Genius: Did you mean...?

Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was a French Romantic composer best known for his opera Carmen and the instrumental music for the play L'Arlésienne. None of his earlier operas had enjoyed any great success, and even Carmen took several months to...

John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) was a 19th-century American stage actor who assassinated US President Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865. Born to a family of famous actors, Booth was a rising star on stages across the United States, known for...

The Italian campaign of 1796-1797, waged by a young Napoleon Bonaparte, was a decisive campaign in the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). It led to the defeat of Austria, the beginning of French control of northern Italy, and the end...

Themistocles (c. 524 - c. 460 BCE) was an Athenian statesman and general (strategos) whose emphasis on naval power and military skills were instrumental during the Persian wars, victory in which ensured that Greece survived its greatest ever...

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German organist and composer whose work is today regarded as amongst the finest of mature baroque music (c. 1600-1750). More famous as an organist than as a composer in his own lifetime, Bach's rich...

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was an accomplished cavalry commander, then head of Parliament's New Model Army, and finally Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The latter title was awarded to Cromwell for life after the bloody...

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher whose work influenced both the Scientific Revolution and later European thought. Pascal is known for his practical achievements in science, such as a calculating...

The Mithraic Mysteries, also known as Mithraism, were a mystery cult in the Roman world where followers worshipped the Indo-Iranian deity Mithras (Akkadian for "contract") as the god of friendship, contract and order. The cult first appeared...

Polybius (l. c. 208-125 BCE) was, whilst a Greek historian, a Roman historian, in that his work dealt with explaining how Rome came to be so great. Like the three Classical Greek Historians, Polybius himself had personal experiences and inquiries...

Daedalus is a figure from Greek mythology famous for his sculptures, clever inventions, and as the architect of the Minotaur's labyrinth on Crete. Daedalus is the father of Icarus who flew too close to the Sun on his artificial wings and...