Odaenathus (c. 220 – 267) was the founder of the Palmyrene Kingdom. Born into an aristocratic family of Palmyra, Syria, he became the lord of the city in the 240s. By 258, he was a consularis, a position of high status in the Roman Empire. In 260 the Roman emperor Valerian was captured by the Sassanian emperor Shapur I, leaving the eastern Roman provinces at the mercy of the Persians. Odaenathus fought the Persians, reclaiming the entirety of the Roman lands they occupied. By 263, following a successful campaign in which he besieged their capital Ctesiphon, Odaenathus took the title traditionally held by Persian emperors, King of Kings, and gained effective control of the Levant, Roman Mesopotamia and Anatolia's eastern region. He was assassinated in 267 during or immediately after a campaign in Anatolia. He was succeeded by his son Vaballathus under the regency of his widow Zenobia, who used the power base established by Odaenathus to forge the Palmyrene Empire in 270.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1941:

World War II: The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran destroyed each other in the Indian Ocean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_between_HMAS_Sydney_and_German_auxiliary_cruiser_Kormoran

1969:

Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian footballer Pelé scored his thousandth goal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9

1985:

Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. president Ronald Reagan held the first of five summits between them in Geneva. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Summit_%281985%29

2013:

A double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 23 people and injured 160 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Iranian_embassy_bombing

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ordure: 1. Dung, excrement. 2. (by extension) Dirt, filth. 3. (by extension) Something regarded as contaminating or perverting the morals; obscene material. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ordure

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

You can, after all, reduce the reasons for watching TV to but two: to be lulled, and to be stimulated. Some people do one sometimes, the other sometimes. Some people do all of one or all of the other.   --Dick Cavett https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dick_Cavett