Can you name the 25 Richest People Ever? by Detektor

Lifetime, Nationality & Gender	Person	Wealth (billions of 2007 US dollars)
1839-1937; American male		318.3 (business)
1835-1919; Scottish male		298.3 (business)
1868-1918; Russian male		253.5 (inheritance)
1821-1885; American male		231.6 (inheritance, business)
1886-1967; Hyderabadi male		225.8 (inheritance)
1855-1937; American male		188.8 (business)
1863-1947; American male		188.1 (business)
115-53 BC; Roman male		169.8 (inheritance, conquest, business)
958-1025; Byzantine male		169.4 (inheritance, conquest)
1794-1877; American male		167.4 (business)
1040-1089; Breton male		166.9 (inheritance, conquest)
1388-1351 BC; Egyptian male		155.2 (inheritance)
? - 1088; Norman male		153.6 (inheritance, conquest)

Lifetime, Nationality & Gender	Person	Wealth (billions of 2007 US dollars)
1060-1100; Norman male		151.7 (inheritance)
1533-1603; English female		142.9 (inheritance)
1874-1960; American male		141.4 (inheritance, business)
1918-1992; American male		128.0 (business)
1763-1848; German-American male		115.0 (business)
1036-1097; Norman male		110.2 (inheritance, conquest)
1955- ; American male		100.0 (business)
1750-1831; French-American male		99.5 (business)
69 - 30 BC; Greek female		95.8 (inheritance)
1769-1821; Corsican male		90.0 (conquest)
1764-1839; American male		88.8 (inheritance)
1858-1933; American male		86.3 (inheritance, business)

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There are 22 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

25 Richest People Ever Quiz

by Detektor

Created Oct 17, 2009 in History
Game Plays 5,082

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	joewhitey:	Oct 17th, 2009 at 12:10 GMT		5 points
	Great quiz

	johnlk:	Oct 17th, 2009 at 14:38 GMT		-4 points
	What an utterly bizarre list. What's the deal with all the Norman conquest figures - is that some sort of thing based on the Domesday book? Obviously the list isn't accurate at all, but still quite interesting.

	Detektor:	Oct 17th, 2009 at 16:08 GMT		7 points
	Apparently Forbes calculated the rankings by determining each figure's value as a percentage of the total GDP of their nation. I imagine this accounts for some of that bizarreness. (I personally was surprised not to see Genghis or Kublai Khan but in appearances.)

	joewhitey:	Oct 17th, 2009 at 23:11 GMT		5 points
	The inaccuracies are probably mostly due to the lack of surviving records. For instance despite the fact that Crassus was a notoriously wealthy Roman, supposedly Marius and Pompey were supposedly wealthier (due to the vast tracks of Italian land they owned, but of course the value of land in the first century BC is probably hard to measure). But if they did the list 100% accurate, then the list would all be Egyptian Pharaohs, Russian Czars, and Roman and Chinese Emperors.

	Sally:	Oct 18th, 2009 at 04:18 GMT		4 points
	I think Romanov should count for Nicholas the II.

	Detektor:	Oct 18th, 2009 at 05:01 GMT		4 points
	Right you are.

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	cuendillar:	Oct 18th, 2009 at 18:28 GMT		3 points
	I'm highly surprised king Croesus of Lydia wasn't on here. I thought he was recognized as possibly the richest of all times. He not only invented money, he actually payed for the entire construction of the Artemis temple at Ephesos - one of the Seven Wonders. Also, king Midas could be a nice bonus, though he is most likely mythical.

	dtro:	Oct 21st, 2009 at 19:12 GMT		2 points
	I believe there was a chapter in Outliers that explained that the majority of this list were Americans born in the 19th century due to the industrial revolution. I'm not sure the exact method used, but it tries to adjust for inflation, which is why Bill Gates is in column 2.

	massmic8:	Oct 22nd, 2009 at 02:42 GMT		4 points
	JP Morgan?

	JWC:	Oct 26th, 2009 at 14:55 GMT		-2 points
	missed mellons, carnegie, ford, astor, vanderbilts. Need to brush up on my history of the super rich

	scgal:	Dec 29th, 2009 at 08:18 GMT		2 points
	i think you should also accept "czar nicholas"

	Esme:	Feb 7th, 2010 at 04:13 GMT		3 points
	"Queen Elizabeth I" for Elizabeth I? (And the others to follow suit.) Not sure why I went to the hassle of trying it, mind you ;), but it seems like royal titles shouldn't be held against you.

	Shapes9322:	Feb 8th, 2010 at 23:33 GMT		-2 points
	where is jp morgan? he is clearly richer than carnegie because he bought all of carnegies stuff

	johnlk:	Feb 9th, 2010 at 17:56 GMT		0 points
	I find it dubious that Nicholas II had 231.6 billion 2007 dollars, while his father Alexander III had less than 86.3 billion. How is that at all plausible?

	Probus:	Feb 10th, 2010 at 21:50 GMT		2 points
	The inclusion of William de Warenne, Odo and William (II) Rufus but the exclusion of William (I) the Conqueror raises a major question over the accuracy of the source. Warenne held his properties as a tenant of the King therefore at some point that wealth would have been attributable to William I. Likewise, Odo owed a substantial proportion of his wealth to grants from his half-brother, William I. Much of that land was returned to the king after 1082 when Odo was imprisoned.

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	Detektor:	Feb 11th, 2010 at 19:23 GMT		9 points
	She wasn't ethnically Egyptian. Her great great great great great great grandfather was appointed to run Egypt after Alexander the Great died, and the dynasty basically kept inbreeding from then on.

	AlexRandom:	Jul 14th, 2010 at 02:19 GMT		4 points
	Still, since she was the Queen of Egypt, born in Egypt of parents born in Egypt, it is rather misleading and confusing to label her Greek. Would you say descendents of inmigrants to America are not "American"?

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	samstuart:	Nov 1st, 2011 at 19:32 GMT		1 point
	It's fun to just type your own name. Pray it gets on this list.

	toomuchfreetime:	Aug 27th, 2012 at 21:03 GMT		1 point
	Where the hell is Scrooge McDuck