September 28 in History 48 BC – Pompey is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy upon arriving in Egypt. 235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome. 351 – Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius. 365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions…
“Mordad 5th”—day 129th in the Iranian official calendar (236 days – 237 days in leap years – till the end of the year) July 26 in History 657 – First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led…
June 24 in History 1312 BC – Mursili II launches a campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa. 217 BC – The Romans, led by Gaius Flaminius, are ambushed and defeated by Hannibal at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. 109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, 40 kilometres…
This day marks the approximate midpoint of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the March equinox). May 5 in History 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 – Rebel barons renounce…
April 22 in History 238 – Year of the Six Emperors: The Roman Senate outlaws emperor Maximinus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne. 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil. 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. 1529 –…
April 20 in History 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople. 1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage…
April 14 in History 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar’s assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Aulus Hirtius. AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of…
March 22 in History 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. 238 – Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors. 871 – Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton. 1508 – Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator…
March 16 in History 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang. 1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford’s Tower, York. 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burned to death after the Fall of Montségur. 1322 – The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place…
February 13 in History 951 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou. 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognizing John as ruler of Rome. 1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on…