Stamata Revithi was a Greek woman who ran the 40-kilometre marathon
during the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Games excluded women from
competition, but Revithi insisted that she be allowed to run. Revithi
ran one day after the men had completed the official race, and although
she finished the marathon in approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes and
found witnesses to sign their names and verify the running time, she was
not allowed to enter the Panathinaiko Stadium at the end of the race.
She intended to present her documentation to the Hellenic Olympic
Committee in the hopes that they would recognize her achievement, but it
is not known whether or not she did so. No known record survives of
Revithi's life after her run. According to contemporary sources, a
second woman, Melpomene, also ran the 1896 marathon race. There is
debate among Olympic historians as to whether or not Revithi and
Melpomene are the same person.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamata_Revithi>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
641 or 642:
King Penda of Mercia defeated and killed King Oswald of
Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield, traditionally believed to have
been fought in Oswestry, Shropshire, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maserfield>
1888:
Bertha Benz made the first long-distance automobile trip, going
106 km (66 mi) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, in a Benz Patent-
Motorwagen (pictured), returning the next day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz>
1916:
First World War: The British Empire's Sinai and Palestine
campaign began with a victory in the Battle of Romani.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Romani>
1949:
A magnitude 6.8 ML earthquake struck near Ambato, Ecuador,
killing 5,050 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Ambato_earthquake>
1962:
Actress and model Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in
Brentwood, Los Angeles, an event that has become the center of one of
the most debated conspiracy theories.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
dog days:
1. The days between early July and early September when Sirius (the Dog
Star) rises and sets with the Sun.
2. Hot, lazy days
3. A period of inactivity, laziness, or stagnation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog_days>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am speaking of the life of a man who knows that the world is not given
by his fathers, but borrowed from his children; who has undertaken to
cherish it and do it no damage, not because he is duty-bound, but
because he loves the world and loves his children; whose work serves the
earth he lives on and from and with, and is therefore pleasurable and
meaningful and unending; whose rewards are not deferred until
"retirement," but arrive daily and seasonally out of the details of the
life of their place; whose goal is the continuance of the life of the
world, which for a while animates and contains them, and which they know
they can never compass with their understanding or desire.
--Wendell Berry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry>
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