History is replete with tales of evil people performing evil acts. Sadly they are so many in number that Listverse has been able to feature many top 10 lists of evil humans – men, women, and even children. This list looks at ten people from history who were especially cruel and who, in many cases, are remembered for that reason alone.
Tamerlane (a.k.a. Timur) was a fourteenth-century conqueror of Western, Central and South Asia and the founder of the Timurid Empire and Timurid dynasty. He believed that he was descended from Genghis Khan. He was a cruel, ruthless, heartless and bloodthirsty conqueror who brought terror and destruction to millions. At some places thousands were forced to jump from very high heights. 200,000 surrendered solders and civilians were killed in India. There were decapitations of 20,000 citizens in Aleppo, 70,000 in Ifshan, the beheading of 70,000 in Tikrit and 90,000 in Baghdad. On some occasions, he ordered thousands of people to die of slow suffocation. Huge towers made from his enemies’ skulls were built for him to look at with satisfaction. People were often decapitated, burned, stabbed, dismembered and buried alive. He killed 15 to 20 million people. Tamerlane died on February 1405 from natural causes.
Nero was Rome’s 5th emperor from AD 54 to AD 68. He brought the Roman Empire to ruin. He burned entire cities. He murdered thousands of people including his aunt, stepsister, ex-wife, mother, wife and stepbrother. He systematically murdered every member in his family. Some were killed in searing hot baths. He poisoned, beheaded, stabbed, burned, boiled, crucified and impaled people. He often raped women and cut off the veins and private parts of both men and women. He is said to have fiddled while Rome was burning. The great fire killed many of Rome’s citizens and left hundreds of thousands destitute. Though Nero probably started the fire, he blamed it on the Christians. Thousands of Christians were starved to death, burned, torn by dogs, fed to lions, crucified, used as torches and nailed to crosses. He was so bad that many of the Christians thought he was the Antichrist. He even tortured and killed the apostle Paul and the disciple Peter. Paul was beheaded and Peter was crucified upside down. Nero committed suicide when he realized he was losing the rebellion and his life was in danger.
He was Rome’s 3rd emperor from AD 37 to AD 41. He was wild, sadistic, extravagant, with a penchant for sexual adventures. In the first 3 months in his reign of terror, over 160,000 animals were sacrificed in his honor. He later got a brain fever that made him mentally ill. He then believed he was a god. Under Caligula, the law became an instrument of torture. He believed prisoners should feel a painful death. He began to brutally murder for fun. He would kill his opponents slowly and painfully over hours or days. He decapitated and strangled children. People were beaten with heavy chains. He forced families to attend their children’s execution. Many people had their tongues cut off. He fed prisoners to a lions, panthers and bears and often killed gladiators. One gladiator alone was beaten up for 2 days full days. He sometimes ordered people to be killed by elephants. His cruelty caused people to commit suicide. He demanded sex with a lot of women including his 3 sisters. He would force husbands to give up their wives. He exiled his sisters and had his brother in law put to death. He caused many to die of starvation. Sawing people was one of his favorite things to do, which filleted the spine and spinal cord from crotch down to the chest. He liked to chew up the testicles of victims. He killed some of his most important friends and his father-in-law. One time Caligula said “I wish Rome had but one neck, so that I could cut off all their heads with one blow!” In AD 41, Caligula was killed by Casius Chaerea, a man whom Caligula had mocked at court for his effeminacy.
Attila ruled the Huns from 434 to 453. He was the leader of the Hunnic, Empire which stretched from the Ural River to Germany and from the Baltic Sea to the Danube River. He was a bloodthirsty, cruel and ruthless barbarian that was a lover of battle. He wanted to destroy the Roman Empire and everyone in his way. If you were a citizen in Rome and begged for mercy, he would kill you. He was as great a menace to the Teutonic tribes people as he was to the Romans. He was so destructive that people believed he was a punishment from Heaven. His nickname was Attila the Scourge of God. Attila and the other Huns thought that other people’s lives were meaningless. He would torture and destroy his enemies, his own people and entire population of cities. He rampaged Roman cities and may have killed up to hundreds of thousands. People were sometimes torn limb by limb. One time Attila found Saint Ursula, the perpetual Virgin, and wanted to marry her. She refused which made Attila angry and had her killed along with 11,000 of her companions. It is said that he might have drunk a women’s blood. He eat 2 of his sons and killed his brother. Attila coughed up blood and died in 453.
He was Khan of the Mongolian Empire from 1206 to 1227. In that time he conquered most of China and all the land through the Caspian Sea. He was ruthless, vengeful, cruel, and bloodthirsty. He and his army destroyed countless numbers of cities, solders, civilians and children. People were killed by having molten metal and silver poured into their eyes and ears. In one massacre alone, 700,000 people were killed. At another place, the poor were decapitated and the rich were tortured to find out where their treasure was. Women were sometimes raped in front of their families. Hundreds of thousands had their lives ruined. It is said that if his army of men had no water they would cut a horse’s vein and drink its blood. He would use people as human shields. Hundreds of thousands became slaves. He would order you to be killed immediately if you were an enemy, if you betrayed him or if you were disloyal to him. Genghis and his army killed 20 to 60 million people. He killed three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, which was 10 to 15 million. He also killed his brother at age 13 just because his brother had stolen a fish from him. Genghis Khan once said “The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.” Genghis Khan died of natural causes in 1227.
