Narcissistic figures throughout history

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. It's a condition that has afflicted some of the most recognized individuals in world history. And while many people demonstrate narcissistic traits (with some actually able to contribute positively towards society despite their condition), it's those whose NPD has gone hand in hand with more serious psychiatric disorders that history has recorded as being among the most dangerous and unpredictable ever to walk the planet.

Intrigued? Click through and discover those who only really cared for themselves.

Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE)

Alexander the Great displayed classic symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder. Acknowledged as a military genius and celebrated for his physical courage and leadership skills, Alexander nevertheless thought in binary terms—you were either with him, or against him. He demonstrated opportunist traits and showed little or no emotion at the loss of his men. Instead, he pursued victory as part of his grandiose vision of life.

Herod the Great (c. 72–c. 4 BCE)

Historians have suggested that Herod was a narcissist. A vain, jealous, and power-hungry man, Herod was also an egomaniac, completely obsessed with his own success. He indulged in colossal building projects throughout Judea, and infamously appears in the Bible as the ruler who orders the Massacre of the Innocents.

Nero (37–68 CE)

Nero, Roman emperor from 54–68 CE, was megalomaniacal, devoid of conscience, and utterly self-centered and incapable of empathy. The last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty murdered his mother after she objected to his affair with Poppaea Sabina, and was implicated in starting the Great Fire of Rome, an inferno that destroyed three of the city's 14 districts and severely damaged seven more.

Henry VIII (1491–1547)

English monarch Henry VIII is sometimes referred to as the King of Narcissism. Henry's turbulent mood swings and demand on others is indicative of narcissistic tendencies, disturbing qualities further fueled by his increasing powers. Throughout his reign, Henry pacified his envy and inferiority complex by shouting down advisers and courtiers and making extravagant purchases and acquisitions. And he famously demonstrated his desperation for a male heir by taking six wives, two of whom he had executed.

Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587)

Mary, Queen of Scots is believed to have suffered from histrionic personality disorder (HPD), a psychiatric condition characterized by a pattern of exaggerated attention-seeking behavior. However, she also displayed symptoms of NPD in her constant need for praise and thinking she was above everybody else.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)

Many psychologists believe some of the positive aspects of NPD—for example, the adoption of a self-confident attitude and the ability to assume positions of leadership—may have driven the success of Napoleon in campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. In an iconic example of grandiosity, he crowned himself emperor in 1804, after which he set about pursuing more military conquests. However, setbacks throughout the Napoleonic Wars, including the disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812 and the decisive defeat at Waterloo in 1815, further aggravated an already fractious character.

Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)

By their very nature, dictators tend to be narcissists. Joseph Stalin manifested a psychopathic personality with prominent elements of narcissism, sadism, and paranoia—toxic character traits that led him to become one of the most feared and brutal tyrants of the 20th century.

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

One of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso has also been described as a misogynistic narcissist. The Spanish co-founder of the Cubist movement certainly had a dark side. Hugely ambitious and competitive, he was a serial philander who once declared that "women are machines for suffering."

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)

Adolf Hitler's pathological NPD was apparent in 'Mein Kampf,' his notorious 1925 autobiographical manifesto. As a megalomaniac sadist, the Nazi dictator incited the most destructive global conflict in human history and oversaw the slaughter of millions of people. His lies and false propaganda cultivated the Aryan myth and promoted anti-Semitism. In fact, his was the most damaging example of narcissism ever recorded.

Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942)

Armed with a viciously narcissistic streak, Reinhard Heydrich was able to formulate the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" with alarming ease and without a trace of sympathy or emotion. The high-ranking SS official was assassinated in June 1942, five months after chairing the Wannsee Conference where the fate of the Jews was sealed.

Kim Il Sung (1912–1994)

Ambitious and self-serving, Kim Il Sung was a merciless narcissist. He founded North Korea in 1948, and presided pathologically over a dictatorship until his death in 1994. His secretive and antisocial tendencies were carried over by his successor, his son Kim Jong Il, and then by his grandson, Kim Jong Un, who remains supreme leader of a shunned and impoverished nation.

Pol Pot (1925–1998)

Pol Pot's megalomania and narcissistic personality led him to believe he was destined to rule and that his beliefs about his country, Cambodia, were always the correct ones. As a leading member of Cambodia's communist movement, the Khmer Rouge, Pot presided over the deaths of millions in the "Killing Fields," the idea being to annihilate the existing population and create a new age.

Lana Turner (1921–1995)

Another star of Hollywood's Golden Age, Lana Turner's narcissistic tendencies became increasingly evident in the 1950s when both critics and audiences began noting parallels between Turner's rocky personal life and the roles she played, for example as the self-centered, single-minded Lora Meredith in 1959's 'Imitation of Life.'

Idi Amin (c. 1925–2003)

Idi Amin, who served as president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history. NPD part-governed his character, though his mental issues plunged into the psychotic: he reportedly ordered 4,000 disabled people to be thrown into the Nile to be torn apart by crocodiles, and he also confessed to cannibalism.

Saddam Hussein (1937–2006)

The Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics describes Saddam Hussein's psychology in terms of the syndrome of malignant narcissism. The Iraqi dictator, whose regime was responsible for the deaths of thousands, demonstrated pathological narcissism, antisocial features, paranoid traits, and unconstrained aggression.

Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011)

Muammar Gaddafi was afflicted by NDP. He craved to be accepted and adored all his life. And while many in Libya reciprocated, to the outside world he was a dictator whose authoritarian regime systematically violated human rights and financed global terrorism in the region and abroad.