a.k.a: Leonidas The Brave

Occupation: King

Born: circa 540 BCE

Died: 480 BCE

Brief Description:
Leonidas was the third son of Anaxandridas II of Sparta. His mother was his father’s niece and had been unable to bear children for so long that the King had to take a second wife. His second wife bore the king’s eldest son, Cleomenes. Shortly after however, his first wife gave birth to Dorieus and later to Leonidas.
Because Leonidas was not heir to the throne, he was not exempt from attending the agoge, which made him one of the few kings to have undergone the training.

(Sparta was an unusual city-state in that it had two kings simultaneously, coming from two separate lines, the Agiads and the Eurypontids. The agoge was the rigorous education and training regimen mandated for all male Spartan citizens, except for the firstborn son in the two ruling houses. Even though exempt however, they were allowed to take part if they so wished, which endowed them with increased prestige when they ascended the throne.)

After Anaxandridas’ death, Cleomenes ascended the throne but the spartans considered him insane and put him in prison where he committed suicide.
Leonidas then married Cleomenes’ daughter, Gorgo, and succeeded to the Agiad throne. (Dorieus had already died by then.)

In 481 BCE, he was chosen to lead the combined Greek forces to resist the Persian invasion and in August 480 BCE, he went out to meet Xerxes’ army at Thermopylae with a small force of 300 men. (Supposedly, the oracle at Delphi had predicted that Sparta would either fall to the Persians or mourn the death of a king.) Other Greek city-states joined Leonidas to form an army of 14,000. In contrast, Xerxes’ army consisted of over two million men according to Herodotus (but he’s known for exaggerating so take this with a pinch of salt).

Xerxes waited four days to attack, hoping the Greeks would disperse and eventually attacked on the fifth day. Leonidas and his men repulsed the Persians’ frontal attacks for two consecutive days and even killed two of Xerxes’ brothers. On the seventh day however, a Malian Greek traitor led a Persian general by a mountain track to the rear of the Greeks. At that point Leonidas sent away all Greek troops and remained in the pass with his 300 Spartans and a few hundred Helots and Thespians who refused to abandon him.

Now by this time the spears of the greater number of them were broken, so it chanced, in this combat, and they were slaying the Persians with their swords; and in this fighting fell Leonidas, having proved himself a very good man, and others also of the Spartans with him, men of note, of whose names I was informed as of men who had proved themselves worthy, and indeed I was told also the names of all the three hundred. – Herodotus

Why he’s on the list:
Of my favorite 50, Leonidas is perhaps the character that needs the least explanation as to why he’s on my list.
It should be pretty obvious and straightforward, but just in case you’re blind…
Leonidas embodies all the virtues of a charismatic leader (courage, respect, honor, loyalty, integrity, selflessness, etc.) even when challenged by insurmountable odds.
He and his men, through their valor and sacrifice, have set an inspirational example for all of Greece.
According to Plutarch, when someone told him: “Leonidas! How are you going with so few to risk with so many?”, he said: “If you think that I am going to fight by numbers, then the whole of Greece would be insufficient, for she is only a small part of the numbers of the Persians, but if I am going to fight by valor, then even this number is enough.”

And of course, as is usually the case, characters I like need to have that extra confidence/arrogance. =)
According to Plutarch (again), “When someone said to him: ‘Except for being king you are not at all superior to us’, Leonidas son of Anaxandridas and brother of Cleomenes replied: ‘But were I not better than you, I should not be king.'”

a.k.a: The Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca

Occupation: Conquistador

Born: 1485

Died: 1547

Brief Description:
Hernan Cortes was born in Medellin, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility. Around the age of fourteen, he went to study at the University of Salamanca for a couple of years and soon after, in 1504, left Spain to seek his fortune in the New World.

As Cortes reached Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, he registered as a citizen and settled in the town of Azua de Compostela where he served as a notary for several years.
In 1511, he joined Diego Velazquez in an expedition to conquer Cuba. Velazquez was so impressed by Cortes that he secured a high political position for him in the colony. As time went on however, the relationship between the two became tense and, in 1518, as Cortes was about to lead an expedition to Mexico, Velazquez changed his mind and revoked his charter. But Cortez ignored the order and set sail for Mexico anyway with 500 men, 11 ships and 13 horses.

Cortes became allies with some of the native peoples he encountered, but with others he used deadly force to conquer Mexico. He fought Tlaxacan and Cholula warriors and then set his sights on taking over the Aztec empire. As the Spaniards reached the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, they were received with open arms by Moctezuma II, the ruler of the Aztec empire, who thought Cortes to be the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, because he was of lighter skin, sitting on his horse and wearing metal armor. Nonetheless, Cortes took Moctezuma hostage and his soldiers raided the city. Led by Cuauhtemoc, Moctezuma’s nephew, the Aztecs rallied. Though reinforced, the Spaniards were besieged, then routed as they fled but they were soon back, and laid siege in turn. They finally took the city in 1521 and claimed it for Spain.

As a result of his victory, King Charles I of Spain (aka Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) appointed him as governor, captain general and chief justice of the newly conquered territory, dubbed “New Spain of the Ocean Sea” but Cortes faced challenges to his authority and position. He traveled to Honduras in 1524 to stop a rebellion against him in the area. Back in Mexico, he found himself removed from power so he traveled to Spain to plead his case to the king but he was not reappointed to his governorship.

In 1540, Cortes retired to Spain and spent much of his later years seeking recognition for his achievements and support from the Spanish royal court.

Why he’s on the list:
I first heard about Cortes in my early adolescence. I didn’t know much about him at the time but the fact that he was a soldier, an explorer and an adventurer was enough to fuel my imagination.
As I grew a older, it was Cortes’ determined character and pioneer spirit that impressed me. He was willing to do anything to reach his goals. In one instance, he even scuttled his ships in order to eliminate any ideas of retreat among his men.
Today, as I am writing this, it’s his insatiable greed for gold, his desire to always have more, that fascinates me. It’s what capitalism is all about and I love it.

That being said, none of the points above would stand alone to put Hernando Cortes on this list. He’s on this list because he’s a character I liked for different reasons at different stages in my life. For me, he’s a reminder of how our vision of the world grows and evolves over time throughout our experiences, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst…