The new book from the series “100 Greats” tells the stories of the most famous prisoners of all countries and eras—from the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias to South Africa’s freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. Prisoners included nameless galley slaves and noblemen of high birth, overthrowers of the existing order and their persecutors. In dungeons languished prominent nobles—once all-powerful men of the moment, the closest relatives of crowned persons, people with loud names. There were also those who crossed the threshold of a cell unknown to anyone and then, having accepted martyrdom, entered history. Many died in stone “bags” of monasteries and state prisons, and for many of those arrested we know nothing—but they lived and thought, about which archival records and prison documents tell us. Some prisoners later revealed their terrible captivity to the whole world themselves.