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From today's featured article

Phoenician inscription mentioning Bodashtart

Bodashtart was a Phoenician ruler who reigned as King of Sidon (c. 525 – c. 515 BC). He was a prolific builder, and his name is attested on some 30 inscriptions near Sidon, Lebanon, the major source of information on him. The earliest to be discovered was excavated in Sidon in 1858 and was donated to the Louvre. Podium inscriptions (example pictured) at the Temple of Eshmun were discovered between 1900 and 1922; some credit him with construction in the temple, while others connect him and his son Yatonmilk with work there, emphasizing Yatonmilk's legitimacy as heir. The most recently-discovered inscription as of 2020 was found in the 1970s on the bank of the Bostrenos River, crediting the king with the building of water canals to supply the temple. Three of his Eshmun temple inscriptions have been left in place; the others are housed in museums in Paris, Istanbul, and Beirut. He is believed to have reigned for at least seven years, as evidenced by the Bostrenos River bank inscription. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

The Negress head clock of the Metropolitan Museum

... that the Negress head clock (pictured) can show the time in its eyes?
... that United Nations diplomat Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy's anti-apartheid efforts were driven by a chance encounter with African National Congress activist A. B. Xuma?
... that when D'Arcy Carden was cast in the series premiere of The Good Place as Janet, a guide, news outlets were purposely lied to that her character was "a violin salesperson with a checkered past"?
... that NASCAR competitor and film stunt performer Matt Jaskol is the first driver to win a race in North America with Red Bull sponsorship?
... that the windmill in Werrington was built to grind corn but later converted to grind coal to make briquettes?
... that Gabriela Canavilhas was a pianist playing Portuguese compositions before she became Portugal's Minister of Culture?
... that in the Eurovision Song Contest the United Kingdom has finished in second place a record fifteen times, with Imaani the last artist to do so when she represented the country at the 1998 contest?
... that the Lenox Health Greenwich Village building was approvingly called "the box in which the Guggenheim Museum came"?

In the news

Chloé Zhao

At the Academy Awards, Nomadland (writer and director Chloé Zhao pictured) wins three awards, including Best Picture.
A fire at a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, kills at least 82 people.
The wreckage of KRI Nanggala, an Indonesian Navy submarine, is found in the Bali Sea, and all 53 people on board are confirmed dead.
The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment on the Perseverance rover produces oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere.

On this day

April 26: World Intellectual Property Day

Lorenzo de' Medici

1478 – In a conspiracy to replace the Medici family as rulers of the Republic of Florence, the Pazzi family attacked Lorenzo de' Medici (portrait shown) and killed his brother Giuliano at Florence Cathedral.
1865 – U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, ending a twelve-day manhunt.
1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, was established.
1989 – An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the growing unrest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing which would remain contentious through the remainder of the protests.
1994 – Just before landing at Nagoya Airport, Japan, the copilot of China Airlines Flight 140 inadvertently triggered the takeoff/go-around switch, causing the aircraft to crash and killing 264 of the 271 people on board.

Marcus Aurelius (b. 121)
Nano Nagle (d. 1784)
Margaret Gowing (b. 1921)

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From today's featured list

Steve Martin

The 73rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 25, 2001, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 2000. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates, and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Steve Martin (pictured) hosted for the first time. Gladiator won five awards, including Best Picture, and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. Other winners included Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic with four awards each. The telecast garnered almost 43 million viewers in the United States. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

House in Provence is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Paul Cézanne, depicting a home painted with muted tones and soft colors, accented by the gray-blue mountains in the background, the soft greens of the rolling hills, and the brown tones of the fields. This landscape is set on the south side of Montagne Sainte-Victoire in southern France, which was a favorite subject of the artist. The painting is in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Painting credit: Paul Cézanne

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