Historical Figures
Every figure has a voice
Meet the people who shaped our world. Explore their portraits, read their stories — then start a conversation with them, in their own voice and from their own time.
1111 historical figures
Ancient
Before 800 BC4Classical
800 BC – 500 AD7
Alexander the Great
d. 323 BC
Military commander, King of Macedon from 336 to 323 BC

Cleopatra
d. 30 BC
Pharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC

Julius Caesar
100 BC–44 BC
Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC)

Mark Antony
83 BC–30 BC
Roman politician and general (83–30 BC)

Qin Shi Huang
d. 210 BC
Emperor of China from 221 to 210 BC

Livia
b. 58 BC

Hasdrubal Barca
d. 207 BC
Late Antiquity
300 – 70015
Augustus Caesar
b. 63
Roman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14

Jesus Christ
d. 30
1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader

Nero
37–68
Roman emperor from AD 54 to 68

Augustus
63 BC–14
Roman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14

Caligula
d. 41
Roman emperor from AD 37 to 41

Constantine the Great
272–337
Roman emperor from 306 to 337

Hadrian
76–138
Roman emperor from 117 to 138

Marcus Aurelius
121–180
Roman emperor from 161 to 180

Atticus
d. 425

Liu Bei
d. 223

Caracalla
d. 217

Saint Mark
d. 68
Early Medieval
500 – 10005High Medieval
1000 – 13008Late Medieval
1300 – 150017
Leonardo da Vinci
1452–1519
Italian polymath (1452–1519)

Joan of Arc
1412–1431
French folk heroine and saint (1412–1431)

Suleiman the Magnificent
b. 1495
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520–1566)

Amerigo Vespucci
1454–1512

Giotto
d. 1337

Johannes Gutenberg
d. 1468

Lucrezia Borgia
1480–1519

Mehmed the Conqueror
1432–1481

Thomas More
1478–1535

Xuande Emperor of China (b. 1398)
d. 1435

Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
b. 1360

Elizabeth Tudor
b. 1492
Renaissance
1400 – 160024
Galileo Galilei
1564–1642
Italian physicist and astronomer (1564–1642)

Michelangelo
d. 1564
Italian artist and architect (1475–1564)

William Shakespeare
1564–1616
English playwright and poet (1564–1616)

Anne Boleyn
d. 1536
Queen of England from 1533 to 1536

Henry
1512–1511
Topics referred to by the same term

Martin Luther
d. 1546
German priest, theologian and author (1483–1546)

Nicolaus Copernicus
d. 1543
Mathematician and astronomer (1473–1543)

Anne of Cleves
d. 1557

Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
d. 1536

Isabella I
d. 1504

Lorenzo de' Medici
1492–1519

Nostradamus
d. 1566
Early Modern
1500 – 170010Enlightenment
1685 – 181531
Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790
American Founding Father and polymath (1706–1790)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
d. 1791
Composer (1756–1791)

Catherine the Great
1729–1796
Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796

Johann Sebastian Bach
d. 1750
German composer (1685–1750)

Marie Antoinette
1755–1793
Queen of France from 1774 to 1792

Thomas Jefferson
1743–1826
Founding Father, U.S. president from 1801 to 1809

Alessandro Volta
1745–1827

Alexander Hamilton
1755–1804

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke
b. 1737

Horatio Nelson
1758–1805

James Madison
1751–1836

James Monroe
1758–1831
Industrial Revolution
1760 – 184028
Abraham Lincoln
1809–1865
President of the United States from 1861 to 1865

John Adams
1735–1826
Founding Father, U.S. president from 1797 to 1801

Ludwig van Beethoven
d. 1827
German composer (1770–1827)

Otto von Bismarck
1815–1898
Chancellor of Germany from 1871 to 1890

Thomas Edison
1847–1931
American inventor and businessman (1847–1931)

Alfred Nobel
1833–1896

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
1806–1859

John Wilkes Booth
1838–1865

Levi Strauss
1829–1902

Louis Braille
1809–1852

P. T. Barnum
1810–1891

Ulysses S. Grant
1822–1885
Victorian Era
1837 – 190164
Adolf Hitler
1889–1945
Dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945

Albert Einstein
1879–1955
German-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)

Marie Curie
1867–1934
Polish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)

Sir Winston Churchill
b. 1874
British statesman and writer (1874–1965)

Bertrand Russell
1872–1970
Mathematician and philosopher

Franklin D. Roosevelt
1882–1945
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945

Harry S. Truman
1884–1972
President of the United States from 1945 to 1953

Hermann Göring
1893–1946
German Nazi politician and military leader (1893–1946)

