The Scorpion King is a 2002 American action film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan. It is a spin-off of The Mummy series, and follows the story of Mathayus the Scorpion King, the character featured in The Mummy Returns.

The events of The Scorpion King take place 5,000 years before those in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and reveal Mathayus' origins and his rise to power as the Scorpion King. The name itself is a reference to a real king of the protodynastic period of Ancient Egyptian history, Scorpion II.

Plot[link]

Mathayus (Johnson), the last true Akkadian mercenary, along with his half-brother, Jesup, and friend, Rama, is hired by King Pheron (Rees) to kill a sorcerer, whose prophetic powers allow the vicious Egyptian Emperor Memnon (Brand) to rule his empire with an iron fist.

Mathayus sneaks into Memnon's camp and finds his way to the sorcerer's tent, where he discovers that Memnon's sorcerer is actually a beautiful sorceress called Cassandra (Hu). Unfortunately, Mathayus is discovered and caught by the guards, thanks to a tip-off by Pheron's treacherous son, Takmet (Facinelli), leading to Jesup and Rama being killed.

Before Memnon can kill Mathayus, Cassandra protests, claiming that the Gods favour Mathayus and killing him may incur their wrath. Unable to kill Mathayus himself, Memnon has him buried to his neck in sand for fire ants to eat his head. With the help of the horse thief Arpid (Heslov), whom Mathayus had encountered earlier, he manages to escape.

At Memnon's palace, Cassandra tells Memnon that his armies will conquer the west and that Queen Isis (Howard) and her soldiers will scatter to the four winds. Memnon then gives orders to his men to have his soldiers prepare for the final campaign. Cassandra warns Memnon that his methods will never bring about peace, but Memnon refuses to listen, and states his intention to make Cassandra his queen once he has completed his conquest.

Mathayus gets into Gomorrah with the help of Arpid and an urchin boy, Tutu, who helps him sneak inside Memnon's palace. They briefly stumble into the laboratory of Memnon's sympathetic court magician, Philos (Hill), who directs Mathayus to the courtyard where Memnon is training. Mathayus attempts to shoot Memnon from above, but Tutu is caught and charged with stealing. Reluctantly, Mathayus saves Tutu from having his hand chopped off by shooting the axe out of Takmet's hand, alerting the guards.

Mathayus flees back to Philos, who accidentally catapults him across the building into Memnon's harem, where the women disarm him and call the guards. Next, Mathayus falls into Cassandra's private quarters. After a long chase, Mathayus kidnaps Cassandra, reunites with Arpid and they escape, heading for the Valley of the Dead, where Mathayus believes Memnon will try to retrieve Cassandra. Cassandra attempts to flee from Mathayus, but he persuades her otherwise, on the basis that she is safe with him.

However, Memnon sends his right hand man, Thorak (Moeller), to kill Mathayus along with a group of soldiers. With the help of a sandstorm, Mathayus is able to kill the soldiers one by one, including Thorak, but Thorak manages to stab Mathayus in the leg with an arrow drenched in scorpion venom. At the risk of her own life, Cassandra uses her powers to heal Mathayus and they continue their journey. Memnon, meanwhile, learns of Thorak's demise and prepares to destroy his enemies the next day.

Deeper in the desert, the trio catch up with Philos, who managed to escape from the city. He has been working in the desert, where he has perfected his explosive powder by the use of Saltpeter the desert has. Overjoyed to see Cassandra safe, Philos joins forces with Mathayus. The group finds an oasis, where they are ambushed and kidnapped by a group of men working for Balthazar (Duncan), the Nubian King and the leader of Memnon's enemies, who distrusts Mathayus and intends to kill him, the other two men and Cassandra. A brutal fight ensues between Mathayus and Balthazar. Mathayus, albeit barely, wins the fight and persuades Balthazar that they are fighting on the same side. Begrudgingly, Balthazar allows them one night's sanctuary. However, Cassandra has a vision of Memnon and his army slaughtering the entire rebel tribe and informs Mathayus, also foreseeing that he will die if he faces Memnon. Mathayus assures Cassandra that he will make his own destiny, and they share a night of intimacy. The next morning, Cassandra returns to Memnon in the hopes of stopping him by herself.

