mknutson
April 21st, 2011, 05:56 AM
When in ROME
April 21: General Interest
753 : Rome founded
According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome's founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.
According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa. Alba Longa was a mythical city located in the Alban Hills southeast of what would become Rome. Before the birth of the twins, Numitor was deposed by his younger brother Amulius, who forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin so that she would not give birth to rival claimants to his title. However, Rhea was impregnated by the war god Mars and gave birth to Romulus and Remus. Amulius ordered the infants drowned in the Tiber, but they survived and washed ashore at the foot of the Palatine hill, where they were suckled by a she-wolf until they were found by the shepherd Faustulus.
Reared by Faustulus and his wife, the twins later became leaders of a band of young shepherd warriors. After learning their true identity, they attacked Alba Longa, killed the wicked Amulius, and restored their grandfather to the throne. The twins then decided to found a town on the site where they had been saved as infants. They soon became involved in a petty quarrel, however, and Remus was slain by his brother. Romulus then became ruler of the settlement, which was named "Rome" after him.
To populate his town, Romulus offered asylum to fugitives and exiles. Rome lacked women, however, so Romulus invited the neighboring Sabines to a festival and abducted their women. A war then ensued, but the Sabine women intervened to prevent the Sabine men from seizing Rome. A peace treaty was drawn up, and the communities merged under the joint rule of Romulus and the Sabine king, Titus Tatius. Tatius' early death, perhaps perpetrated by Romulus, left the Roman as the sole king again. After a long and successful rule, Romulus died under obscure circumstances. Many Romans believed he was changed into a god and worshipped him as the deity Quirinus. After Romulus, there were six more kings of Rome, the last three believed to be Etruscans. Around 509 B.C., the Roman republic was established.
Another Roman foundation legend, which has its origins in ancient Greece, tells of how the mythical Trojan Aeneas founded Lavinium and started a dynasty that would lead to the birth of Romulus and Remus several centuries later. In the Iliad, an epic Greek poem probably composed by Homer in the eighth century B.C., Aeneas was the only major Trojan hero to survive the Greek destruction of Troy. A passage told of how he and his descendants would rule the Trojans, but since there was no record of any such dynasty in Troy, Greek scholars proposed that Aeneas and his followers relocated.
In the fifth century B.C., a few Greek historians speculated that Aeneas settled at Rome, which was then still a small city-state. In the fourth century B.C., Rome began to expand within the Italian peninsula, and Romans, coming into greater contact with the Greeks, embraced the suggestion that Aeneas had a role in the foundation of their great city. In the first century B.C., the Roman poet Virgil developed the Aeneas myth in his epic poem the Aeneid, which told of Aeneas' journey to Rome. Augustus, the first Roman emperor and emperor during Virgil's time, and Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and predecessor as Roman ruler, were said to be descended from Aeneas.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Revolution
1777 : British attack Danbury, Connecticut
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-attack-danbury-connecticut (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e7cb2e5edc5d1356e04805446c15f39 84df2b0d86c5e647f3)
Automotive
1967 : GM celebrates 100 millionth U.S.-made car
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gm-celebrates-100-millionth-us-made-car (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e507b45f573cce7d7d5227be2134f2b 000b77bbf4987883b7)
Civil War
1863 : Steight's Raid begins
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/steights-raid-begins (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e6355f6bfbb339c4659aa8b4c218ba0 3ce3c6d7f027a932cc)
Cold War
1953 : Roy Cohn and David Schine return to U.S.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roy-cohn-and-david-schine-return-to-us (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e47c87309cfab1a6a734b473486028b 45960c9bd497a64bd4)
Crime
1992 : Executions resume in California
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/executions-resume-in-california (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41edd215dcee2cca2fb750638a905ebdc cfbb64936b206f0aa3)
Disaster
1930 : Prisoners left to burn in Ohio fire
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prisoners-left-to-burn-in-ohio-fire (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41ee387b2f717e4475b331e5185181f19 3d9e414304150ba876)
General Interest
1836 : The Battle of San Jacinto
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-san-jacinto (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41ec70e2959d7bde7e5e0863ac5f2a222 f322b2943115e19613)
1918 : Red Baron killed in action
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-baron-killed-in-action (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e95aa3fb797318ccc7a96e8ef9f8aed 698cff4ecbde836376)
1989 : Chinese students begin protests at Tiananmen Square
