Alexander, the Great, 356-323 B.C.

King of Macedonia from 336, Alexander demonstrated brilliance as a general in a campaign that originated as an obsession for vengeance against the Persians and culminated with extending his empire through Egypt and Asia Minor into India. He is known on various occasions for his ruthlessness, heroic bravery, courtesy, and concern for the religious and intellectual heritage of the areas he conquered.

Aikin, Lucy, 1781-1864

Daughter of the historian and physician John Aikin and neice of poet and essayist Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Lucy Aikin was a versatile and successful author of poetry, fiction, children's literature, history, memoirs, biographies, correspondence, translations, adaptations, and edited collections. Lucy Aikin was largely educated by her father and her aunt. At the age of 17, she began publishing contributions in journals and soon assisted her father as an editor of his work.

Aikin, John, 1747-1822

Physician and brother to Anna Letitia Barbauld, John Aikin was a broad-ranging and prolific literary man whose connections in the burgeoning late eighteenth-century print marketplace make him exemplary of emerging literary professionalism. His writings range through the subjects of science, medicine, reform, history, biography, geography, nature, conduct, children's and educational literature, politics, poetry, and literary criticism.