Fame Throughout History

I often wonder just what famous people from history thought of themselves. Were they like some of the young pop stars of our day? Arrogant and proud of their accomplishments? Or were they humble and modest of their own fame? Or were they the unfortunates who became famous posthumously?

Did those who experience fame treat it differently than we do these days?

I imagine they did. These days we live in such a connected world I feel that fame is so far beyond what those in the past could have even hoped to attain. We live in a world of excess. We want and want and want, and we beg and beg and beg those who create things we love to create more and more frequently.

Back then, I'm sure there were people who had such attention, but not to the same extent. Those people could have probably left their houses and not had to deal with fans stopping them in the street and hounding them when they were just trying to buy food.

Now, it's understandable when stars break down. They can't do anything without someone over their shoulder, reminding them of how famous they are, of how different they are, of how high they are on a pedestal.

And we wonder why they so often break, when really the pressure is so beyond anything that humans were meant to be able to handle. Did famous people back in the day break down like they do today? I'd like to know, but they probably did. Just because the pedestals are bigger these days doesn't mean they couldn't fall off them back then too.