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-students-begin-protests-at-tiananmen-square (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41efa6e49482f75778c4dd667c9eb741f d726d851b68d8291f4)
Hollywood
1895 : First movie projector demonstrated in United States
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-movie-projector-demonstrated-in-united-states (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e0c84d0e8c3ec32937ac53ffdca8c96 2e6423c0ca17e4ceec)
Literary
1816 : Charlotte Bronte born
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/charlotte-bronte-born (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e10e80b2858b02c82ca124b9d2d069d a3b535c75f20b724f9)
Music
1973 : "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" tops the U.S. pop charts and creates a cultural phenomenon
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/quottie-a-yellow-ribbon-round-the-old-oak-treequot-tops-the-us-pop-charts-and-creates-a-cultural-phenomenon (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e24b6150f0a9cbb54732923b9a66c2c ed1632e3e2006d23b3)
Old West
1838 : Naturalist John Muir is born
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/naturalist-john-muir-is-born (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e1000fa6a5dc4093cba1ed25d425b89 2e17fd37964fe23afd)
Presidential
1865 : Lincoln's funeral train leaves D.C.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincolns-funeral-train-leaves-dc (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e5deadbbf93e7925ac51e6b9a5a2154 dd1fe94dbfd231631f)
Sports
1980 : Rosie Ruiz fakes Boston Marathon win
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosie-ruiz-fakes-boston-marathon-win (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41ee6d1e25dfee7c3556b8bdddd7abeb9 3514b3a17461673241)
Vietnam War
1965 : Intelligence reveals North Vietnamese units in South Vietnam
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/intelligence-reveals-north-vietnamese-units-in-south-vietnam (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41eb05882ae0d1aea33e729b7376ac5f7 5b6bee36867d1494ae)
1975 : Thieu flees Saigon as Xuan Loc falls
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thieu-flees-saigon-as-xuan-loc-falls (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e271eaf36fd925ed5f774523fe4a45f 1ccc7a3d14189f2fc9)
World War I
1918 : Red Baron killed in action
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-baron-killed (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e60fbef1669ce2950f084f1165ba041 3399b4df8235456c80)
World War II
1945 : Red Army overruns German High Command as it approaches the capital
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-army-overruns-german-high-command-as-it-approaches-the-capital (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e8f850c6de98a40697028c4961289df 9ba792dc23a224a114)
April 21: General Interest
753 : Rome founded
According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome's founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.
According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa. Alba Longa was a mythical city located in the Alban Hills southeast of what would become Rome. Before the birth of the twins, Numitor was deposed by his younger brother Amulius, who forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin so that she would not give birth to rival claimants to his title. However, Rhea was impregnated by the war god Mars and gave birth to Romulus and Remus. Amulius ordered the infants drowned in the Tiber, but they survived and washed ashore at the foot of the Palatine hill, where they were suckled by a she-wolf until they were found by the shepherd Faustulus.
Reared by Faustulus and his wife, the twins later became leaders of a band of young shepherd warriors. After learning their true identity, they attacked Alba Longa, killed the wicked Amulius, and restored their grandfather to the throne. The twins then decided to found a town on the site where they had been saved as infants. They soon became involved in a petty quarrel, however, and Remus was slain by his brother. Romulus then became ruler of the settlement, which was named "Rome" after him.
To populate his town, Romulus offered asylum to fugitives and exiles. Rome lacked women, however, so Romulus invited the neighboring Sabines to a festival and abducted their women. A war then ensued, but the Sabine women intervened to prevent the Sabine men from seizing Rome. A peace treaty was drawn up, and the communities merged under the joint rule of Romulus and the Sabine king, Titus Tatius. Tatius' early death, perhaps perpetrated by Romulus, left the Roman as the sole king again. After a long and successful rule, Romulus died under obscure circumstances. Many Romans believed he was changed into a god and worshipped him as the deity Quirinus. After Romulus, there were six more kings of Rome, the last three believed to be Etruscans. Around 509 B.C., the Roman republic was established.
Another Roman foundation legend, which has its origins in ancient Greece, tells of how the mythical Trojan Aeneas founded Lavinium and started a dynasty that would lead to the birth of Romulus and Remus several centuries later. In the Iliad, an epic Greek poem probably composed by Homer in the eighth century B.C., Aeneas was the only major Trojan hero to survive the Greek destruction of Troy. A passage told of how he and his descendants would rule the Trojans, but since there was no record of any such dynasty in Troy, Greek scholars proposed that Aeneas and his followers relocated.
