Humanity’s heritage is ancient and limitless. Human history has been shaped and transformed, enriched and ennobled by countless people in many different ways. True, some have caused harm and hurt, but many of the notables have left behind many positive things in poetry and painting, science and religion, that people still enjoy and take pride in.
In these pages I will recall some of them from different nations and cultures. There are hundreds more from the various cultures of the world.
I am presenting these glimpses in the form of rhymes:, not as verses but in unmetered rhymes.
I trust you will be informed and entertained by these glimpses. There are many sources from which the interested reader can get more detail on every one mentioned here.
And many others also say
That they just don’t understand
Why one writes rhymes that aren’t grand.
Yet it’s true that since ancient times
People have enjoyed reading rhymes.
So get here in unmetered rhymes
Glimpses of humans from ancient times
ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809 – 1865)
Of American presidents he was the best.
Fought a Civil War which was a severe test.
It was a fight to free every slave
In the land of the free and home of the brave.
This hero of the American nation
Signed the Emancipation Proclamation
Shot by an assassin while watching a play,
He died in the morning the following day.
2 ABU BAKR (573 – 634)
He was best friend, it is said.
The Muhammad’s daughter he also wed.
Always the Prophet’s companion,
He was among first to embrace the new religion,
When the Prophet died, he was famously
Chosen as Caliph unanimously.
He spread Islam in Persia and Byzantine.
Revered by Sunnis he’s always been.
3 AKBAR THE GREAT (1542 – 1605)
He extended in India the Mughal kingdom,
Robbing more Hindus of their freedom.
He killed thousands of people in this process,
But he married a charming Hindu princess.
He showed tolerance towards her religion,
Repealed taxes on Non-Muslims in many a region.
As a great statesman, him historians rate,
And refer to him as Akbar the Great.
4 ALEXANDER
A common name for many kings of yore
Of Greece, Poland, Byzantium and more
Often a number is affixed to that name
Bringing those kings immense fame.
There was Alexander the First of Yugoslavia,
Also Alexander the First of Serbia.
An Alexander of Russia was assassinated,
As university Prez F. King Alex was initiated.
5 ALEXANDER, THE GREAT (356 – 323 BCE)
King Philip’s son of Macedonia
Defeated Darius II of Persia.
Married Roxana, a Persian princess
Tried to invade India sans much success.
This man who a vast empire ruled
Was by the great Aristotle’s schooled.
In Egypt, a city that bears his name
Has brong him global immortal fame.
6 ALFRED THE GREAT (849 – 1110)
Alfred, Aethelwulf’s very last son.
For fifteen years did Wessex run.
During the time of the Saxon kings
Oft was England raided by Vikings.
He defended the country from those Danish tribes
Sometimes he gave them lots of bribes.
He met Pope Leo IV, learnt Latin late
Yet came to be called Alfred, the Great.
7 AMELIA EARHART (1897 – 1937?)
She nursed soldiers during World War One
Flew across the Atlantic just for fun.
Wrote books on flying, inspired women
To become pilots exactly like men.
When Amelia ventured to circumnavigate,
As if by some pre-ordained fate
Her plane was lost in mid-ocean
Bringing to end her life’s great mission.
8 ASHOKA, THE GREAT (? – 232 BCE)
This Magadha king brought under his sway
Many neighboring realms of his day.
Seeing much bloodshed in the Kalinga War
He became the greatest pacifist by far.
Embracing Buddhism, he also led
A movement, Buddha’s message to spread.
Through edicts, missions and hospitals too
In Ind and elsewhere Buddhism grew.
9 ATATÜRK, MUSTAFA KEMAL (1881 – 1938)
When Ottoman Empire folded in World War One.
Mustafa Kemal became Turkey’s greatest son,
For he did manage first to create
Turkey as a modern secular state.
Among the things that brought him fame
Was giving Hagia Sophia a museum’s name.
He wasn’t called shah or sultan, but rather
Atatürk: the Turkish people’s father.
10 ATTILA, THE HUN (406? – 453 CE)
This invader plundered and pillaged
People and countries which he ravaged.
The Romans paid him for their safety
He’s said to have married many a beauty.
He was lavish in banquets, so we are told
Offering foods in vessels silver and gold.
When he died they made him a triple coffin
Of gold, silver and iron where he was put in.
Spurts of Thought 