The Greece Runestones comprise about 30 runestones containing
information related to voyages made by Norsemen to "Greece", which
refers to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age
and until c. 1100. The stones were engraved in the Old Norse language
with Scandinavian runes, and all of them are found in modern-day
Sweden, the majority of which reside in Uppland (18 runestones) and
Södermanland (7 runestones). Most of the stones were carved in memory
of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home, but a few
stones mention men who returned with wealth. The only group of
runestones that refer to expeditions abroad that are comparable in
number are those that mention expeditions to England, the England
Runestones. The stones vary in size from the small whetstone from
Timans, to the boulder in Ed which is 18 m (59 ft) in circumference.
Most of them are adorned with various runestone styles that were in use
during the 11th century, and especially styles that were part of the
Ringerike style (eight or nine stones) and the Urnes style (eight
stones). The runestones have been continuously identified by scholars
beginning with Johannes Bureus in the late 16th century, with many
stones discovered during a national search for historic monuments in
the late 17th century. Several stones were also documented by Richard
Dybeck in the 19th century. The last stone to be found was in Nolinge,
near Stockholm, in 1952.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece_Runestones>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that captive Africans who seized control
of La Amistad, the trans-Atlantic slave-trading ship carrying them, had
been taken into slavery illegally.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_%281841%29>
1842:
Nabucco, an opera by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi
(pictured), premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabucco>
1862:
American Civil War: In the world's first major battle between two
powered ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought
to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads>
1945:
World War II: A bomb raid on Tokyo by American B-29 heavy bombers
started a firestorm, killing over 100,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II>
1959:
Barbie, the world's best-selling doll, debuted at the American
International Toy Fair in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bougainvillea (n):
Any of several South American flowering shrubs or lianas, of the genus
Bougainvillea, having three showy, colorful bracts attached below each
group of three inconspicuous flowers
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bougainvillea>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his
arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets,
the better he writes.
--Mickey Spillane
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mickey_Spillane>