Mathayus and Balthazar decide to team up to rescue Cassandra and bring Memnon's empire down once and for all. As Memnon finds Cassandra out and almost kills her, Mathayus intervenes and takes on the warlord himself. The rebels, led by Balthazar, battle Memnon's forces as Arpid and Philos plant bags of the explosive powder under the palace's foundation stone. Balthazar makes his way into Memnon's quarters and briefly helps Mathayus battle Memnon and his men, but a fire starts and they end up separated.

Balthazar encounters and kills Takmet, avenging Pheron, while Mathayus takes his fight with Memnon to the edge of the palace roof. As seen in Cassandra's vision, Mathayus is shot in the back by a soldier, but not fatally. Cassandra kills the soldier as Mathayus uses his bow which Takmet left on a nearby table and the same arrow to shoot the exhausted Memnon. The force sends Memnon falling to his death as the bags explode, killing the bulk of Memnon's forces. With their warlord defeated, the remaining soldiers bow to Mathayus and declare him the Scorpion King.

In the aftermath, Mathayus and Cassandra, now King and Queen of Egypt, bid their farewells to Balthazar, who wishes them well. Cassandra then reveals to Mathayus that her night with him did not strip her of her powers. It was a white lie to stop Memnon from taking advantage of her. She subtly warns Mathayus of a vision she has had of his horrific destiny, but Mathayus decides that they will make their own destiny.

Cast[link]

• Dwayne Johnson as Mathayus
• Steven Brand as Memnon
• Kelly Hu as Cassandra
• Grant Heslov as Arpid
• Bernard Hill as Philos
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Balthazar
• Peter Facinelli as Prince Takmet
• Sherri Howard as Queen Isis
• Ralf Möller as Thorak
• Branscombe Richmond as Jesup
• Roger Rees as King Pheron
• Conrad Roberts as Chieftain
• Joseph Ruskin as Tribal Leader
• Esteban Cueto as Rama
• Nils Allen Stewart as Torturer
• Tyler Mane as Barbarian Chieftain

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

The Scorpion King was met with a mixed critical outcome, currently holding a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 133 reviews.^[2] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 45 based on 30 reviews.^[3]

James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film two stars (out of four), saying: "It's possible to make an engaging action/adventure picture of this sort, but The Scorpion King isn't it."^[4] Dennis Harvey of Variety gave a positive review, saying the film "rouses excitement mostly from stuntwork and thesp agility rather than CGI excess."^[5]

Nathan Rabin of The Onion's A.V. Club gave the film a mildly positive review, calling it "prototypical summer-movie fare, designed to be consumed, enjoyed, and forgotten all at once."^[6] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a score of C+, calling it "plodding and obvious" but adding that The Rock "holds it together."^[7] Jonathan Foreman of the New York Post gave a negative review, saying that The Scorpion King "has none of the qualities — epic sweep, relative originality and heartfelt bloodthirstiness — that made Conan so trashily entertaining."^[8]

Box office[link]

This section requires expansion.

With a production budget of $60 million, the film grossed $12 million on its opening day and $36 million on the weekend. Its total domestic gross is about $91,047,077 while the foreign gross it made is $74,286,103, resulting in making $165,333,180 worldwide.^[1]

Soundtrack[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]

Track listing

1. "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack
2. "Set It Off (Tweaker Remix)" by P.O.D.
3. "Break You" by Drowning Pool
4. "Streamline" by System of a Down
5. "To Whom It May Concern" by Creed
6. "Yanking Out My Heart" by Nickelback
7. "Losing My Grip" by Hoobastank
8. "Only the Strong" by Flaw
9. "Iron Head" by Rob Zombie feat. Ozzy Osbourne
10. "My Life" by 12 Stones
11. "Along the Way" by Mushroomhead
12. "Breathless" by Lifer
13. "Corrected" by Sevendust
14. "Burn It Black" by Injected
15. "27" by Breaking Point
16. "Glow" by Coal Chamber

Prequel[link]

A prequel titled The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior was released on August 19, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Michael Copon replaces Dwayne Johnson as a younger Mathayus.

