Marwan I (c. 625 – 685) was the fourth Umayyad caliph, ruling for less than a year in 684–685. He was the secretary of his cousin Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656). During the rebel siege of Uthman's house, Marwan was wounded and the caliph was slain. Marwan considered Talha ibn Ubayd Allah, a companion of the prophet Muhammad, culpable in the death of Uthman, and killed him in the Battle of the Camel in 656. Marwan later served as governor of Medina under his distant kinsman Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), founder of the Umayyad Caliphate. After the reigns of Yazid I (r. 680–683) and Mu'awiya II (r. 683–684), the tribal nobility of Syria, led by Ibn Bahdal of the Banu Kalb, elected Marwan caliph. He reasserted Umayyad rule over Egypt, Palestine and northern Syria, and dispatched an expedition to reconquer Iraq, but died while it was underway. His son Abd al-Malik was his designated successor, and the Umayyads continued to rule until 750.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwan_I

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1795:

Stanisław II Augustus, the last king of Poland, was forced to abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski

1940:

The de Havilland Mosquito (examples pictured), one of the most successful military aircraft in the Second World War, made its first flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito

1960:

Three of the four Mirabal sisters, who opposed the dictatorship of military strongman Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, were beaten and strangled to death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters

1984:

Band Aid, a supergroup consisting of more than 30 leading British and Irish pop musicians, recorded the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_They_Know_It%27s_Christmas%3F

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

vinous: 1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of wine. 2. Involving the use of wine. 3. Having the colour of red wine; vinaceous. 4. Tending to drink wine excessively. 5. Affected by the drinking of wine. 6. Induced by the drinking of wine. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vinous

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is not a simple life to be a single cell, although I have no right to say so, having been a single cell so long ago myself that I have no memory at all of that stage in my life.   --Lewis Thomas https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Thomas