A historical figure is a significant person in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. The significance of such figures in human progress has been debated. Some think they play a crucial role, while others say they have little impact on the broad currents of thought and social change. The concept is generally used in the sense that the person really existed in the past, as opposed to being legendary. However, the legends that can grow up around historical figures may be hard to distinguish from fact. Sources are often incomplete and may be inaccurate, particularly those from early periods of history. Without a body of personal documents, the more subtle aspects of personality of a historical figure can only be deduced. With historical figures who were also religious figures attempts to separate fact from belief may be controversial. In education, presenting information as if it were being told by a historical figure may give it greater impact. Since classical times, students have been asked to put themselves in the place of a historical figure as a way of bringing history to life. Historical figures are often represented in fiction, where fact and fancy are combined. In earlier traditions, before the rise of a critical historical tradition, authors took less care to be as accurate when describing what they knew of historical figures and their actions, interpolating imaginary elements intended to serve a moral purpose to events. More recently there has been a tendency once again for authors to freely depart from the "facts" when they conflict with their creative goals.

Significance

The significance of historical figures has long been the subject of debate by philosophers.

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

(1770–1831) considered that "world-historical figures" played a pivotal role in human progress, but felt that they were bound to emerge when change was needed.

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

(1795–1881) saw the study of figures such as

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

as key to understanding history.

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression " survival of the f ...

(1820–1903), an early believer in evolution and in the universality of natural law, felt that historical individuals were of little importance.

Hegel's world-historical figure

The German philosopher Hegel defined the concept of the world-historical figure, who embodied the ruthless advance of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

's World Spirit, often overthrowing outdated structures and ideas. To him,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

was such a figure. Hegel proposed that a world-historical figure essentially posed a challenge, or thesis, and this would generate an antithesis, or opposing force. Eventually a synthesis would resolve the conflict. Hegel viewed

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

as a world historical figure, who appeared at a stage when Rome had grown to the point it could no longer continue as a republican city state but had to become an empire. Caesar failed in his bid to make himself an emperor, and was assassinated, but the empire came into existence soon afterward, and Caesar's name has become synonymous with "emperor" in forms such as "

kaiser ''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...

" or "

czar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the t ...

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...

, in his early essay ''The Concept of Irony'', generally agrees with Hegel's views, such as his characterization of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no t ...

as a world-historical figure who acted as a destructive force on Greek received views of morality. In Hegel's view, Socrates broke down social harmony by questioning the meaning of concepts like "justice" and "virtue". Eventually, the Athenians condemned Socrates to death. But they could not stop the evolution of thought that Socrates had begun, which would lead to the concept of individual conscience. Hegel said of world-historical figures, However, Hegel,

and others noted that the great historical figures were just representative men, expressions of the material forces of history. Essentially they have little choice about what they do. This is in conflict with the views of

George Bancroft George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts and at the national and internati ...

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...

, who praised self-reliance and individualism, and in conflict with

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' dialectical relativism and idealistic absolutism.

Spencerian view

The Scottish philosopher and evolutionist

, who was highly influential in the latter half of the nineteenth century, felt that historical figures were relatively unimportant. He wrote to a friend, "I ignore utterly the personal element in history, and, indeed, show little respect for history altogether as it is ordinarily conceived." He wrote, "The births, deaths, and marriages of kings, and other like historic trivialities, are committed to memory, not because of any direct benefits that can possibly result from knowing them: but because society considers them parts of a good education." In his essay ''What Knowledge Is of Most Worth?'' he wrote:

Inevitability or determinism

Taken to an extreme, one may consider that what Hegel calls the "world spirit" and T. S. Eliot calls "those vast impersonal forces" hold us in their grip. What happens is predetermined. Both Hegel and Marx advocated historical inevitability in contrast to the doctrine of contingency, allowing for alternative outcomes, that was advocated by

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

and others. However, Marx argued against the use of the "historical inevitability" argument when used to explain the destruction of early communes in Russia. As an orthodox Marxist,

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

accepted the laws of history that Marx had discovered, including the historical inevitability of capitalism followed by a transition to socialism. Despite this, Lenin also believed the transition could be effected faster by voluntary action. In 1936

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the ...

published an influential paper on ''

The Poverty of Historicism ''The Poverty of Historicism'' is a 1944 book by the philosopher Karl Popper (revised in 1957), in which the author argues that the idea of historicism is dangerous and bankrupt. Publication ''The Poverty of Historicism'' was first written as a ...

