1537
Horatius Cocles was the last man standing between Rome’s republic and the return of totalitarian government in 509 BC.
Before it became a republic, Rome was ruled by seven kings, absolute monarchs. The last of these was King Tarquin the Proud, who was forced out in 509 BC. He was not the man to give up his throne easily.
Posted March 13 2015
1538
The chapel of Bede’s monastery in Sunderland was full of the colours and sounds of the far-off Mediterranean world.
In 678, the new Pope, a Sicilian Greek named Agatho, decided to continue a recent trend of introducing Greek elements into Roman worship. St Benedict Biscop, an English abbot who visited Rome for the fifth and final time the following year, brought the sights and sounds of the eastern Mediterranean back home.
Posted March 13 2015
1539
Artemis, goddess of the hunt, pursued a bitter and relentless vengeance upon a king who carelessly slighted her.
Calydon was an ancient city in Aetolia, on the west coast of mainland Greece near modern Missolonghi. The tale tells how Artemis, goddess of the hunt, took spiteful revenge on a king who slighted her.
Posted March 13 2015
1540
Moscheles taught his adopted country how to write enchanting music for decades to come.
Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) was a Czech composer who came to England in the 1820s and instantly felt at home. England warmed just as quickly to him, and he became a kind of godfather to a generation of Victorian composers writing particularly tuneful music.
Posted March 13 2015
1541
Anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp had a court order preventing Thomas Lewis being shipped off to slavery, but he had to find him first.
Granville Sharp (1735-1813), a clergyman’s son from Durham, was a vigorous anti-slavery campaigner, whose perseverance saved many lives. Among them was that of Thomas Lewis, whose fate was decided at a sensational trial on 20th February, 1771.
Posted March 13 2015
