, the skin of the face hard, stretched and dry, and the color of the face pale or dusky.
I began to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. An endemic disease was one which was constantly present in a given area, though usually at low levels, whereas an epidemic disease is widespread and has a high incidence. I used terms such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence." Another of my major contributions was found in my descriptions of the symptomatology, physical findings, surgical treatment and prognosis of thoracic empyema - the pus lining of the chest cavity. My type of medicine described well the ailments of the human rectum and the treatment thereof. Hemorrhoids, believed to be caused by an excess of bile and phlegm, were treated by me in relatively advanced ways. Cautery and excision are described in my book “The Hippocratic Corpus”, in addition to the preferred methods – ligating or binding the hemorrhoids and drying them with a hot iron. Other treatments such as applying various salves were suggested as well. The uses of the rectal speculum, a common medical device, were discussed in my book. This constituted the earliest recorded reference to endoscopy – the examination using a slender, tubular optical instrument used as a viewing system for examining an inner part of the body.
“The Hippocratic Corpus” which I wrote was a collection of around 70 early medical works from ancient Greece. The collection contained textbooks, lectures, research, notes and philosophical essays on various subjects in medicine, in no particular order. These works were written for different audiences, both specialists and laymen, and were sometimes written from opposing viewpoints. Notable among my publications were “The Book of Prognostics”, “On Regimen in Acute Diseases”, “Aphorisms”, “On Airs, Waters and Places”, “Instruments of Reduction”, “On The Sacred Disease”, among others. “The Hippocratic Oath”, a document on the ethics of medical practice, was the most famous document of the “Hippocratic Corpus”.
I died when I was 90 years old.
My contributions revolutionized the practice of medicine; but after my death the advancement stalled. I was so revered that my teachings were largely taken as too great to be improved upon and no significant advancements of my methods were made for a long time. The centuries after I died were marked as much by retrograde movement as by further advancement. After I died, the practice of taking clinical case-histories died out.
After I died, the next significant physician was Galen, a Greek who lived from. 129-200 Galen perpetuated my type of medicine. In the Middle Ages, Arabs adopted my methods. After the European Renaissance, my methods were revived in Europe and even further expanded in the 19th century.
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I was born to become a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period. I was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, and later I became king of Epirus and Macedon. I was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of my battles, though successful, caused me heavy losses, from which the term “Pyrrhic victory” was coined.
I was a second cousin of Alexander the Great. I had 2 sisters. When I was only 2 years old, my father was dethroned and my family took refuge with one of the largest Illyrian tribes who inhabited the west side of the Adriatic coast. When I was 12 years old, I was restored to the throne until I was banished again 4 years later.
I went on to serve as an officer and when I was 20 years old, I was taken hostage to Alexandria, under the terms of a peace treaty. There, I married Ptolemy I's daughter and restored my kingdom in Epirus a year later with financial and military aid from Ptolemy I. I had my co-ruler murdered. When I was 23, I went to war against my former ally and brother-in-law. 3 years later I invaded Thessaly but was repulsed. By the time I was 32 years old, I had taken control over the kingdom of Macedon, but was driven out 2 years later.
The Greek city of Tarentum, in southern Italy, fell out with Rome due to a violation of an old treaty that specified Rome was not to send warships there. Romans installed garrisons near the city and sent warships there. They were attacked and the Roman garrison was driven from the city and several Roman warships were sunk. Tarentum was attacked by Rome and faced certain defeat, I was asked to defend them. I was encouraged to aid the Tarentines by the Oracle of Delphi. My goals were not, however, selfless. I recognized the possibility of carving out an empire for myself in Italy. I made an alliance with the King of Macedon.
When I was 38 years old, I entered Italy with an army consisting of 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers, and 20 war elephants in a bid to subdue the Romans. The elephants had been loaned to me by Ptolemy II, who had also promised 9,000 soldiers and a further 50 elephants to defend Epirus while my army and I were away. Due to my superior cavalry, my elephants and my deadly phalanx infantry, I defeated the Romans. The Romans lost about 15,000 while I lost 13,000 soldiers, including many of my best. I offered the Romans a peace treaty which was eventually rejected.
A year later, I invaded Apulia where I won a costly victory. While the able Roman force was ultimately defeated, they managed to almost break the back of my army. In the end, the Romans lost 6,000 men and I lost 3,500 including many officers. I later famously commented on my victory, stating, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined".