Sequel[link]

A sequel titled The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption was released on January 10th, 2012 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc with Victor Webster as Mathayus.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Scorpion King at the Internet Movie Database
• The Scorpion King at the TCM Movie Database
• The Scorpion King at AllRovi
• The Scorpion King at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Scorpion King at Metacritic

Scorpion
The Scorpion Macehead, Ashmolean Museum.
Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign	Unknown, Protodynastic
Predecessor	Ka?
Successor	Narmer?
Royal titulary
Consort(s)	Shesh I[1]
Children	possibly Narmer

Scorpion, or Selk, also King Scorpion or Scorpion II refers to the second of two kings so-named of Upper Egypt during the Protodynastic Period. Their names may refer to the scorpion goddess Serket. The name of the queen who was his consort was Shesh I, the mother of Narmer and the great-grandmother of another queen, Shesh II.

The only pictorial evidence of his existence is the so-called Scorpion Macehead that was found in the Main deposit by archeologists James E. Quibell and Frederick W. Green in a temple at Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) during the dig season of 1897/1898.^[2] It is currently on display at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The stratigraphy of this macehead was lost due to the methods of its excavators, but its style seems to date it to the very end of the Predynastic Period.^[3] Though badly damaged, the visible parts are extraordinary records from this early time in Egyptian history. He is believed to have lived just before or during the rule of Narmer at Thinis for this reason, and also because of the content of the macehead.

Scorpion Macehead[link]

Head of king Scorpion on his mace head

The Scorpion Macehead depicts a single large figure wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt. He holds a hoe, which has been interpreted as a ritual either involving the pharaoh ceremonially cutting the first furrow in the fields, or opening the dikes to flood them.^[4] The name "Scorpion" is derived from the image of a scorpion that appears immediately in front of his face that may represent the scorpion goddess Serket, just below a flower with seven petals; the use and placement of the iconography is similar to the depiction of the pharaoh Narmer on the obverse side of the Narmer Palette. Protodynastic hieroglyphs are difficult to read, but the dead lapwings (meaning Lower Egyptians) and the nine bows (meaning the traditional enemies of Egyptians) found on the macehead are interpreted as evidence that he began the attacks on Lower Egypt which eventually resulted in Narmer's victory and unification of the country.^[5] The lapwing was also used as a hieroglyph meaning "common people", so the standards they are attached to may represent the names of particular towns Scorpion conquered.^[6]

A second, smaller macehead fragment is referred to as the Minor Scorpion Macehead.^[7] Little is left of this macehead, though it clearly depicts the pharaoh wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.

Theories[link]

There are several theories regarding his identity. Some^[who?] argue that, because Egyptian kings of the First Dynasty seem to have had multiple names,^[8] Scorpion was the same person as Narmer, simply with an alternative name. Others have identified the king Scorpion with Narmer's predecessor, Ka (or Sekhen); Edwards in 1965 considered Ka's glyph, the outstretched arms of the ka sign, as simply a stylistically different version of a scorpion.^[9] The historian Susan Wise Bauer maintains that Scorpion II and Narmer were indeed two separate kings, but that Scorpion II reigned in 3200 BC, a century before Narmer.^[10] Because Scorpion II is not attested at Abydos, he could be a contemporary king to Narmer, who eventually lost or bequeathed Nekhen to Narmer.

A British television programme^[11] proposed that the macehead was a tribute by Narmer to King Scorpion I (whose tomb at Abydos is known). According to this theory, there was only one protodynastic king Scorpion, rather than two as is commonly maintained.

In popular culture[link]

• William Golding's 1971 novella The Scorpion God is loosely based upon this period of Egyptian history.
• The Scorpion King's name was used in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns, and its spin-offs The Scorpion King (2002) and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008).
• An action-adventure video game The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian was released in 2002.
• The 2007 children's novel Pharaoh by Jackie French deals with events in the court of King Scorpion, and the rivalry between his sons Narmer and Prince Hawk.

