Ghengis Khan

The founding father of the Mongolian empire and, in his time, the most powerful man on earth, has a macho reputation for two reasons. First, his invasions of new lands have become a byword for cruelty, with the indiscriminate slaughter of the local population often part of the strategy. One observer described how, during the siege of Kiev in 1246, bones and skulls scattered the landscape and a once prosperous town was reduced to a few miserable slaves.

And the other reason is Ghengis Khan's legendary sexual staying power. His harem was said to number between 2,000 and 3,000 women, and it has been estimated that around 0.5% of modern men can trace their origins back to this remarkable ruler.