Saint Paul

Theologian · 354 – 430

Augustine of Hippo was a Roman North African theologian and philosopher whose works, including Confessions and City of God, shaped Western Christianity and laid intellectual foundations for medieval and modern thought.

• Confessions
• City of God

Why The theologian whose conversion and doctrine were shaped most deeply by Paul's theology, especially his letters to the Romans.

Emperor · 272 – 337

Constantine the Great was the Roman emperor who became the first to embrace Christianity, ended its persecution, and founded Constantinople as a new capital — decisions that reshaped the Roman world and the future of Europe.

• First Christian emperor
• Founding Constantinople

Why The emperor whose adoption of Christianity built the institutional church that Paul's missions had laid the spiritual foundation for.

Theologian · 1483 – 1546

Martin Luther was a German theologian and reformer whose challenge to the Catholic Church sparked the Protestant Reformation and reshaped the religious, political and cultural landscape of Europe.

• Ninety-Five Theses
• The Protestant Reformation

Why The reformer whose Reformation was ignited by a re-reading of Paul's doctrine of justification by faith.

Friar · 1181 – 1226

Francis of Assisi was the Italian friar who founded the Franciscan order, embraced radical poverty, preached to birds and animals, and created a spirituality of joy, simplicity, and care for all creation that became one of the most beloved expressions of Christianity.

• Franciscan order
• Radical poverty

Why Also a theologian · Comparable historical impact

Theologian · 1509 – 1564

John Calvin was the French theologian and reformer who developed Calvinism, founded the Reformed tradition of Protestantism, and governed Geneva as a theocracy whose model of disciplined Christian community shaped Puritanism, Presbyterianism, and ultimately the foundations of modern democracy.

• Calvinism
• Predestination

Why Also a theologian · Comparable historical impact

Theologian · 1225 – 1274

Thomas Aquinas was a medieval Italian theologian and philosopher whose synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy became central to Catholic thought and the high point of scholasticism.

• Summa Theologica
• Reconciling faith and reason

Why Also a theologian · Comparable historical impact

Composer · 1098 – 1179

Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess and one of the most remarkable polymaths of the Middle Ages — a visionary, composer, writer, healer and natural philosopher.

• Visionary theology
• Sacred music

Why Also a theologian · Comparable historical impact

Statesman · 106 BC – 43 BC

Cicero was a Roman statesman, orator and philosopher whose speeches and writings defined Latin prose, transmitted Greek philosophy to Rome, and championed the values of the Roman Republic.

• Roman oratory
• Defending the Republic

Why From the same civilization · Comparable historical impact

Emperor · 121 – 180

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, the last of the "Five Good Emperors", whose private journal, the Meditations, is the most cherished work of Stoic thought.

• The Meditations
• Stoic philosophy

Why Active in the same era · Comparable historical impact

Military Leader · 100 BC – 44 BC

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose conquest of Gaul and victory in civil war made him dictator of Rome, ending the Republic and paving the way for the Empire.

• Conquest of Gaul
• Crossing the Rubicon

Why From the same civilization · Comparable historical impact

Ruler · 69 BC – 30 BC

Cleopatra VII was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, a shrewd and learned monarch whose alliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony placed her at the center of Roman politics.

• Last pharaoh of Egypt
• Alliance with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony

Why Comparable historical impact

Prophet · 1391 BC – 1271 BC

Moses is the central prophet of Judaism and a foundational figure in Christianity and Islam, who according to scripture led the Hebrew people out of Egyptian slavery, received the Ten Commandments from God, and transmitted the Torah — the foundational texts of the Abrahamic religious tradition.

• The Exodus
• The Ten Commandments

Why Comparable historical impact

Prophet · 570 – 632

Muhammad was the founder of Islam and regarded by Muslims as the last prophet of God, whose revelations form the Quran and whose life and teachings shaped the religion now followed by 1.8 billion people across the world.

• Founding Islam
• The Quran

Why Comparable historical impact

Humanist · 1466 – 1536

Erasmus was a Dutch humanist, scholar and writer, the leading intellectual of the Northern Renaissance, whose satire In Praise of Folly and pioneering edition of the Greek New Testament shaped both literature and the coming Reformation.

• In Praise of Folly
• Greek New Testament

Why Also a theologian

Theologian · 1369 – 1415

Jan Hus was the Czech theologian and reformer who challenged the corruption and authority of the Catholic Church a century before Martin Luther, was burned at the stake for heresy in 1415, and whose martyrdom sparked the Hussite Wars and inspired the Protestant Reformation.

• Pre-Reformation church reform
• Martyrdom at Council of Constance

Why Also a theologian

Poet · 1207 – 1273

Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic whose ecstatic verse on divine love became some of the most beloved poetry in the world and made him, centuries later, one of the most widely read poets in the West.

• The Masnavi
• Sufi mystical poetry

Why Also a theologian

Emperor · 63 BC – 14

Augustus was the first Roman emperor, the heir of Julius Caesar who ended a century of civil war, established the Roman Empire, and inaugurated the Pax Romana.

• First Roman emperor
• The Pax Romana

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Poet · 70 BC – 19 BC

Virgil was a Roman poet of the Augustan age whose epic the Aeneid became the national poem of Rome and one of the most influential works in all of Western literature.

• The Aeneid
• The Georgics

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Queen · 25 – 61

Boudicca was the queen of the Iceni tribe who led a major uprising against Roman rule in Britain around 60–61 CE, sacking Camulodunum, Londinium, and Verulamium before being defeated by the Roman governor Paulinus.

• Revolt against Rome
• Sacking of Londinium

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Emperor · 76 – 138

Hadrian was a Roman emperor, one of the "Five Good Emperors", who consolidated rather than expanded the empire, traveled tirelessly through its provinces, and built the great frontier wall in Britain that still bears his name.

• Hadrian's Wall
• Rebuilding the Pantheon

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Emperor · 37 – 68

Nero was the fifth Roman emperor, remembered as a byword for tyranny and excess, whose reign saw the Great Fire of Rome, the persecution of Christians, and a descent into cruelty that ended in his suicide and the fall of his dynasty.

• The Great Fire of Rome
• Persecution of Christians

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Emperor · 53 – 117

Trajan was a Roman emperor under whom the Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, a soldier-emperor remembered as one of the "Five Good Emperors" and celebrated by Romans as the best of all rulers.

• Greatest extent of the Roman Empire
• Conquest of Dacia

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Poet · 43 BC – 17

Ovid was a Roman poet of the Augustan age whose Metamorphoses, a sweeping collection of mythological tales, became one of the most influential works of classical literature on later Western art and poetry.

• Metamorphoses
• Ars Amatoria

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

General · 83 BC – 30 BC

Mark Antony was a Roman general and statesman, a close ally of Julius Caesar who, after Caesar's assassination, ruled much of the Roman world and allied with Cleopatra, before his defeat by Octavian ended the Roman Republic for good.

• Ally of Julius Caesar
• Affair with Cleopatra

Why From the same civilization