Give overlooked historical figures their due!
Right. Now that I've caught your attention with the title, I'd like to pose a little question to anyone who feels like contributing:
What historical figure, less well-known than most, merits at the very least a better place in history, and maybe even a nice movie or two?
In my opinion, the figures who deserve more are:
Scipio Africanus - This is the man who beat Hannibal for Gods' sake! And if the books, and the wiki article, I've read are telling the truth, he was an unbeaten general who didn't use his great popularity with the masses to his own advantage i.e by naming himself dictator-for-life, as a certain Gaius Julius did... (And I know there was a film made about him, but given that it was done by Fascists in the 30's, I'm discounting it)
Darius III - By some of the more interesting accounts I've read this is a man who was a more competent ruler than has been made out to be and who, well, gained everything and lost everything. Maybe a story from the loser's side, for once?
Xerxes I - Forget the dark-skinned half-naked brazilian covered in piercings from 300. Under this man, the Persian empire arguably reached its zenith, the greco-persian war notwithstanding. How about rehabilitating this man into a role that doesn't have him at the head of an army 'of barbarians, drawn from the four corners of the empire' (to once again use 300)
And just for variety...
Agustina de Aragón - The Maid of Aragón. A Spanish heroine of the napoleonic war and arguably my country's first female war-time heroine. This is a woman who fired a cannon at point-blank range into charging frenchmen, was decorated for bravery (Twice!!), was actually given the position of an artillery seargent, was captured, then released (or escaped, details are hazy), met Wellington, participated in three famous battles (the first and second sieges of Zaragoza and the battle of Vitoria), was married twice, had a child die in a French prison, and after the war spent the rest of her life a respectable woman married to a doctor who still wore her war-time medals. Surely a life that colouful merits so much more?? Besides, if nothing else she's remarkable for scoring extremely well on the uneven playing field of the sexes of the nineteenth century. (P.S if you're skeptical, check Wikipedia. If you understand Spanish, check out this link, which is obviously better http://www.1808-1814.org/frames/frambios.html)
So what's YOUR favourite historical character(s) which you feel merit more than they've been given?
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Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus
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