The Pyramid of Unas is a smooth-sided pyramid built in the 24th century
BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Unas, the ninth and final king of the Fifth
Dynasty. Although Unas reigned for around 30 to 33 years, his pyramid is
the smallest from the Old Kingdom. It was built between the complexes of
Sekhemket and Djoser in North Saqqara. The pyramid's underground
chambers remained unexplored until the Egyptologist Gaston Maspero
gained entry in 1881. Inside, Pyramid Texts containing 283 spells for
the king's afterlife were found incised into the walls of the
subterranean chambers; they constitute the oldest and best-preserved
corpus of religious writing from the Old Kingdom. Unas's pyramid is the
oldest one in which these funerary texts have been found. Unlike the
later Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead, the Pyramid Texts were reserved
for pharaohs and were not illustrated. Their function was to guide the
ruler into eternal life. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Unas>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was
wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville, leading
to his death by pneumonia eight days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville>
1953:
Hussein bin Talal was enthroned as King of Jordan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan>
1999:
Mireya Moscoso became the first woman to be elected President
of Panama.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mireya_Moscoso>
2014:
Two mudslides in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, killed at
least 350 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Badakhshan_mudslides>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
turn turtle:
1. (intransitive) Especially of a boat or ship, or some other vehicle:
to turn upside down.
2. (intransitive, figuratively) To fail; to go belly up.
3. (intransitive, surfing) To roll upside down with one's surfboard
(usually a longboard) to allow a wave, especially a wave that has
already broken, to pass over.
4. (intransitive, historical) To capture a turtle by turning it on to
its back.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turn_turtle>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is but one Temple in the World; and that is the Body of
Man. Nothing is holier than this high form. Bending before men is a
reverence done to this Revelation in the Flesh. We touch Heaven, when we
lay our hand on a human body.
--Novalis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Novalis>