Karl Marx
d. 1883
German philosopher and socialist theorist (1818–1883)

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
1881–1938
Founder of Turkey (c. 1881–1938)

Theodore Roosevelt
1858–1944
President of the United States from 1901 to 1909

Colonel Sanders
1890–1980
Early 20th Century
1900 – 193058
Nelson Mandela
1918–2013
President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999

Francis Crick
1916–2004
English physicist and biologist (1916–2004)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1914–1988
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945

Heinrich Himmler
1900–1945
German Nazi leader of the SS (1900–1945)

Mark Twain
d. 1910
American author and humorist (1835–1910)

Mother Teresa
1910–1997
Albanian-Indian Catholic saint (1910–1997)

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (b. 1819)
d. 1901
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901

Richard Feynman
1918–1988
American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)

Richard Nixon
1913–1994
President of the United States from 1969 to 1974

Ronald Reagan
1911–2004
President of the United States from 1981 to 1989

Christian Dior
1905–1957

Eva Braun
1912–1945
Interwar & WWII
1918 – 1945128
Elvis Presley
1935–1977
American singer and actor (1935–1977)

John Lennon
1940–1980
English musician and activist (1940–1980)

Martin Luther King
1929–1968
American civil rights activist (1929–1968)

Sir Paul McCartney
b. 1942
English musician (born 1942)

Gabriel García Márquez
1927–2014
Colombian writer and Nobel laureate (1927–2014)

George Harrison
1943–2001
English musician (1943–2001)

Jerry Garcia
1942–1995
American guitarist and singer (1942–1995)

Kofi Annan
1938–2018
UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006

Margaret Thatcher
1925–2013
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990

Mick Jagger
b. 1943
English musician (born 1943)

Mikhail Gorbachev
1931–2022
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991

Ringo Starr
b. 1940
English musician and actor (born 1940)
Postwar
1945 – 1970197
Barack Obama
b. 1961
President of the United States from 2009 to 2017

Freddie Mercury
1946–1991
British rock musician (1946–1991)

John F. Kennedy
1917–1963
President of the United States from 1961 to 1963

Joseph Stalin
d. 1953
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953

Michael Jackson
1956–2009
Anglican Archbishop Of Dublin

Michelle Obama
b. 1964
First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017

Oprah Winfrey
b. 1954
American media personality and proprietor (born 1954)

Will Smith
b. 1968
American actor and rapper (born 1968)

Alexander Fleming
1881–1955
Scottish physician and microbiologist (1881–1955)

Angela Merkel
b. 1954
Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021

Ayrton Senna
1960–1994
Brazilian racing driver (1960–1994)

Bob Marley
1945–1981
Jamaican singer, songwriter and guitarist (1945–1981)
Late 20th Century
1970 – 2000131
Beyoncé
b. 1981
American singer (born 1981)

Donald Trump
b. 1977
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)

Harry Styles
b. 1994
English singer, songwriter and actor (born 1994)

LeBron James
b. 1984
American basketball player (born 1984)

Mao Zedong
d. 1976
Leader of China from 1949 to 1976

Napoleon
b. 1977
American rapper (born 1977)

Scarlett Johansson
b. 1984
American actress (born 1984)

Adele
b. 1988
English singer-songwriter (born 1988)

Akira Kurosawa
d. 1998
Japanese filmmaker (1910–1998)

Deng Xiaoping
d. 1997
Leader of China from 1978 to 1989

Harry Truman
d. 1980
American businessman and airman (1896–1980)

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
1929–1994
First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963
Contemporary
1970 – Present32
Elizabeth II
d. 2022
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022

Hercules
1957–2004
American professional wrestler (1956–2004)

Alexander McQueen
d. 2010

F. W. de Klerk
1936–2021

George Floyd
d. 2020

Jiang Zemin
d. 2022

Lisa Lopes
1971–2002

Paul Allen
1953–2018

Pierre Trudeau
1919–2000

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kin
d. 2002

Robin Gibb
1949–2012

Charles M. Schulz
d. 2000
Other Notable Figures
352
Alexandre Dumas
1802–1870

Alex Trebek
d. 2020

Arnold Schwarzenegger
b. 1947

Benjamin Netanyahu
b. 1949

Bill Clinton
b. 1946
President of the United States from 1993 to 2001

Charles de Gaulle
1890–1970

Charles III
b. 1948

Che Guevara
1928–1967

Claudius
10–54

Coco Chanel
d. 1971

Eleanor Roosevelt
1884–1962

Emmanuel Macron
b. 1977


