See also[link]

• Pharaoh
• Scorpion I
• Narmer
• Menes

References[link]

Look up scorpion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A scorpion is a predatory arthropod animal.

Scorpion may also refer to:

Music[link]

• Scorpions (band), German heavy metal band
• The Scorpions (Manchester band), English band, most popular in the Netherlands
• The Scorpions (London band), English band, Parlophone artists
• Scorpion (album), by Eve
• "The Scorpion" (song), by Megadeth from the album The System Has Failed

Sports[link]

• Scorpion (horse), a racehorse
• Hannover Scorpions, German ice hockey team
• Logan Scorpions, an Australian rugby league football club
• Scorpions RFC, rugby club
• Saint-Juéry XIII, a French rugby league football club nicknamed the "Scorpions"
• South Wales Scorpions, a Welsh rugby league football club
• Stuttgart Scorpions, German American Football team
• New Mexico Scorpions, American hockey team
• Scorpion kick, a footballing move
• San Antonio Scorpions FC, American football club

Military/paramilitary units[link]

• Scorpions (Serbia), a paramilitary group involved in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre
• Scorpions (Iraq), a paramilitary Iraqi force organized by the CIA
• VAQ-132, a U.S. Navy aircraft squadron, nicknamed the Scorpions

Weaponry[link]

• Scorpio (dart-thrower), an ancient Greco-Roman catapult
• Škorpion vz. 61, a Czech submachine gun
• Scourge, a whipping device, also called a scorpion

Vessels and vehicles[link]

• Scorpion (dinghy)
• USS Scorpion, the name of several U.S. Navy vessels
• HMS Scorpion, the name of several Royal Navy vessels
• CSS Scorpion, a Confederate Navy boat
• Northrop F-89 Scorpion, a U.S. jet fighter
• FV101 Scorpion, a British light tank
• Ronn Motor Scorpion, a car
• RotorWay Scorpion, a line of helicopters
• Soviet submarine B-427, a Soviet submarine renamed Scorpion after being decommissioned
• Mitsubishi Scorpion, a car made by Mitsubishi Motors
• Scorpion, custom car, winner of the 1972 Ridler

Comics[link]

• Scorpion (Marvel Comics), several Spider-Man supervillains
• Scorpion (Carmilla Black), a Marvel superhero
• Scorpion (Atlas/Seaboard Comics), a 1970s comic book series
• Le Scorpion, a Belgian comic by Enrico Marini and Stephen Desberg

Gaming[link]

• Scorpion (Mortal Kombat), a video game character
• Scorpion (solitaire), a card game
• Scorpion: Disfigured, a German computer game
• Scorpion, a wrestler in the video game Saturday Night Slam Masters
• A Scorpion, a type of tank in the Halo series.
• A Scorpion, a Caldari Navy battleship from the Eve Online MMO

Other uses[link]

• Scorpion (computer)
• Scorpion (roller coaster)
• Scorpion (novel), a 1985 spy thriller by Andrew Kaplan
• The Scorpion (1982 novel)
• "Scorpion" (Star Trek: Voyager), 1997 episode of Star Trek: Voyager
• Scorpions (South Africa), a government anti-corruption agency
• Scorpion I, an Egyptian pharaoh
• King Scorpion or Scorpion II, an Egyptian pharaoh, who ruled one or two centuries after Scorpion I
• Water scorpion, an insect
• Scorpion aerobatic team
• Scorpion man, an Akkadian mythological figure
• Scorpions, a 1990 young adult novel by Walter Dean Myers

See also[link]

• Scorpio (disambiguation)
• Scorpius (disambiguation)
• The Scorpion and the Frog

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]

Andreas Wisniewski
Wisniewski with his son at a Zen Buddhist ceremony, January 5th 2005
Born	(1959-07-03) July 3, 1959 (age 52) Berlin, Germany
Years active	1986 - present

Andreas Wisniewski (born July 3, 1959) is a German actor and former dancer.

Life and career[link]

Wisniewski was born in Berlin, Germany, to a Polish father and a German mother and spent the early part of his life dancing before turning to acting. Wisniewski made his big-screen debut in Gothic (1986), a film about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which Wisniewski plays the role of Fletcher.

