Just out of curiosity, what made those Spartan Kings fit your definition of a Hero King? Maybe you could do an article on your top 10 historical Hero Kings? I know that you have already mentioned Brian Boru, Vlad the Impaler, and the Spartan Kings as examples.
-Bart Maney
Bart, I will follow your criteria and round it out to codify the characteristics of a hero king. I will limit myself to one hero king per nation. Even then, 10 is not enough to cover the span of history I am conversant with.
The Spartan kings were not all good hero kings. Some were traitors to their people. But most served their people faithfully. Above all, more Spartan kings made the ultimate sacrifice than any other nation, not assassinated, but killed facing the enemy for their people. Before I walk forward chronologically and rate these kings, let’s set out the criteria.
-He must be a head of state or chief of a tribal people, one office being the civilized descendent of its barbarian counterpart.
Each king will be rated on a 1-10 scale on:
-Fidelity to his Folk
-Heroics, deeds and projection of his personality into Time
-Preservation of the Culture and Ethnic Stock
-Preservation/Expansion of the Homeland
-Projection of His People’s Spirit into the Future
Candidates, Chronologically
I have taken into account the potential for success in the case of doomed folk. For instance the Wampanoag and Hawaiian people each had zero chance of retaining sovereignty. However, one retained an allied client status under America Imperialism and the other was utterly erased as a tribal entity and survived only as trace genetics.
B = Barbarian
M = Monstrous psychopath [most being the latter]
No hero king scores a 10 on heroics unless he was an original military inventor and or innovator, this 1 point difference between 9 and 10 accounting for martial vision.
The baseline is the worst king in history:
Monteczuma of the Aztecs: 1/1/1/1/1 [5]
The highest possible score would be the official record of any Egyptian Pharaoh, other than Akhenaton the Heretic, who all enjoyed a perfect 50 according to their slave scribes and acolytes.
1. David the IsrŠ°elite: 7/5/10/6/10 [38]
2. Leonidas the Spartan: 10/9/5/5/10 [39]
3. Alexander the Great of Macedon: 1/10/4/10/8 [33] M
4. Constantine the Roman: 2/7/9/7/10 [35]
5. Attila the Hun: 10/9/3/2/9 [33] B
6. Alfred the Great of the Anglo-Saxons: 10/4/10/5/9 [38]
7. Brian Boru of Ireland: 10/9/5/5/5 [34]
8. Genghis Khan of the Mongols: 10/10/3/10/5 [38] B
9. Robert the Bruce, King of Scotts: 4/8/9/5/4 [30]
10. Tamerlane of Samarkand: 2*/9/3/5/4 [23] MB
11. Vlad the Impaler of Walachia: 9/9/4/4/4 [30] M
12. Metacomet “King Phillip” of the Wampanoag: 10/7/1/1/8 [27] B
13. Frederick the Great of Prussia: 2*/9/7/8/8 [34]
14. King Kamehameha of Hawaii: 5/4**/10/10/5 [34] B
15. Shaka Zulu: 2*/10/10/10/6 [38] MB
*His people were merely tools for the projection of his ego and the advancement of his dynasty.
**He was a client king of sorts, depending on introduced alien technology and interlopers to effect his dominance.
The Greatest Hero Kings
There are more, such as Pachutae Inca, but this is the best selection I could mine off the top of my head, which is limited by my reading scope, which lacks in Southeast and Far East Asia.
Ties are broken by level of personal and familial sacrifice and distance climbed socially.
15- Tamerlane, 23 MB
14- Metacomet, 27 B
13- Vlad the Impaler, 30 M
12- Robert the Bruce, 30
11- Alexander the Great, 33 M
10- Attila the Hun, 33 B
9- King Kamehameha, 34 B
8- Frederick the Great, 34
7- Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, 34
6- Constantine, 35
8- Alfred the Great, 38 M
4- David, 38
3- Shaka Zulu, 38 MB
2- Genghis Khan, 38 B
1- Leonidas, 39
My Top 10 Favorite Hero Kings
In terms of heroism and prowess alone.
10- Frederick the Great
9- Metacomet B
8- Robert the Bruce
7- Alexander the Great M
6- Brian Boru
5- Vlad the Impaler M
4- Monteczuma’s Brother [Revolted against his brother’s national suicide and only lost to microbiological enemies] Will search his name for the book.
2- Leonidas
3- Shaka Zulu MB
1- Tamerlane MB
A Well of Heroes
link › jameslafond.blogspot.com
A Well of Heroes: Two:
Literary Impressions of the Prose and Verse of Robert E. Howard
