And the results are in!If I teach Western Civ or World Hi...

And the results are in!

If I teach Western Civ or World History, I generally ask on the Final, who were the 5 people who most influenced (either Western or World) civilization between 4 million BC and 1588 AD? (Spanish Armada, which is my cut-off for both classes). This semester it was World History, and the question was given as extra credit, so the voting pool was small.

But, the results are, as usual, interesting.

Alexander the Great won with 9 votes.
He was immediately trailed by Christopher Columbus, with 8.
Next in the tally, Jesus Christ tied with Elizabeth I of England, 4 votes apiece.
Muhammad got 3.
Socrates, Augustus Caesar, Julius Caesar, Buddha, Confucius, Joan of Arc and Martin Luther each got 2.
The one-vote wonders were: Homer, Hammurabi, Cleopatra, Hernan Cortes, Genjhis Khan, Charles Martel, his grandson Charlemagne, Leonardo da Vinci, Hannibal Barca, Henry VIII of all people!, and - I was delighted to see - Shi Huang Ti, the meglomaniac strongman who first united China (and thus may have had more historical influence than anyone except the religious founders)
There were gang-votes for The Greeks, the Persians, and the little australopitheci who first came out of the African forests in 4 million BC and started it all.

Now I get to grade papers for the next week, and do jury duty.