{"id":6237,"date":"2015-09-13T07:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T06:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=6237"},"modified":"2015-09-13T07:00:23","modified_gmt":"2015-09-13T06:00:23","slug":"becoming-the-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=6237","title":{"rendered":"Becoming 'the great'"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alexander<\/a>
Alexander – certainly a great warrior – or perhaps the leader of a great army<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve have been wondering…\u00a0How do you get to be called \u2018the great\u2019?<\/p>\n

Presumably, someone else has to give you the title because taking it for yourself would be a bit vain (although I\u2019ll bet there were a few who did).<\/p>\n

I understand Alexander the Great \u2013 after all, he conquered most of the known world.<\/p>\n

The Great Khan \u2013 otherwise known as Genghis Khan let a bloody rampage across most of the known world and murdered millions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m starting to see a pattern here.<\/p>\n

Are Kings and Emperors called great when they start and win wars?<\/p>\n

But what about Queens and Empresses?<\/p>\n

I recently visited an exhibition about Catherine the Great of Russia and afterwards I did some research.<\/p>\n

According to the internet (and the internet is NEVER wrong) there are only two women rulers who get to be called \u2018the great\u2019. Catherine and Tamar the Great of Georgia.<\/p>\n

\"Catherine<\/a>
Catherine the Great – she looks quite friendly really.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

These women didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Tamar The Great was the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right \u2013 and seemed to make a pretty good job of it, strengthening her empire and presiding over a \u2018golden age\u2019.<\/p>\n

Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia for 34 years \u2013 another Golden Age of great prosperity, at least for the aristocracy. I\u2019m not so sure the poor would have agreed.<\/p>\n

\"Catherine<\/a>
Catherine kept rouge in this amazing silver filigree crab. Maybe just a little excessive when there were people struggling to feed their families.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eleanor was queen of France and England \u2013 she ruled while her son Richard fought his crusades. She was the most powerful woman of her time.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth the First ruled for 45 years. She defeated the Spanish Armada and helped establish a church and a national identity.<\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth<\/a>
Elizabeth looks intimidating in her portraits. Perhaps that’s part of becoming ‘the Great’.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m not saying that Catherine and Tamar didn\u2019t deserve the title \u2018The great\u2019. Nor am I saying that Alexander wasn\u2019t great. I just think there may well be others \u2013 many of the women, who deserve the title more than some who have laid claim to it.<\/p>\n

And of course \u2013 I am now starting to wonder \u2013 who will be the next \u2018great\u2019? Maybe we\u2019ve gone past the time where great is equated with conquest.<\/p>\n

Maybe \u2018great\u2019 doesn\u2019t even have to be a king or a president or a politician at all. Maybe \u2018great\u2019 can have other meanings in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

Which is now making me think — if there was an opportunity to nominate someone for the title, The Great – who would it be\u2026..?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She would be a candidate on my list for greatness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve have been wondering…\u00a0How do you get to be called \u2018the great\u2019? Presumably, someone else has to give you the title because taking it for yourself would be a bit vain (although…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-my-travels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-1CB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}