Greek philosophers
Callicles
Callicles was a Greek philosopher and politician who was born at the end of the 5th century BC in Athens. He is classified as a sophist.
The only source on his life is the dialogue Gorgias, written by Plato and referred to by Aristotle (in On Sophistic Evidence). However, there are also views that Callicles is only a fictional character.
Callicles was supposed to assert the "Right of the Stronger" by pointing to nature. According to nature, it is right and just for the strong to assert themselves against the weak. And so it should be with humans, where the strong should dominate the weak and be richer as well. But laws are made by the weaker majority who want to restrict the strong, which according to him is not good. He gave the example of Xerxes, who was so powerful that he could do anything he wanted, regardless of the laws. Another figure who was supposed to support his views was Pindaros.
Another interesting opinion of Callicles was when he criticizes adults who engage in philosophy. A young person can learn a lot through philosophy, but an older person should continue to educate themselves in important things and not just philosophy. Among other things, he recommended this view to Socrates, whom he thus advised to give up philosophy, though he liked it very much.
Callicles' views were also to influence Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche. For Nietzsche, his doctrine of the superman also calls for some special individual to assert his power over all other weak and bad ones.