Famous Emperors & Kings - List of Famous Emperors & Kings - page 2

When we talk of emperors and kings, the picture of a regal man dressed in resplendent attire reigning over some ancient land comes to our mind, for in today’s world what we know about emperors and kings comes primarily from folklores and history books. An emperor is the male sovereign ruler of an empire. There have been many vast empires worldwide which consisted of several states and countries. Kings were the rulers of their own kingdoms over which they exercised complete power. Being extremely powerful, the emperors and kings have played crucial roles in shaping the history of not just their own empires and kingdoms, but of the whole world. Titus, the ancient Roman Emperor might have had a short reign, but he secured his place in history as he completed the Colosseum and dealt with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Genghis Khan, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire conquered vast territories, four times the lands of Alexander the Great. Other rulers still revered today are Atilla the Hun, Timur the Lame and Charlemagne. Over the centuries, absolute monarchies gave way to several other forms of government and now only a handful of monarchies, that too ceremonial, remain in the world. Browse on to learn more about the great emperors and kings who had once walked on this earth.

The Most Famous Emperors & Kings

NameBirthdayNationalityBio
Sundiata KeitaAugust 20, 1217Central AfricanSundiata Keita was the founder of the Mali Empire in West Africa
Ashoka304 BCIndianAshoka was the third emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty and ruled almost the entire Indian subcontinent
Murad IVJuly 26, 1612TurkishMurad IV was one of the mighty Sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire
Abdullah of Saudi ArabiaAugust 1, 1924Saudi ArabianAbdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was the King of Saudi Arabia from 2005 to 2015 and the third wealthiest head of state in the world
Xerxes I519 BCIranianXerxes I (Xerxes the Great) was the fourth and the most famous king of the Archaemenid dynasty of Persia
Sargon of Akkad2340 BCIraqiSargon of Akkad, also called ‘Sargon the Great’, ‘Sarru-Kan’ and ‘Shar-Gani-Sharri’, was the founder and first king of the Akkadian Empire
Ibn SaudJanuary 15, 1876Saudi ArabianKing Abdulaziz al-Saud was the first monarch of Saudi Arabia
Gia LongFebruary 8, 1762VietnameseGia Long was the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty as well as the founding father of the modern nation of Vietnam
Flavius Odoacer435Ancient RomanFlavius Odoacer was a soldier who went on to become the King of Italy
Suleiman The MagnificentNovember 6, 1494TurkishSuleiman I, commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Shaka

Shaka

Shaka kaSnzangakhona was an influential Zulu tribal monarch

South African1787199 views

Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga was one of the most controversial and powerful ‘Daimyos’ (feudal lords) of Japan who ruled in the late 16th century

JapaneseJune 23, 1534197 views

John, King of England

John, the treacherous king of England, was one of the most controversial monarchs in the nation’s history

BritishDecember 24, 1166148 views

Hadrian

Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138

ItalianJanuary 24, 1976167 views

Augustus

Augustus was the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor

Ancient Roman392 views

Jigme Singye Wangchuck

Jigme Singye Wangchuck was the King of Bhutan (Druk Gyalpo) from 1972 to 2006

BhutaneseNovember 11, 1955169 views

Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was the King of Nepal from 1955 to 1972

NepaliJune 11, 1920199 views

Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was the king of Nepal from 2001 to 2008

NepaliJuly 7, 1947323 views

Jung Bahadur Rana

Maharaja Jung Bahadur Rana was Prime Minister and virtual ruler of Nepal for approximately more than three decades between 1846 and 1877

NepaliJune 18, 1816366 views

Birendra of Nepal

King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was the 11th king of Nepal

NepaliDecember 28, 1945253 views