7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

endured through the ages. The official Roman version of
a predatory, immoral Cleopatra passed into Western cul-
ture, where it was retold and reinterpreted as the years
passed. Meanwhile, Muslim scholars, writing after the
Arab conquest of Egypt about 640 CE, developed their
own version of the queen. Their Cleopatra was first and
foremost a scholar and a scientist, a gifted philosopher,
and a chemist. In the late 20th century, Cleopatra’s eth-
nic heritage became the subject of intense academic
debate, with some African American scholars embracing
Cleopatra as a black African heroine.

Jesus Christ

(b. c. 6 BCE, Judaea—d. c. 30 CE, Jerusalem)

T

o the faithful Christian, Jesus, the founder of the
Christian faith, is the son of God and God incarnate
whose sacrifice on the cross offers the promise of salva-
tion and whose life and passion are the fulfillment of the
Jewish Scriptures.
Although the earliest accounts of Jesus’ life—the
Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and
the more philosophical Gospel of John—are marked by
inconsistencies and differing agendas and no indepen-
dent account by contemporary authors exists, a picture
of his life can be discerned from Scripture. According to
Matthew, Jesus was born to the house of David, as fore-
told in Jewish scripture and messianic traditions. He was
born to Mary, the wife of a carpenter named Joseph.
According to Luke the birth occurred during the time of a
census held by Augustus, and according to Matthew, dur-
ing the reign of Herod the Great. Although the chronology
of the Gospels is inconsistent, they do agree that Jesus
was born in the town of Bethlehem—in support of Jewish