'', published as a book in 1957, that attacked the doctrine of historical inevitability. The historian

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, author of ''Historical Inevitability'', also argued forcibly against this view, going as far as to say that some choices are entirely free and cannot be predicted scientifically. Berlin presented his views in a 1953 lecture at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

, published soon afterwards. When speaking he referred to

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

's views, but the published version speaks approvingly of Karl Popper, which caused a stir among academics.

Heroic view

has espoused the "heroic view" of history, famously saying in his essay on the Norse god

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

in his book ''On heroes, hero-worship, & the heroic in history'' that "No great man lives in vain. The History of the world is but the Biography of great men ... We do not now call our great men Gods, nor admire ''without'' limit; ah no, ''with'' limit enough! But if we have no great men, or do not admire at all,— that were a still worse case." Carlyle's historical philosophy was based on the " Great Man theory", saying, "Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in the world ... sat bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here." An extreme believer in individuality, he also believed that the masses of people should let themselves be guided by the great leaders of men. Talking of poets he said, More recently, in his 1943 book ''The Hero in History'', the pragmatist scholar

Sidney Hook Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his you ...

asserts: Hook recognizes the relevance of the environment within which the "great man" or "hero" acted, but asserts that this can provide the backdrop but never the plot of the "dramas of human history". and distinguish life and species

Ranking

There have been rankings of the significance of major historical figures. For example,

Cesar A. Hidalgo Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

and colleagues at the

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

has calculated the memorability of historical figures using data such as the number of language editions for which there are articles for each person, the pageviews received, and other factors. These lists are available at MIT'
Pantheon
project.

Historical truth

It is sometimes hard to discern whether apparently historical figures from the earliest periods did in fact exist, due to the lack of records. Even with more recent personages, stories or anecdotes about the person often accumulate that have no basis in fact. Although the external aspects of a historical figure may be well documented, their inner nature can only be a subject of speculation. It can also not be only a subject of speculation as many historical figures such as

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

explicitly articulated their thoughts and intentions. With religious figures, often the subjects of voluminous literature, separating "fact" from "belief" can be difficult if not impossible.

Ancient figures

With older texts it can be difficult to be sure whether a person in the text is, in fact, a historical figure. "Wisdom literature" from early middle-eastern cultures (such as the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars a ...

), mainly consist of verbal expositions or discussions that must be considered the work of the author, rather than the character supposedly speaking. It may still be possible to identify a figure in such texts with a historical figure known from some other context, and the text may be taken as informative about this figure, even if not verified by an independent source. On the other hand, a text may include realistic settings and references to historical people, while the central character may or may not be a historical figure.

Fables

Napoleon spoke of history as being a

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular m ...

which had been agreed upon:– "''la fable convenue qu'on appellera l'histoire''". Great figures of the past have stories told about them which grow in the telling, and so become

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

s and

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

s which may dominate or displace the more prosaic historical facts about them. For example, some ancient chroniclers said that the Emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

fiddled while Rome burned, but

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

disputed this by saying the stories were just malicious rumours. Similarly, there is no good evidence that

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

ever said "let them eat cake", or that

Lady Godiva Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly re ...

rode naked through the streets of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