When I was 40 years old, I received 2 offers simultaneously. The Greek cities in Sicily asked me to come and drive out Carthage, which along with Rome was one of the 2 great powers of the Western Mediterranean. At the same time, the Macedonians, whose King had been killed by invading Gauls asked me to ascend the throne of Macedon. I decided that Sicily offered me a greater opportunity, and transferred my army there.
Soon after landing in Sicily, I lifted the Carthaginian siege of Syracuse and was proclaimed king of Sicily. I was already making plans for my son Helenus to inherit the kingdom of Sicily and my other son Alexander to be given Italy. One year later, I captured the strongest Carthaginian fortress in Sicily. This prompted the rest of the Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to me.
When I was 42 years old, I negotiated with the Carthaginians. Although they were inclined to come to terms with me, supply me money and send me ships once friendly relations were established, I demanded that Carthage abandon all of Sicily. The Greek cities of Sicily opposed making peace with Carthage because the Carthaginians still controlled the powerful fortress on the western end of the island. I eventually gave in to their proposals and broke off the peace negotiations. My army then began the siege. For 2 months I launched unsuccessful assaults on the city, until finally I realized I could not mount an effective siege without blockading it from the sea as well. I then requested manpower and money from the Sicilians in order to construct a powerful fleet. When the Sicilians became unhappy about these contributions I had to resort to compulsory contributions and force to keep them in line. These measures culminated in me proclaiming a military dictatorship of Sicily and installing military garrisons in Sicilian cities.
These actions were deeply unpopular and soon Sicilian opinion became inflamed against me. I had so alienated the Sicilian Greeks that they were willing to make common cause with the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians took heart from this and sent another army against me. This army was promptly defeated. In spite of this victory, Sicily continued to grow increasingly hostile to me. At this point I was informed that of all the Greek cities in Italy except Tarentum had been conquered by Rome. I made my decision and departed from Sicily. As my ship left the island, I turned and foreshadowing the Punic Wars, said to my companions: "What a wrestling ground we are leaving, my friends, for the Carthaginians and the Romans."
While I had been campaigning against the Carthaginians, the Romans had rebuilt their army by calling up thousands of fresh recruits. When I returned from Sicily, I found myself vastly outnumbered against a superior Roman army. After an inconclusive battle, I decided to end my campaign in Italy and return to Epirus which resulted in the loss of essentially all the gains I had made in Italy. However, the city of Tarentum remained under my dominion. I was then 43 years old. Though my western campaign had taken a heavy toll on my army as well as my treasury, I went to war yet again. I won an easy victory and seized the Macedonian throne.
When I was 46 years old, a Spartan of royal blood who was hated among fellow Spartans, asked me to attack Sparta and place him in power. I agreed to the plan, intending to win control of the Peloponnese for myself, but unexpectedly strong resistance thwarted my assault on Sparta. On the retreat I lost my firstborn son Ptolemy, who had been in command of the rearguard. I had little time to mourn, as I was immediately offered an opportunity to intervene in a civic dispute in Argos. I hastened to enter the city with my army by stealth, only to find the place crowded with hostile troops. During the confused battle in the narrow city streets, I was trapped. While I was fighting a soldier, the soldier's old mother, who was watching from a rooftop, threw a tile which knocked me from my horse and broke part of my spine, paralyzing me.
A soldier though frightened by the look on my unconscious face hesitantly and ineptly beheaded my motionless body. I was cremated with all honors and my surviving son Helenus was sent back to Epirus. That same year, upon hearing the news of my death, the Tarentinians surrendered to Rome.
While I was a mercurial and often restless leader, and not always a wise king, I was considered one of the greatest military commanders of my time. Hannibal ranked me along with Alexander the Great as the greatest commander the world had ever seen. I was also known to be very benevolent. As a general, my greatest political weaknesses were my failures to maintain focus and to maintain a strong treasury at home. Many of my soldiers were costly mercenaries.
My campaign in Italy was effectively the only chance for Greece to check the advance of Rome towards domination of the Mediterranean world. Rather than banding together, the various Hellenistic powers continued to quarrel among themselves, sapping the financial and military strength of Greece and to a lesser extent, Macedon and the greater Hellenistic world. By 197 BC, Macedonia and many southern Greek city-states became Roman client states. In 188 BC, the Seleucid Empire was forced to cede most of Asia Minor to Rome. Total Roman domination over Greece proper was marked by the destruction of Corinth in 146 BC. Greece then formed an integral part of the Roman world leading into the Byzantine period.
