Coolest historical person?

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Actually, the title "imperator" (from impero: rule, govern, give orders) was given to Roman commanders long before Sulla and so was the office of dictator. For example, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus had it. Dictators appeared shortly after consuls and were a reminiscence of the kings of the past. Appointed for only six months (normally officials were appointed for a year), having twice the number of lictors a consul had, not bound by many laws that applied to consuls, they had practically absolute power but only for a short time and in extraordinary danger necessitating such measures. Sulla, well, abused the system. As some before and many after him.

 

"Coolest" Male: Nicholas Tesla. I love a mad scientist. Or Vlad Dracula (aka the Impaler)

"Coolest" female: Bathory, yes, she was cool. Lizzy Bordon, the Victorian O.J. Also, pretty cool.

(edit: *sigh* I can't spell at all...)

 

Both Caesar and Sulla were influenced by this guy - Gaius Marius. He was thought to be at the top of Rome's greatest generals and fighting men.

http://www.heraklia.fws1.com/contemporaries/marius/

 

Atilla the hun
Ghengis Khan

these guys mdae the two largest nations ever known to man, and they were cut off from most of the "civilized" world, considered barbaric.

 

that was my point, he was the first dictator for life, not the first dictator. and he was the first to rule as what is later mistranslated to emperor. since imperator was a somewhat empty title, that gave right to a triumpf.

@Chandos. I know that both was influenced, it was Marius who helped Sulla out, by appointen him as his quaster, in the war against Jogurtha. and Marius was also Caesars uncle.

 

Plus, Marius was the consul five times in a row. Imagine the power needed to make the senate let go of it.

 

@Chev

Rome?! What Rome has to do with him?
AFAIK, he was the last Byzantine Emperor who tried to resist the Ottoman horde. He failed, because the Turks outnumbered them (10 to 1), plus they had three cannons(the Byzantines had none). Thus the siege in Constantinople (or Instabul if you prefer) ended with a slaughter.

 

I suggest to solve the Richard Lionheart problem with assuming that he either was using is sword or his horse, but not both at the same time. In the Terry Jones series about the crusades, his remaking a Richard stunt with a huge sword on foot.

My coolest:

Temujin. Blitzkrieger from hell and establishing an empire with secure traderoutes, ending up with Spaghetti and paper getting here.

Frederick the Great. Getting out a lot of fine quotes. Being an enigmatic enlighted despot and first servant of the state. Letting jesuits build schools in his territory and saving them from the wrath of the people sharing the same faith, once again proving, that the strength of a country rests on the quality of its schoolsystem. Being obsessed with flute playing and Rechtsstaat. Shaping the world through starting a war about the comparably small Silesia which indeed, as sideffect, shaped the world in many places as it is now, through binding resources of nearly every major power except one which seized the oppurtinity to become very huge and amazingly overstretched and completly bancrupt and obsessed with taxes on tea, all just because he thought that women had smaller brains and Maria Theresia just coudn't bring it on.

Maria Theresia. Being an effective leader while pregnant all the time.

 

Okay, I'm going .

Maybe I can shed some light upon that: As far as I know, "Bastard Sword" is a modern term. There were no bastard swords in the middle age. All swords longer than a short sword up to blades which you could only use two-handed were called "long swords".
The now so-called "bastard swords" came up during the 13th and 14th centuries. The idea was to forge a sword with a longer reach, but had to be usable one-handed. Therefore, the handle had to be made longer for balancing reasons, which meant the warrior was able to use it two-handed, also. These new long swords actually were commonly used one-handed from horseback, and two-handed when on foot.

Link: http://www.algonet.se/~enda/oakeshott_eng.htm (Well, this is a typology rather. But the best english source I found.)

Never use WoTC's weapon system as a reference. Who needs an Exotic weapon ability for using bastard swords one-handed?

According to the link, Richard Lionheart could well have used a "greatsword" (Type XIIa, first picture, the sword on the right).

[ March 31, 2004, 11:09: Message edited by: Fabius Maximus ]