The eight most greedy people in history

Greed, selfishness, and avarice, or scrupulousness, are some of the most common defects among people in the world. But history of mankind produced some really greedy, rapacious  characters. They reached the paroxysm of greed, forgetting the simple fact that life on this earth is just ephemeral ...

Let's see a top of the most greedy people in history:
1) Marcus Licinius Crassus (115 BC - 53 BC)

While Marcus Crassus was still a young man became obsessed with wealth which will make the main feature of his character. He rented land and bought slaves just to trade them later on a better price. An inexhaustible source of enrichment for Crassus was offered by Rome's difficulty in providing housing for everyone. Ancient Rome was overcrowded and buildings extremely exposed to fire which was one of the most frequent causes for having entire neighborhoods destroyed. But this situation was favorable for speculation. Crassus had organized teams of firefighters, saving the houses from fire and then he bought the burned houses for a small price and after some reparations he rented them. Greed proved fatal to him as Crassus got killed during a disastrous military campaign when he wanted to conquer the Kingdom of Parthia, famous for its wealth.


2) Ghenghis Khan (1162-1227)




Great Mongol Khan wanted to hold everyone, and was about to achieve his dream.Before his death, his empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic.


3) Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484)



The Pope was greatly enriched by the fact that he imposed taxes to the brothels and claimed that the souls in purgatory can go to paradise if indulgences for the dead are bought by their living relatives.


4) William H. Vanderbilt (1821-1884)



Vanderbilt was an american rich man of the nineteenth century who was perhaps the richest and most powerful man of his times. He controlled the largest rail network in the world and became famous with his famous words: "The public be damned.! I only care about my property. "


5) William M. Tweed (1823-1878)



Tweed was a land owner in New York but also had banks, railways and hotels. His fortune, in terms of value today would be around 8 billion dollars so far. But he was famous for his avarice and greed, many cartoons of the time being made on the subject of this "flaw" of his.


6) The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908)




Although she started her "career" as the whore of the Chinese Emperor, meanwhile she managed to become "de facto" the head of this large Asian country for nearly 50 years. She became famous for the 3,000 boxes of jewelry she owned and used the money of the Chinese Navy to build a marble boat where she was dining using 150 golden chop sticks.


7) Charles Ponzi (1882-1949)




He was one of the greatest American crooks of all time. He was the creator of so-called "Ponzi schemes" which doubles the money originally deposited in 3 months. Greedy to make money from whatever was immeasurable.


8) Imelda Marcos (1929)



Tagalog wife of President Ferdinand Marcos, is suspected of having stolen, along with her husband over 5 billion dollars of wealth Philippines. When she and her husband have been deposed from power in 1986, authorities found in Imelda's lockers in Malacañang (presidential palace) over 3000 pairs of shoes, size 37. Imelda's extravagance was beyond any acceptable limit. During an expedition to purchase real estate in New York, she decided to buy the Empire State Building, but eventually gave up. Evaluated at about $750 million, the building did not exceed her financial possibilities, but she said it was an acquisition too glaring. " Instead, she spent fifty-one to get Crown Building and sixty million for Herald Center and two other apartments in Manhattan.

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