Benedict Spinoza
Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin; rationalist and pantheist; author of Ethics; major figure in the Enlightenment.
Samuel Johnson
English writer and lexicographer; compiled A Dictionary of the English Language; influential literary critic and essayist.
Procopius of Caesarea
Byzantine historian; author of The Secret History and histories of Justinian’s reign.
Longus
Ancient Greek novelist; credited with Daphnis and Chloe.
Petronius
Roman courtier and satirist; credited with The Satyricon.
Plutarch
Greek biographer and moralist; author of Parallel Lives and Moralia.
Charles Dickens
English novelist and social critic; author of David Copperfield and Great Expectations; depicted Victorian society with vivid characters.
Arnold Geulincx
Flemish philosopher; important figure in occasionalism; developed Cartesian philosophy; author of Ethics.
Amin Maalouf
Amin Maalouf is a Lebanese-born French author who has lived in France since 1976. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, and his...
Antonio Veneziano
Italian poet from Sicily; wrote in Sicilian dialect; contributed to Italian vernacular poetry; influenced by troubadour traditions.
Robert Burton
English scholar and vicar; author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, an encyclopedic study of melancholy and human condition.
Sextus Empiricus
Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and physician; his works preserved ancient skeptical philosophy; influenced later philosophical skepticism.
Sophocles
Ancient Greek tragedian, one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. Known for works including Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Electra...
Christopher Columbus
Italian explorer and navigator; wrote accounts of his voyages to the Americas; his letters transformed European understanding of the world.
Lao Tzu
Ancient Chinese philosopher; traditionally regarded as author of the Tao Te Ching; founder of philosophical Taoism.
Confucius
Chinese philosopher and teacher; founder of Confucianism; his teachings on ethics, family, and governance profoundly shaped East Asian culture.
Kamandaki
Ancient Indian political philosopher; author of Nitisara, a treatise on statecraft and political ethics.
Titus Livy
Roman historian; author of Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome), monumental work chronicling Rome from its founding.
Proclus
Neoplatonist philosopher; author of Elements of Theology and commentaries on Plato.
Pliny the Elder
Roman author and natural philosopher; wrote Natural History.
Lucian of Samosata
Syrian satirist and rhetorician in ancient Greek; author of A True Story.
Jacques Savary Des Bruslons
French merchant and economist; author of Universal Dictionary of Commerce; pioneering work on trade and economics.
Jan Vredeman de Vries
Dutch Renaissance architect and painter; influential pattern book author on architecture, perspective, and garden design.
Christine de Pizan
Italian-French medieval poet and author; wrote The Book of the City of Ladies; first professional female writer in Europe.
Horace
Roman lyric poet; author of Odes and Ars Poetica; influential in poetics and moral philosophy.
Euripides
Ancient Greek tragedian, one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens. Known for psychological depth and sympathetic portrayal of characters.
Jonathan Swift
Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist; author of Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal; master of irony and satire.
John Milton
English poet and intellectual; author of Paradise Lost; major figure in English literature and political thought.
Alexander Pope
English poet of the Augustan period; author of The Rape of the Lock and An Essay on Criticism; master of the heroic couplet.
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