Philitas of Cos (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 340 – c. 285 BC) was
a
scholar and poet during the early Hellenistic period of ancient Greece.
A Greek associated with Alexandria, he flourished in the second half of
the 4th century BC and was appointed tutor to the heir to the throne of
Ptolemaic Egypt. He was thin and frail; Athenaeus later caricatured him
as an academic so consumed by his studies that he wasted away and died.
Philitas was the first major writer who was both a scholar and a poet.
His reputation continued for centuries, based on both his pioneering
study of words and his verse in elegiac meter. His vocabulary
Disorderly Words described the meanings of rare literary words,
including those used by Homer. His poetry, notably his elegiac poem
Demeter, was highly respected by later ancient poets. However, almost
all his work has since been lost.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philitas_of_Cos>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy
unsuccessfully attempted to capture the HMS Glasgow near Block Island.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Block_Island>
1793:
French Revolution: The Committee of Public Safety was established, and
would become the de facto executive government during the forthcoming
Reign of Terror.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_Public_Safety>
1886:
Vancouver, one of British Columbia's youngest cities, was incorporated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver>
1941:
World War II: The Axis Powers began both Operation Marita and Directive
n. 25, invading Greece and Yugoslavia, respectively.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Greece>
2009:
A 6.3 Mw earthquake struck the region of Abruzzo in central Italy ,
killing 308 people in injuring more than 1,500 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_L%27Aquila_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
spallation (n):
1. Fragmentation due to stress or impact.
2. (physics) A nuclear reaction in which a nucleus fragments into many
nucleons
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spallation>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant
land.
Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty
ages
Of eternity.
--Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Abigail_Fletcher_Carney>
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