Tiberius III (died c. 706) was Byzantine emperor from 698 to 705. He was a mid-level commander who served in the Cibyrrhaeot Theme. In 696, he was part of an army sent by Emperor Leontius to retake Carthage from the Umayyads. After seizing the city, the army was pushed back by Arab reinforcements and retreated to Crete. Some officers, fearing Leontius, killed their commander and declared Tiberius emperor. Tiberius gathered a fleet, sailed for Constantinople, and deposed Leontius. He did not attempt to retake Byzantine Africa from the Umayyads, but campaigned against them along the eastern border. In 705, former emperor Justinian II, previously deposed by Leontius, led an army of Slavs and Bulgars from the First Bulgarian Empire to Constantinople, and deposed Tiberius. Tiberius fled to Bithynia, but was captured a few months later and beheaded between August 705 and February 706. His body was initially thrown into the sea, but was later recovered and buried in a church on the island of Prote.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1745:

War of the Austrian Succession: French victory at the Battle of Melle enabled their subsequent capture of Ghent in the Dutch Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Melle

1868:

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, including the Citizenship Clause and the Equal Protection Clause, was ratified by the minimum required twenty-eight states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

1981:

Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong (cabinet pictured), which featured the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video-game history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario

2008:

Under the belief that Israel and the United States were planning to attack its nuclear program, Iran conducted the Great Prophet III missile test and war games exercise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Prophet_III

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

hurtle: 1. (transitive, archaic) 2. To propel or throw (something) hard or violently; to fling, to hurl. 3. To cause (someone or something) to collide with or hit another person or thing; or (two people or things) to collide with or hit each other. 4. (figuratively) To attack or criticize (someone) verbally or in writing. 5. (intransitive) 6. To move rapidly, violently, or without control, especially in a noisy manner. 7. (archaic) 8. Of a person or thing: to collide with or hit another person or thing, especially with force or violence; also, of two people or things: to collide together; to clash. 9. To make a sound of things clashing or colliding together; to clatter, to rattle; hence, to move with such a sound. 10. (figuratively) Of two people, etc.: to meet in a shocking or violent encounter; to clash; to jostle. 11. (countable) An act of colliding with or hitting; a collision. 12. (countable, also figuratively) A rapid or uncontrolled movement; a dash, a rush. 13. (countable) A sound of clashing or colliding; a clattering, a rattling. 14. (uncountable, figuratively) (Violent) disagreement; conflict. [...] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hurtle

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We are the ones we have been waiting for.   --June Jordan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/June_Jordan