Massive stars in the Tarantula Nebula: A Rosetta Stone for Extragalactic
  Supergiant HII Regions
  A review of the properties of the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus) in the Large
Magellanic Cloud is presented, primarily from the perspective of its massive
star content. The proximity of the Tarantula and its accessibility to X-ray
through radio observations permit it to serve as a Rosetta Stone amongst
extragalactic supergiant HII regions since one can consider both its integrated
characteristics and the individual properties of individual massive stars.
Recent surveys of its high mass stellar content, notably the VLT FLAMES
Tarantula Survey (VFTS), are reviewed, together with VLT/MUSE observations of
the central ionizing region NGC 2070 and HST/STIS spectroscopy of the young
dense cluster R136, provide a near complete Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of the
region, and cumulative ionizing output. Several high mass binaries are
highlighted, some of which have been identified from a recent X-ray survey.
Brief comparisons with the stellar content of giant HII regions in the Milky
Way (NGC 3372) and Small Magellanic Cloud (NGC 346) are also made, together
with Green Pea galaxies and star forming knots in high-z galaxies. Finally, the
prospect of studying massive stars in metal poor galaxies is evaluated.
