19 Cultural depictions of kings

Arshak II is the first Armenian classical opera, written by Tigran Chukhajian and Tovmas Terzian in 1868. Its libretto is based on historical reports about King Arsaces II, written by Movses Khorenatsi and Pavstos Buzand.

Khan Asparuh is a 1981 three-part Bulgarian historical action and drama film telling the story of Khan Asparuh and the events around the founding of the medieval Bulgarian state in 681 AD. It was shot and released on the occasion of the 1300th anniversary of Bulgaria. The film was selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Ciro in Armenia is a dramma per musica or opera in three acts by composer Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini. The work premiered in Milan on 26 December 1753 at the Teatro Regio Ducale. The work uses an Italian language libretto by the composer which is based on a work by Umberto Manferrari and G. Manfredi.

The Constitution of 3 May 1791 is an 1891 Romantic oil painting on canvas by the Polish artist Jan Matejko. It is a large piece, and one of Matejko's best known. It memorializes the Polish Constitution of 3 May 1791, a milestone in the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and a high point of the Polish Enlightenment.

Belshazzar, son of the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire, Nabonidus, has inspired many works of art and cultural allusions, often with a religious motif. While a historical figure, depictions and portrayals of him are most often based on his appearance in the biblical story of Belshazzar's feast in the Book of Daniel. This story is the origin of the idiomatic expression "the writing is on the wall".

Edmund Ironside was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marred by a war he had inherited from his father; his cognomen "Ironside" was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the Great.

Edward the Confessor was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.

Edward V was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 9 April to 26 June 1483. He succeeded his father, Edward IV, upon the latter's death. Edward V was never crowned, and his brief reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle and Lord Protector, the Duke of Gloucester, who deposed him to reign as King Richard III; this was confirmed by the Act entitled Titulus Regius, which denounced any further claims through his father's heirs.

"Good King Wenceslas" is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a Bohemian king going on a journey and braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen. During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935). The name Wenceslas is a Latinised version of Old Czech "Venceslav".

John of England has been portrayed many times in fiction, generally reflecting the overwhelmingly negative view of his reputation.

The King Jaja of Opobo Memorial is a bronze monument in memory of King Jaja of Opobo, erected by public subscription in 1903. It was listed as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments on 14 August 1959.

King Roger is an opera in three acts by Karol Szymanowski to a Polish libretto by the composer himself and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, the composer's cousin. The score was finished in 1924. The opera received its world premiere on 19 June 1926 at the Grand Theatre, Warsaw, with the cast including the composer's sister, the soprano Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, as Roxana.

The Proclamation of Dušan's Law Codex is the name given to each of seven versions of a composition painted by Paja Jovanović which depict Dušan the Mighty introducing Serbia's earliest surviving law codex to his subjects in Skopje in 1349. The Royal Serbian Government commissioned the first version for 30,000 dinars in 1899, intending for it to be displayed at the following year's Exposition Universelle in Paris.

The Prussian Homage is an oil on canvas painting by Polish painter Jan Matejko painted between 1879 and 1882 in Kraków. The painting depicts the "Prussian Homage," a significant political event from the time of the Renaissance in Poland in which Albrecht of Hohenzollern, the Duke of Prussia paid tribute and swore allegiance to King Sigismund I the Old in Kraków's market square on 10 April 1525. Matejko depicted over thirty important figures of the Polish Renaissance period, taking the liberty of including several who were not actually present at the event.

Richard II of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.

Richard III of England has been depicted in literature and popular culture many times. In the Tudor period he was invariably portrayed as a villain, most famously in Shakespeare's play Richard III, but also in other literature of the period. Richard's life was not much depicted again until the 20th century when the "Ricardian" movement sought to restore his reputation. Much of more recent creative literature has portrayed him in a positive light. However his reputation as a hunchbacked villain has remained a familiar historical cliché within popular culture.

Siroe, re di Persia, is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Metastasio's Siroe. Like many of Metastasio's libretti, it was also set by Handel's contemporaries, e.g. by Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Adolph Hasse. Pasquale Errichelli's setting of the libretto premiered in the year of Handel's death.

Stephen Báthory at Pskov or Báthory at Pskov is a partially allegorical historical painting 1872 by the Polish artist Jan Matejko, now in the collections of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. It shows people of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible kneeling before the Polish king Stephen Báthory at Pskov during the final period of peace negotiations at the end of the 1578-1582 Livonian campaign. It also shows the papal legate, the black-robed Jesuit Antonio Possevino.

Zawieszenie dzwonu Zygmunta is a painting by Jan Matejko finished in 1874. It depicts the installation of the Sigismund Bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków in 1521. The bell was installed in the Sigismund Tower and rung for the first time on 13 July 1521. The bell is considered to be one of the national symbols of Poland. This painting is one of a number of historical paintings by Matejko. It shows a crowd of people, with a number of identifiable figures of historical importance. It conveys the Golden Era of the Polish Renaissance, and the power of the Kingdom of Poland.