The royal necropolis of Byblos is a group of nine Bronze Age underground shaft and chamber tombs housing the sarcophagi of several kings of the city. The site of Byblos (ruins pictured) was rediscovered in the late 19th century by French scholar Ernest Renan near modern Jbeil, Lebanon. Byblos traded with Egypt during the Bronze Age; this influence was shown in excavated reliefs bearing Egyptian hieroglyphs. In 1922, heavy rains triggered a landslide exposing an underground tomb containing a massive stone sarcophagus. The grave was explored by archaeologist Charles Virolleaud and Egyptologist Pierre Montet, who unearthed eight more tombs. The earliest tombs dated back to the 19th century BC; some were unspoiled, and contained royal gifts from pharaohs Amenemhat III and Amenemhat IV. The more recent graves, some from the Late Bronze Age, were robbed in antiquity. Seven stone sarcophagi were discovered, all undecorated except the Ahiram sarcophagus, famed for its Phoenician inscription.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_necropolis_of_Byblos
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1844:
From measurements of its motion, German astronomer Friedrich
Bessel deduced that Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, had an unseen companion (both pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius
1864:
José Antônio Saraiva announced that the Brazilian military would exact reprisals after Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refused Brazil's demands, beginning the Uruguayan War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_War
1897:
German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovered an improved method of synthesizing aspirin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aspirin
2007:
Amid large protests against the impending demolition of the Queen's Pier, in Hong Kong, the High Court dismissed legal attempts to preserve the landmark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Pier
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
abstruse: 1. Difficult to comprehend or understand; obscure. 2. (obsolete) Concealed or hidden; secret. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abstruse
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Novelists talk about their characters starting to do things they didn’t expect them to. Well, I imagine every writer of biography or history, as well as fiction, has the experience of suddenly seeing a few pieces of the puzzle fit together. The chances of finding a new piece are fairly remote — though I’ve never written a book where I didn’t find something new — but it’s more likely you see something that’s been around a long time that others haven’t seen. Sometimes it derives from your own nature, your own interests. More often, it’s just that nobody bothered to look closely enough. --David McCullough https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_McCullough