I wrote memoirs and several books on the art of war. These have since been lost, although, Hannibal was influenced by them, and they received praise from Cicero. Some of my battles, although victories, were so bloody and resulted in a terrible loss of life for my own men that they gave rise to the term “Pyrrhic victory,” an expression still in use today, especially in sports and politics.
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I am considered one of the greatest military commanders in history.
I was born in Carthage in North Africa and lived during a period of great tension in the Mediterranean when the Roman Republic established its supremacy. I marched an army which numbered 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 38 elephants over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Italy. I had to use vinegar and fire to break through the rocky Alps and I arrived in Italy only with 20,000 foot soldiers, 4,000 horsemen, and a few elephants. I distinguished myself for my ability to determine my opponent's strengths and weaknesses, and to play the battle to my strengths and my enemy's weaknesses. I won over many allies of Rome. I occupied much of Italy for 15 years but was unable to march on Rome. Because of a counter-invasion of North Africa, I was forced to return to Carthage, where I was decisively defeated by Scipio who had studied my tactics and brilliantly devised some of his own, and defeated me.
After the war, I successfully enacted political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome. My reforms were so unpopular that I was forced to flee into voluntary exile. During this time, I became a military adviser to Antiochus III the Great in his war against Rome. He was defeated so I was forced to flee again to Armenia where I achieved an outstanding naval victory against a fleet from Pergamon, close to where the Trojan War described by Homer in his epic poems took place and where the Iliad and the Odyssey played out 1000 years before. My greatest enemy, Rome, came to adopt elements of my military tactics and called me the "father of strategy".
I was betrayed to the Romans and committed suicide by poisoning myself. After my death, I became to be regarded as one of the greatest military strategists and tacticians in history and one of the greatest generals of antiquity, together with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.
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Vercingetorix (82BC-46BC)
I was a king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe, a Celtic tribe located in the Auvergne region of France. One of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, the Arverni opposed the Romans on several occasions. I united the Gauls in a revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. I established an alliance with other Gallic tribes, took command and combined all forces, and led them in the Celts' most significant revolt against Roman power.
I adopted the strategy of retreating to natural fortifications, and burning towns to prevent the Roman legions from living off the land. I scorched much of the land marching north with my army in an attempt to deprive Caesar of the resources and safe haven of the towns and villages along his attack route. However, I spared the capital Avaricum, a Gallic settlement directly in Caesar's path. Due to the town's strong protests, naturally defendable terrain, and apparently strong man-made reinforcing defenses, I decided against razing and burning it. Leaving the town to its fate, I camped well outside of Avaricum and focused on conducting harassing engagements of the advancing Roman units. Upon reaching Avaricum however, the Romans laid siege and eventually captured the capital. Afterwards, in a contemptuous reprisal for 25 days of hunger and of laboring over the siege works required to breach Avaricum's defenses, the Romans slaughtered nearly the entire population of nearly 40,000 leaving only about 800 alive.
During the next battle, I and my warriors crushed Caesar's legions and allies, inflicting heavy losses. I then decided to follow Caesar but I suffered heavy losses during a cavalry battle and retreated and moved to another stronghold called Alesia. I was 30 years old when I fought that battle in Alesia. Caesar built a fortification around the city to besiege it. However, Caesar's army was surrounded by the rest of Gaul, and I had summoned my Gallic allies to attack the besieging Romans, so Caesar built another outer fortification against the expected relief armies resulting in a doughnut-shaped fortification. The relief came in insufficient numbers. I was the tactical leader, and was cut off from them on the inside, and without my guidance the attacks were initially unsuccessful. However, the attacks did reveal a weak point in the fortifications and the combined forces on the inside and the outside almost made a breakthrough. Only when Caesar personally led the last reserves into battle did he finally manage to prevail. This was a decisive battle in the creation of the Roman Empire.
I surrendered in dramatic fashion, riding my beautifully adorned horse out of Alesia and around Caesar's camp before dismounting in front of Caesar, stripping myself of my armor and sitting down at Caesar's feet, I remained motionless until taken away. I was imprisoned in Rome for 5 years before being publicly displayed and executed by strangulation in my prison, as ancient custom would have it.
Long after I died, I became to be revered in France as its first national hero for uniting Celtic tribes to do battle against the aggressive Romans and valiantly and ferociously trying to keep them from overrunning Gaul, as France was then called.
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Hermann, Pedanius Dioscorides, Galen, Alaric I, Benedict of Nursia, Roland, Basil I, Eric Bloodaxe, Basil II The Bulgar Slayer
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