In the fifth century B.C., a few Greek historians speculated that Aeneas settled at Rome, which was then still a small city-state. In the fourth century B.C., Rome began to expand within the Italian peninsula, and Romans, coming into greater contact with the Greeks, embraced the suggestion that Aeneas had a role in the foundation of their great city. In the first century B.C., the Roman poet Virgil developed the Aeneas myth in his epic poem the Aeneid, which told of Aeneas' journey to Rome. Augustus, the first Roman emperor and emperor during Virgil's time, and Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and predecessor as Roman ruler, were said to be descended from Aeneas.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Revolution
1777 : British attack Danbury, Connecticut
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-attack-danbury-connecticut (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e7cb2e5edc5d1356e04805446c15f39 84df2b0d86c5e647f3)
Automotive
1967 : GM celebrates 100 millionth U.S.-made car
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gm-celebrates-100-millionth-us-made-car (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e507b45f573cce7d7d5227be2134f2b 000b77bbf4987883b7)
Civil War
1863 : Steight's Raid begins
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/steights-raid-begins (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e6355f6bfbb339c4659aa8b4c218ba0 3ce3c6d7f027a932cc)
Cold War
1953 : Roy Cohn and David Schine return to U.S.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roy-cohn-and-david-schine-return-to-us (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e47c87309cfab1a6a734b473486028b 45960c9bd497a64bd4)
Crime
1992 : Executions resume in California
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/executions-resume-in-california (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41edd215dcee2cca2fb750638a905ebdc cfbb64936b206f0aa3)
Disaster
1930 : Prisoners left to burn in Ohio fire
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prisoners-left-to-burn-in-ohio-fire (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41ee387b2f717e4475b331e5185181f19 3d9e414304150ba876)
General Interest
1836 : The Battle of San Jacinto
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-san-jacinto (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41ec70e2959d7bde7e5e0863ac5f2a222 f322b2943115e19613)
1918 : Red Baron killed in action
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-baron-killed-in-action (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e95aa3fb797318ccc7a96e8ef9f8aed 698cff4ecbde836376)
1989 : Chinese students begin protests at Tiananmen Square
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-students-begin-protests-at-tiananmen-square (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41efa6e49482f75778c4dd667c9eb741f d726d851b68d8291f4)
Hollywood
1895 : First movie projector demonstrated in United States
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-movie-projector-demonstrated-in-united-states (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e0c84d0e8c3ec32937ac53ffdca8c96 2e6423c0ca17e4ceec)
Literary
1816 : Charlotte Bronte born
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/charlotte-bronte-born (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e10e80b2858b02c82ca124b9d2d069d a3b535c75f20b724f9)
Music
1973 : "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" tops the U.S. pop charts and creates a cultural phenomenon
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/quottie-a-yellow-ribbon-round-the-old-oak-treequot-tops-the-us-pop-charts-and-creates-a-cultural-phenomenon (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e24b6150f0a9cbb54732923b9a66c2c ed1632e3e2006d23b3)
Old West
1838 : Naturalist John Muir is born
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/naturalist-john-muir-is-born (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e1000fa6a5dc4093cba1ed25d425b89 2e17fd37964fe23afd)
Presidential
1865 : Lincoln's funeral train leaves D.C.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincolns-funeral-train-leaves-dc (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e5deadbbf93e7925ac51e6b9a5a2154 dd1fe94dbfd231631f)
Sports
1980 : Rosie Ruiz fakes Boston Marathon win
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosie-ruiz-fakes-boston-marathon-win (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41ee6d1e25dfee7c3556b8bdddd7abeb9 3514b3a17461673241)
Vietnam War
1965 : Intelligence reveals North Vietnamese units in South Vietnam
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/intelligence-reveals-north-vietnamese-units-in-south-vietnam (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41eb05882ae0d1aea33e729b7376ac5f7 5b6bee36867d1494ae)
1975 : Thieu flees Saigon as Xuan Loc falls
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thieu-flees-saigon-as-xuan-loc-falls (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e271eaf36fd925ed5f774523fe4a45f 1ccc7a3d14189f2fc9)
World War I
1918 : Red Baron killed in action
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-baron-killed (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e60fbef1669ce2950f084f1165ba041 3399b4df8235456c80)
World War II
1945 : Red Army overruns German High Command as it approaches the capital
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-army-overruns-german-high-command-as-it-approaches-the-capital (http://click.email-updates.history.com/?qs=7e1e6823e2f5b41e8f850c6de98a40697028c4961289df 9ba792dc23a224a114)