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Today's featured article

Magic tablet from Pergamon

The Orphic Hymns are a collection of 87 hymns in ancient Greek, addressed to various deities. Attributed in antiquity to the mythical poet Orpheus, they were composed in Asia Minor (in modern-day Turkey), most likely around the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, and seem to have belonged to a cult community which used them in ritual. The collection is preceded by a proem (or prologue) in which Orpheus addresses the legendary poet Musaeus. The hymns in the collection, all of which are brief, typically call for the attention of the deity they address, describing them and their divinity, and appealing to them with a request. The first codex containing the Orphic Hymns to reach Western Europe arrived in Italy in the first half of the 15th century, and in 1500 the first printed edition of the Hymns was published in Florence. During the Renaissance, some scholars believed that the hymns were a genuine work of Orpheus; later, a more sceptical wave of scholarship argued for a dating in late antiquity. (Full article...)

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On this day...

June 29: Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (Western Christianity)

Jayne Mansfield

1613 – The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of Henry VIII and ignited the roof.
1764 – One of the strongest tornadoes in history struck Woldegk in present-day northeastern Germany, killing one person.
1950 – The United States defeated England during the FIFA World Cup in one of the greatest upsets in the competition's history.
1967 – Actress Jayne Mansfield (pictured), her boyfriend Sam Brody, and their driver were killed in a car accident outside of New Orleans, while her children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska Hargitay escaped with only minor injuries.
2020 – Reddit banned r/The_Donald, a pro-Trump subreddit, for rule violations and antagonizing the company.

Ernest Fanelli (b. 1860)
Ludwig Beck (b. 1880)
Paul Klee (d. 1940)
Nestor Binabo (d. 2023)

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In the News

Trifid and Lagoon nebulae

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile releases the first light images (example shown) from its new 8.4-metre (28 ft) telescope.
In basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Indiana Pacers to win the NBA Finals.
An attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus, Syria, kills at least 25 people.
The United States conducts military strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran.
In rugby union, the Crusaders defeat the Chiefs to win the Super Rugby Pacific final.

Did you know?

Aquilegia oxysepala flower

... that Aquilegia oxysepala (pictured), one of approximately 130 species of columbine, has been used medicinally for thousands of years?
... that Jeff Baena accidentally earned a minor in medieval studies at film school?
... that the European Athletics Championships first held a women's 400 metres race in 1958, twenty-four years after the first men's race?
... that the Lutterodts were pioneers of African photography?
... that the filmmakers of Cyborgs wrote dialogue in both Russian and Ukrainian to show the diversity of the eponymous soldiers who defended Donetsk Airport in late 2014?
... that the killer of Anne Castle and William Bryan was convicted nearly 30 years after the murders?
... that television producer Paul Graham insisted on "a big game feel" for the sportscast he considered his "baby"?
... that the author of Tackle! found its sex scenes difficult to write because of her age?
... that Stavatti Aerospace's only known facilities in 2021 were a "one-person office suite", a "machine shop ... slightly larger than a basketball court", and the CEO's house?

{{{Image text}}} Today's featured picture

Picture of the day

Thousand-yard stare

Painting credit: Thomas C. Lea III

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