Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 March 6

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Byzantine emissaries to the Caliph

Al-Mu'tasim (796–842) was the eighth Abbasid caliph. A younger son of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, he rose to prominence as a key lieutenant of his brother Caliph al-Ma'mun after forming a private army composed predominantly of Turkish slave-soldiers. When al-Ma'mun died on campaign in August 833, al-Mu'tasim succeeded him and continued many of his policies, including support for Mu'tazilism. The traditional Arab and Iranian elites were weakened in favour of a new elite drawn from among the Turks, while the government was centralized around the caliphal court and a new capital founded to house it at Samarra. Al-Mu'tasim also achieved lasting fame as a warrior-caliph by sacking the Byzantine city of Amorium in 838. The rise of the Turks would eventually lead to factional strife and the collapse of Abbasid power in the mid-10th century, but the slave-soldier system inaugurated by al-Mu'tasim would be widely adopted throughout the Muslim world for centuries to come. (Full article...)

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Aircraft factory at Flossenbürg

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In the news

Tornado damage in Lee County, Alabama

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki is awarded the Pritzker Prize.
A severe tornado outbreak hits the Southeastern United States, with one tornado causing at least 23 deaths in Alabama (damage pictured).
Heightened tensions remain between India and Pakistan after both countries conduct airstrikes.
Muhammadu Buhari is re-elected President of Nigeria.

On this day

March 6: Ash Wednesday (Western Christianity, 2019); Independence Day in Ghana (1957)

Petru Groza

1447 – Tomaso Parentucelli became Pope Nicholas V.
1853 – Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata premiered at Venice's La Fenice, but the performance was considered so bad that it caused the Italian composer to revise portions of the opera.
1913 – First Balkan War: The Greek army captured Bizani Fortress, near Ioannina, from the Ottomans.
1945 – Petru Groza (pictured) of the Ploughmen's Front became the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated governments of Romania.
1964 – In a radio broadcast, Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad announced that American boxer Cassius Clay would change his name to Muhammad Ali.
1987 – The ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized while leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 people on board.

Alvise Loredan (d. 1466) · Lucy Barnes (b. 1780) · Shaukat Aziz (b. 1949)

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Today's featured picture

Canterbury Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral located in the city of Canterbury, Kent. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The cathedral was founded in 597 by Augustine of Canterbury, who had been sent to England as a missionary by Pope Gregory the Great. It was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077, and then largely rebuilt again in the Gothic style following a fire in 1174, with significant extensions to accommodate the flow of pilgrims visiting the shrine of Thomas Becket, the archbishop who was murdered in the cathedral in 1170. The Norman nave and transepts survived until the late 14th century, when they were demolished to make way for the present structures.

This photograph shows the choir of the cathedral.

Other images: nave · rood screen · Trinity Chapel (south side) · Corona · cloister

Photograph: David Iliff

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