Ai-Khanoum is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar
Province, Afghanistan. It was probably established in the early 3rd
century BC by a monarch of the Seleucid Empire at the confluence of the
Oxus and Kokcha rivers, controlling access to valuable mines and
strategic choke points. Ai-Khanoum, which became a major centre of the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom after it seceded under the Diodotid dynasty, was
redesigned by King Eucratides I to be an imperial capital, with a huge
palace, religious structures, and massive defences. Nevertheless, it was
sacked at the end of his reign (c. 145 BC) by the nomadic Saka and
Yuezhi peoples, and the city was soon abandoned. Rediscovered two
millennia later by the King of Afghanistan in 1961, Ai-Khanoum was
excavated by a team of French archaeologists until the Saur Revolution
in 1978. During the subsequent conflicts in Afghanistan, the site was
extensively looted.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai-Khanoum>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
World War II: Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, was struck
by German bombing during the Cardiff Blitz.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llandaff_Cathedral>
1944:
World War II: United States and Australian forces successfully
landed in Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_at_Saidor>
1963:
Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory at the
Battle of Ap Bac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ap_Bac>
1967:
Former actor Ronald Reagan began his career in government when
he was sworn in as the 33rd governor of California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
neither fish nor fowl:
(idiomatic) Not easily categorized; not rightly belonging or fitting
well in a given group or situation; also, not having the advantages of
the various options.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/neither_fish_nor_fowl>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I can have respect and admiration for famous people, but I have
never had a sense of fear or awe.
--Barbara Walters
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Walters>
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