Neferirkare Kakai was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the third king of the Fifth Dynasty. The eldest son of the previous pharaoh, Sahure, he reigned for eight to eleven years, sometime in the early-to-mid 25th century BCE. His contemporaries viewed him as a kind and benevolent ruler, willing to intervene on behalf of his courtiers. During his rule the number of administration and priesthood officials increased, and they used their expanded wealth to build sophisticated mastabas (tombs) where they recorded their biographies for the first time. He was the last pharaoh to significantly modify the royal naming conventions, separating the throne name from the birth name, in front of which he added the "Son of Ra" epithet. In the royal necropolis of Abusir he started a pyramid for himself conceived as a step pyramid, a form not seen since the Third Dynasty about 120 years earlier. A modified plan represented the monument as a true pyramid, the largest in Abusir, but this pyramid was never completed.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neferirkare_Kakai
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
43 BC:
During the Battle of Mutina, forces led by Mark Antony killed Decimus Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's assassins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mutina
1509:
Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England
1926:
Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four of the Twelve Imams of Shia Islam, was demolished by Wahhabis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_of_al-Baqi
1970:
In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, the Principality of Hutt River proclaimed its secession from Western Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River
2010:
Ukraine and Russia signed the Kharkiv Pact to extend the Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_Pact
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
gens: 1. (Ancient Rome, historical) A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a collection of people related through a common ancestor by birth, marriage or adoption, possibly over many generations, and sharing the same nomen gentilicium. 2. (anthropology) A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by having the same descent, usually along the male line. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gens
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
A "war against terrorism" is an impracticable conception if it means fighting terrorism with terrorism. The feelings on both sides are not that they are taking part in some evil and criminal act but risking their lives heroically for what they consider to be a just cause. --John Mortimer https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Mortimer