Personality

pointed out that even to the person living it, every life "remains in so many points unintelligible". The historian must struggle when writing biographies, "the very facts of which, to say nothing of the purport of them, we know not, and cannot know!" Some psychologists have sought to understand the personalities of historical figures through clues about the way in which they were raised. However, this theoretical psychoanalytic approach is not supported empirically. An alternative approach, favored by psychobiographers such as William Runyan, is to explain the personality of the historical figure in terms of their life history. This approach has the advantage of recognizing that personality may evolve over time in response to events. Confucius Laozi Buddha

Religious figures

With historical religious figures, fact and belief may be difficult to disentangle. There are cultural differences in the treatment of historical figures. Thus the Chinese can recognise that

Mencius Mencius ( ); born Mèng Kē (); or Mèngzǐ (; 372–289 BC) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who has often been described as the "second Sage", that is, second to Confucius himself. He is part of Confucius' fourth generation of discip ...

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

were historical individuals, while also endowing them with sanctity. In Indian

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

, on the other hand, figures such as

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bei ...

are almost always seen as embodiments of gods rather than as historical people. The Nirvana Sutra states: "Do not rely on the man but on the Dharma." A teacher such as

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

is thus treated almost exclusively as a lesser god rather than a historical figure. E. P. Sanders, author of ''The Historical Figure of Jesus'', called

Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

"one of the most important figures in human history". Various writers have struggled to present "historical" views of Jesus, as opposed to views distorted by belief. When writing about this subject, a historian who relies only on sources other than the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

may be criticized for implying that it is not a sufficient source of information about the subject. The theologian

Martin Kähler Martin Kähler (6 January 1835 – 7 September 1912) was a German theologian. He is best known for his short work, published in 1892, ''Der sogenannte historische Jesus und der geschichtliche, biblische Christus'' (The so-called historical Jesus a ...

is known for his work ''Der sogenannte historische Jesus und der geschichtliche, biblische Christus'' (The so-called historical Jesus, and the historic, biblical Christ). He clearly distinguished between "the Jesus of history" and "the Christ of faith". Some historians openly admit bias, which may anyway be unavoidable. Paul Hollenback says he writes about the historical Jesus, "...in order to overthrow, not simply correct, the mistake called Christianity." Another historian who has written about Jesus, Frederick Gaiser, says, "historical investigation is part and parcel of biblical faith."

Political appropriation

Stilke Hermann Anton - Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake

A historical figure may be interpreted to support political aims. In France in the first half of the seventeenth century, there was an outpouring of writing about

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronat ...

, including seven biographies, three plays and an epic poem. Joan had become a symbol of national pride and the Catholic faith, helping unite a country that had been divided by the recent

wars of religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...

. The reality of the historical Joan was subordinated to the need for a symbol of feminine strength, Christian virtue and resistance to the English.

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, introducing his 1923 play '' Saint Joan'', discussed representations of Joan by other authors. He felt that

's depiction in '' Henry VI, Part 1'' was constrained from making her a "beautiful and romantic figure" by political considerations.

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...

's version in his poem '' La Pucelle d'Orléans'' was also flawed by Voltaire's biases and

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

's play ''

Die Jungfrau von Orleans ''The Maid of Orleans'' (german: Die Jungfrau von Orleans, links=no, ) is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller, premiered on 11 September 1801 in Leipzig. During his lifetime, it was one of Schiller's most frequently-performed pieces. Plot The play l ...

'' "is not about Joan at all, and can hardly be said to pretend to be." A historical figure may be used to validate a politician's claim to authority, where the modern leader shapes and exploits the ideas associated with the historical figure, which they are presumed to have inherited. Thus,

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...

has frequently evoked the spirit of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...

often presented himself as following the path defined by

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

of Venezuela frequently identified himself with the historical figure

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

, the liberator of South America from Spanish rule.

Georg Hegel Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) George is a surname of Irish, English, Welsh, South Indian Christian, Middle Eastern Christian (usually Lebanese), French, or ...

believed in the role of the state in guaranteeing individual liberties, and his views were therefore rejected by the German

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

, who considered him dangerously liberal and perhaps a proto-Marxist. On the other hand,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

identified himself as a Hegelian world historical figure, and justified his actions on this basis.

