I’ve have been wondering… How do you get to be called ‘the great’?
Presumably, someone else has to give you the title because taking it for yourself would be a bit vain (although I’ll bet there were a few who did).
I understand Alexander the Great – after all, he conquered most of the known world.
The Great Khan – otherwise known as Genghis Khan let a bloody rampage across most of the known world and murdered millions.
I’m starting to see a pattern here.
Are Kings and Emperors called great when they start and win wars?
But what about Queens and Empresses?
I recently visited an exhibition about Catherine the Great of Russia and afterwards I did some research.
According to the internet (and the internet is NEVER wrong) there are only two women rulers who get to be called ‘the great’. Catherine and Tamar the Great of Georgia.
I found it interesting that both women came from the same region of Europe and wondered what they did to earn a title that was not bestowed on, for example, Elizabeth the First or the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine, nor on Isabella of Castile or Queen Victoria.
These women didn’t garner the body count of a Great Khan, but they did win wars, defend their people and occasionally invade their neighbours. They united their countries. They brought in enormous social change. I would have thought these things would put them in the running for the title.
Tamar The Great was the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right – and seemed to make a pretty good job of it, strengthening her empire and presiding over a ‘golden age’.
Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia for 34 years – another Golden Age of great prosperity, at least for the aristocracy. I’m not so sure the poor would have agreed.
Eleanor was queen of France and England – she ruled while her son Richard fought his crusades. She was the most powerful woman of her time.
Elizabeth the First ruled for 45 years. She defeated the Spanish Armada and helped establish a church and a national identity.
I’m not saying that Catherine and Tamar didn’t deserve the title ‘The great’. Nor am I saying that Alexander wasn’t great. I just think there may well be others – many of the women, who deserve the title more than some who have laid claim to it.
And of course – I am now starting to wonder – who will be the next ‘great’? Maybe we’ve gone past the time where great is equated with conquest.
Maybe ‘great’ doesn’t even have to be a king or a president or a politician at all. Maybe ‘great’ can have other meanings in today’s world.
Which is now making me think — if there was an opportunity to nominate someone for the title, The Great – who would it be…..?
