List of people known as The Great

This is an incomplete list of people known as "The Great". There are many people in history whose names are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great" or the equivalent in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively and Maha in the devanagiri script (Hindi script) as in Mahatma Gandhi.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1] The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great". The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders used the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, such as the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "the Great" in his lifetime, but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "the Great". German Emperor Wilhelm I was often called "the Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Religious figures

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366), hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Rebbe Aaron HaGadol (The Great) of Karlin (1736–1772), Hasidic rabbi and founder of Karlin (Hasidic dynasty)
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Arsenius the Great (354-445), a Roman anchorite saint in Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi in Israel
• Joannicius the Great (752-846), Byzantine hermit, theologian and saint
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh mythology and literature
• Matteo Rosso the Great (1178–1246), a Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Melias, distinguished 10th-century Byzantine general of Armenian origin, called "Mleh the Great" in Armenian sources
• Prokop the Great, a Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European royalty and nobility
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mao Zedong, leader of communist China called the "Great Helmsman"
• Mohandas Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah, honourably called "Quaid-e-Azam", which means "The Great Leader" in Urdu
• Muhammad Ali, boxing champion nicknamed "the Greatest"
• Wayne Gretzky, hockey player known by the nickname "The Great One"
• The Great Khali, a Rajput wrestler from India, former WWE world champion
• The Great Gatsby, a 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Great Gonzo (also known as "Gonzo the Great"), one of the main characters of The Muppets

Notes