In education

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

used historical figures in his writing, but only to illustrate his points.

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

used

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

in the same way. When Plato apparently quotes

in '' The Republic'', it is only to add dramatic effect to the presentation of his own thought. For this reason, Plato's writings on Socrates tell us little, at least directly, about Socrates. The historical figure is used only as a device for communicating Plato's ideas. In classical Rome, students of rhetoric had to master the '' suasoria'' — a form of

declamation Declamation (from the Latin: ''declamatio'') is an artistic form of public speaking. It is a dramatic oration designed to express through articulation, emphasis and gesture the full sense of the text being conveyed. History In Ancient Rome, decla ...

in which they wrote the soliloquy of a historical figure who was debating a critical course of action. For example, the poet

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

wrote a speech for the dictator

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...

, in which he was counselled to retire. The poet

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

enjoyed this exercise more than the other final challenge — the '' controversia''. The German philosopher

wrote an influential essay "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life". He said "the unhistorical and historical are necessary in equal measure for the health of an individual, of a people and of a culture." Nietzsche identifies three approaches to history, each with dangers. The monumental approach describes the glories of the past, often focusing on heroic figures like

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, King Robert the Bruce or

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

. By treating these figures as models, the student is tempted to consider that there can be nobody of such stature today. The antiquarian view examines the past in minute and reverent detail, turning its back on the present. The critical approach challenges traditional views, even though they may be valid. Historical figures may today be simulated as animated pedagogical agents to teach history and foreign culture. An example is Freudbot, which acted the part of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

for psychology students. When a variety of simulated character types were tried as educational agents, students rated historical figures as the most engaging. There are

gender difference Sex differences in humans have been studied in a variety of fields. Sex determination occurs by the presence or absence of a Y in the 23rd pair of chromosomes in the human genome. Phenotypic sex refers to an individual's sex as determined by th ...

s in the perception of historical figures. When modern US schoolchildren were asked to roleplay or illustrate historical stereotypes, boys tended to focus upon male figures exclusively while girls showed more varied family groupings.

In branding

Using historical figures in marketing communicationsn and in branding is a new area of marketing research but historical figures’ names were used to promote products as early as in the Middle Ages. Historical figure brand is using famous historical person in branding, for instance

Mozartkugel A (; English: "Mozart ball"; ) is a small, round sugar confection made of pistachio, marzipan and nougat that is covered with dark chocolate. It was originally known as , created in 1890 by Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürst (1856–1941) and n ...

, Chopin (vodka) or Café Einstein https://www.cafeeinstein.com/. Historical figure is a person who lived in the past and whose deeds exerted a significant impact on other people’s lives and consciousness. These figures are attributed with certain features that are a compilation of the actual values they proclaimed and the manner they were perceived by others. This perception evolves and subsequent generations read the biography of a given historical figure in their own way through their own knowledge and experience. In order to determine the popularity of the commercialisation of historical figures, a study was conducted at the beginning of 2014 on the number of trademark protection applications filed with the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland as a measure of entrepreneurs’ interest in this activity. The names of 300 most prominent Polish historical figures were considered. The study showed that over 21% of the names analysed were recorded in the trademark register. 1,033 trademark protection applications were filed for 64 names out of the 300 historical figures investigated ldona Lipka, 2015,Lipka Aldona, Ograniczona racjonalność i heurystyki w zachowaniach nabywców [w:G. Wolska (red.), Współczesne problemy ekonomiczne, Zeszyty Naukowe nr 858, Wyd. Uniwersytet Szczeciński, Szczecin 2015. p. 265.(https://scholar.google.pl/citations?user=8g7DDDkAAAAJ&hl=pl&oi=ao)]. The greatest number of trademark protection applications were recorded for Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko (295), followed by Nicolaus Copernicus (250), John III Sobieski (94) and Chopin (81).

