The Ta-Yuan were a people of Ferghana in Central Asia, described in the Chinese Chronicles and in the Chinese Former Han History, following the travels of Zhang Qian in 130 BCE, and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia thereafter. These Chinese accounts describe the Ta-Yuan as urbanized dwellers with Indo-European features, living in walled cities and having "customs identical to those of the Greco-Bactrians", a Hellenistic kingdom that was ruling Bactria at that time in today's northern Afghanistan. The Ta-Yuan are also described as manufacturers and great lovers of wine. The Ta-Yuan were probably the descendants of the Greek colonies that were established by Alexander the Great in Ferghana in 329 BCE, and prospered within the Hellenistic realm of the Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians, until they were isolated by the migrations of the Yueh-Chih around 160 BCE. It has also been suggested that the name "Yuan" was simply a transliteration of the words "Yona", or "Yavana", used throughout antiquity in Asia to designate Greeks ("Ionians"), so that Ta-Yuan (lit. "Great Yuan") would mean "Great Ionians".

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1830: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey)

1963: Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn-in as the 36th President of the United States aboard Air Force One after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination)

1967: United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 was adopted unanimously in the aftermath of the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Security_Council_Resolution_242)

1975: Juan Carlos was declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain)

1986: Mike Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick to claim the heavyweight boxing championship of the World Boxing Council, and became the youngest boxing champion of the world. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tyson)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"O may I join the choir invisible of those immortal dead who live again in minds made better by their presence; live in pulses stirred to generosity, in deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn for miserable aims that end with self, in thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, and with their mild persistence urge men's search to vaster issues." -- George Eliot (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot)