Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known presently as "Pompey the Great," was considered among the greatest Late Roman generals and statesman. A senatorial noble, triumvir, and opponent of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great was an influential figure in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

An English poet and clergyman, author of The Choice (1700).

Character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet, he is father to Laertes.

An Italian scholar, translator, and author who settled in London in 1790, Polidori was father to John William Polidori, author of The Vampyre, and grandfather to Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti.

English-Italian writer, physician, son of Gaetano Polidori and uncle to Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Some consider John Polidori as the creator of modern vampire fiction with his work "The Vampyre." John Polidori was Lord Byron's personal physician and participated in the famous ghost story competition in Geneva which resulted in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Inadequately financially supported by his writing or medical career and suffering from debt and depression, Polidori committed suicide in 1821.

Greek historian, essayist, biographer, philosopher, and priest, living from roughly 46-119 C.E. Plutarch's works heavily influenced the development of the biography, the essay, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to 19th centuries. He is best known for his Parallel Lives, a set of biographies of eminent Greeks and Romans, as well as his Moralia, a collection of essays on ethical, political, religious, physical, and literary subjects.

Novelist, translator, and travel writer, Plumptre was part of the late eighteenth-century Norwich dissenting community. She authored several novels, with Something New, or, Adventures at Campbell-house (1801) now the best remembered. A Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in France (1810) is the publication that did the most for her fame.

Roman comic dramatist living from 245-184 B.C.E., known simply as "Plautus." Plautus' comedies, strongly influenced by Greek theatre, are the earliest complete works of Latin literature which have survived. Although Plautus' writing has been widely criticized by scholars, his works remained influential long after his death, influencing such literary figures as Shakespeare and Molière.

Eminent Greek philosopher who lived from c. 428 B.C.-347 B.C. He was a friend and admirer of Socrates, whom he features as a character in many of his dialogues and treatises. Among these, some of the most important include Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Ion, Republic, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, Timaeus, Critias, and Laws.

Known as "Pitt the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, Pitt the Elder. Pitt was a British Prime Minister from 1783 to 1801, again resuming office from 1804 to 1806. Pitt orchestrated the Acts of Union 1800 which united Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom. His tenure was characterized by the occurrences of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. Pitt was a major catalyst in strengthening the office of prime minister, generally regarded as an efficient and reform-oriented politician.