In art and literature

Realist historical fiction

There is a huge body of historical fiction, where the text includes both imaginary and factual elements. In early English literature,

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

was a fictional character, but the historical King

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Aquitaine and Duchy of Gascony, Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Co ...

also appears.

wrote plays about people who were historical figures in his day, such as ''

''. He did not present these people as pure history, but dramatised their lives as a commentary about the people and politics of his own time. Napoleon figured in

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's 1862 classic ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

''. There are many more examples. The compiler of a survey of historical novels in the 1920s claimed that the "appearance of reality ... is the great charm of the historical novel." He went on to assert, regarding novels about periods of which little is known, that "the danger is that the very elements which add to our interest in the tale as such will go far to mislead us in our conception of the period dealt with". Traditionally the treatment of historical figures in fiction was realistic in style and respectful of fact. A historical novel would be true to the facts known about the period in which the novel is set, a

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fictio ...

would follow the facts that are known about the protagonist's life, and a "

roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship be ...

" would try to give an accurate interpretation of what is known about a public figure's private life. In each genre, the novelist would avoid introducing any elements that were clearly in conflict with the facts. A writer may be handicapped by his readers' preconceptions about a historical person, which may or may not be accurate, and the facts about the historical person may also conflict with the novelist's plot requirements. According to the Marxist philosopher

György Lukács György Lukács (born György Bernát Löwinger; hu, szegedi Lukács György Bernát; german: Georg Bernard Baron Lukács von Szegedin; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, critic, and aesth ...

in his 1937 book on ''The Historical Novel'', "The 'world-historical individual' can only figure as a minor character in the istoricalnovel because of the complexity and intricacy of the whole social-historical process." As Jacobs observes, the "realist aesthetic" of the historical novel "assumes that a recognizable historical figure in fiction must not 'do things' its model did not do in real life; it follows that historical figures can be used only in very limited ways." The author of a traditional historical novel should therefore focus more on the people who have been lost to history. A novelist such as Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

(''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'') would describe historical events accurately. They would give rein to their imagination only in scenes that were not significant historically, when interactions with fictional characters could safely be introduced.

Modern fiction

More recently, however, starting with works such as ''

The Confessions of Nat Turner ''The Confessions of Nat Turner'' is a 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by American writer William Styron. Presented as a first-person narrative by historical figure Nat Turner, the novel concerns Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Virginia in 1 ...

'', and '' Sophie's Choice'' by

William Styron William Clark Styron Jr. (June 11, 1925 – November 1, 2006) was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work. Styron was best known for his novels, including: * '' Lie Down in Darkness'' (1951), his acclaimed f ...

, the novelist has felt more free to introduce much larger amounts of purely imaginary detail about historical people.

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

illustrates this different attitude when discussing his book ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

'': "Certain details were so delicious that I was scrupulous about getting them right. Others ... demanded to be mythologized." This reflects a changing attitude about the distinction between "fact" and "truth", expressed by

Ursule Molinaro Ursule Molinaro (1916, Paris –10 July 2000, New York City) was a prolific novelist, playwright, translator and visual artist, the author of 12 novels, two collections of short prose works, innumerable short stories for literary magazines and doz ...

when he makes his

Cassandra Cassandra or Kassandra (; Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, , also , and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be belie ...

say, "I've come as close to the truth as facts would let me ... facts oppress the truth, which can breathe freely only in poetry & art."

Other media

Many films have depicted historical figures. Often the way in which the films interpret these figures and their times reflects the social and cultural values of the period in which the film was made. Historical figures are familiar to the general reader and so may be used in

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, nat ...

so that readers marvel at their appearance in novel settings or with a fresh perspective. For example, the time traveler The Doctor has encountered numerous historical figures such as

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

and

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

in his adventures. They appeared most frequently when the television series first started, as it was directed at children and the use of historical figures in historical settings was intended to be educational.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

*{{Commonscatinline, Historical persons

Figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif *Noise figure, in telecommunication *Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...