Unas was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the
Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He succeeded Djedkare
Isesi, who might have been his father, and reigned for 15 to 30 years in
the mid 24th century BC. During this time Egypt maintained trade
relations with the Levantine coast and Nubia, and may have launched a
military campaign in southern Canaan. A period of declining royal power
and decentralization of administrative functions continued under him,
ultimately contributing to the collapse of the Old Kingdom some 200
years later. Unas built a pyramid in Saqqara, the smallest of the royal
pyramids completed during the Old Kingdom. The accompanying mortuary
complex with its high and valley temples linked by a 750 m (2,460 ft)
causeway was lavishly decorated with painted reliefs, whose quality and
variety surpass the usual royal iconography. His burial chambers were
the first with the Pyramid Texts carved and painted on the walls, meant
to help the king reach the afterlife by identifying him with Ra and
Osiris.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unas>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1687:
The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac
Newton was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of
universal gravitation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica>
1865:
Royal Assent was given to an Act of Parliament allowing the
Talyllyn Railway to carry passengers by steam haulage – the first
narrow gauge railway in Britain to do so from the start.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talyllyn_Railway>
1946:
Named after Bikini Atoll, the site of the nuclear weapons test
Operation Crossroads in the Marshall Islands, the modern bikini was
introduced at a fashion show in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini>
1980:
Swedish tennis player Björn Borg won his fifth Wimbledon final
and became the first male player to win the championships five times in
a row.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Borg>
2009:
A series of violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, the capital
city of Xinjiang in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gruntled:
(humorous) Satisfied.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruntled>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful
with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which
always become ugly with time.
--Jean Cocteau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau>