David (born 630) was one of three co-emperors of the Byzantine Empire for a few months in late 641. David was the son of Emperor Heraclius and his wife and niece Empress Martina. His name was an attempt to link the family with the Biblical David. After the death of Heraclius in February 641 a power struggle ensued. In a compromise, 10-year-old David was raised to co-emperor, alongside his brother Heraclonas and their nephew Constans II. At the time the Byzantine state faced the ongoing Muslim conquest of Egypt and continuing religious strife over monothelitism and other Christological doctrines. All three emperors were children and the Empress Dowager Martina acted as regent. Martina was deeply unpopular due to her incestuous relationship with Heraclius and her unconventional habits. Her regime was deposed, probably by January 642. She and her sons were exiled to Rhodes and, in an early example of Byzantine political mutilation, Martina's tongue was cut out and her sons' noses were cut off.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28son_of_Heraclius%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1678:

Trunajaya rebellion: After a series of difficult marches, allied Mataram and Dutch troops successfully assaulted the rebel stronghold of Kediri in eastern Java. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1678_Kediri_campaign

1936:

Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing that, if the Soviet Union attacked one of them, they would consult each other on what measures to take to "safeguard their common interests". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Comintern_Pact

1975:

Upon Suriname's independence from the Netherlands, Johan Ferrier became its first president. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Ferrier

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

disanthropy: (literary criticism) A misanthropic desire for a world without human life, expressed in literature. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disanthropy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most of all, we need to preserve the absolute unpredictability and total improbability of our connected minds. That way we can keep open all the options, as we have in the past.   --Lewis Thomas https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Thomas