Probably his biggest film came the following year in 1987 Bond film The Living Daylights. The 6 ft 4 ½ inch (194 cm) Wisniewski portrays lethal hitman Necros, who over the course of the film impersonates a Cockney milkman, an American jogger, an Austrian balloon salesman, and a doctor in Morocco. His next mainstream role was as one of Hans Gruber's (Alan Rickman) henchmen, Tony, in the 1988 blockbuster Die Hard. The scene of Tony's body in the elevator with the phrase "Now I Have A Machine Gun. Ho-Ho-Ho" on his shirt proves to be one of the most famous shots from the film.

Wisniewski disappeared from the big screen only to reappear in the TV shows Superboy, Mann & Machine, and Northern Exposure where he played Arthur, the bear. He reappeared on the big screen in the 1995 science fiction film Death Machine playing Weyland, and again in 1996 in a non-speaking role as Max's companion in another box office smash, Mission: Impossible.

Wisniewski soon starred in a string of German films, after which he reappeared to English audiences in an episode of the TV series Lock, Stock...The Series based on the English gangster film by Guy Ritchie, where he played mullet-wearing Heinrich who accidentally commits suicide by shooting himself in the head playing a film game. Two years later he was in an episode of the ITV hit series Ultimate Force alongside popular soap opera star Ross Kemp playing Russian terrorist Glasnovic. Wisniewski hit the screens (although his face is never seen) in the UK again in 2008 after a six-year break when he co-starred in Mark Tonderai's cat-and-mouse thriller Hush.

Wisniewski has also appeared in two music videos. He was in the video Venus, sung by the girl group Bananarama, and also appeared as a soldier in the background of Elton John's video Nikita, where can be seen as Elton John's Rolls Royce pulls up to the security gate.

In 2001 Wisniewski turned his hand to directing, making the short film Inspiration, starring English actors Danny Webb and Christine Adams. An Andreas Wisniewski is credited as a part in the bio-pic Surviving Picasso alongside Anthony Hopkins, but this Andreas Wisniewski is a different actor. Wisniewski has kept a low profile since this time to spend time with his family and children and to concentrate on Buddhism.

He recently made a rare British TV appearance in ITV's police drama "The Bill". He appeared on 10 July 2008 in the episode Gun Runner: Pay and Spray, in which he played a short one-minute role as a Russian criminal 'Dimitri' purchasing guns and ammunition.

Fifteen years after his first appearance in a Mission: Impossible-film, he had another non-speaking part in 2011's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, where he is assumed to have played the same part as in the first film of the series, however, since his character worked for different employees, this is not sure.

Personal life[link]

Wisniewski was married to a Brazilian super model with children, including a son. He is a practising Zen Buddhist,^[1] and runs Buddhist meditation classes at The Life Centre in Notting Hill.

Filmography[link]

• Gothic (1986) ... Fletcher
• The Living Daylights (1987) ... Necros
• Die Hard (1988) ... Tony
• Superboy (TV series) (1992)... Android
• Northern Exposure (TV series) (1992) ... Arthur
• Mann & Machine (TV series (1993) ... John Stepka
• The Hit List (1993) ... Lance
• Death Machine (1995) ... Weyland
• Mission: Impossible (1996) ... Max's Companion
• Supply & Demand (1997) ... John Howard
• Kidnapping Mom & Dad (1998) ... Holger
• The Tribe (1998) ... Lieutenant
• Urban Ghost Story (1998) ... Quinn
• The Waiting Time (1999) ... Ernst Raub
• Lock, Stock...The Series (TV series) (2000) ... Heinrich
• Ultimate Force (TV series) (2002) ... Glasnovic
• Essential Music Videos: Classic '80s (2004) ... Uncredited (Segment 'Venus')
• Hush (2008) ... Tarman
• The Bill (TV Series) (2008) ... Dimitri
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008) ... Pollux
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) ... The Fog's Contact

References[link]

External links[link]

• Andreas Wisniewski at the Internet Movie Database