The mosaics of Delos are a significant body of ancient Greek mosaic art.
Most of the surviving mosaics from Delos, Greece, an island in the
Cyclades, date to the last half of the 2nd century BC and early 1st
century BC, during the Hellenistic period and beginning of the Roman
period. About half of all surviving tessellated mosaics from
Hellenistic Greece come from Delos. The paved walkways of Delos range
from simple pebble or chip-pavement constructions to elaborate mosaic
floors composed of tesserae. Most motifs contain simple geometric
patterns, while a handful utilize the opus tessellatum and opus
vermiculatum techniques to create lucid, naturalistic, and richly
colored scenes and figures. Mosaics have been found in places of
worship, public buildings, and private homes. They share characteristics
with those in other parts of the Greek world, such as Macedonian mosaics
in Pella. They often employ a black-background technique as seen in the
red-figure pottery of the Classical period..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greece>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
Charles XIV John (portrait shown) succeeded to the thrones of
Sweden and Norway as the first monarch of the House of Bernadotte.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_XIV_John_of_Sweden>
1923:
Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford made 429 runs to break the
world record for the highest first-class score.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ponsford>
1958:
A U.S. Mark 15 nuclear bomb disappeared off the shores of Tybee
Island, Georgia, after it was jettisoned during a practice exercise when
the bomber carrying it collided in midair with a fighter plane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision>
2000:
Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close,
Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in Grozny's
Novye Aldi suburb.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novye_Aldi_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
who would have thunk it:
(colloquial, sometimes sarcastic) A rhetorical question used to express
incredulity: who would have guessed it?; who would have thought that
would happen?
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/who_would_have_thunk_it>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am a lawyer. I think that one of the most fundamental
responsibilities, not only of every citizen, but particularly of
lawyers, is to give testimony in a court of law, to give it honestly and
willingly, and it will be a very unhappy day for Anglo-Saxon justice
when a man, even a man in public life, is too timid to state what he
knows and what he has heard about a defendant in a criminal trial for
fear that defendant might be convicted. That would to me be the ultimate
timidity.
--Adlai Stevenson II
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson_II>
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