Optimas

Singular of optimates, a member of the traditionalist, conservative wing of the Senate in the Late Republic.

Fact of the Day

When news of the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 reached Pope Urban III, he is said to have died immediately of shock and grief.

Quote of the Day

"They are well named, for they have the countenance of angels, and as such should be coheirs with the angels in heaven. "

~ Pope Gregory I on the Angles, recorded by Bede

On This Day

1830 The Manchester to Liverpool train line opened, and caused the first train death (of MP William Huskisson).

1859 The great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel died.

1916 Tanks were first used on the Somme. They weren't ready for use in combat and many broke down.

1935 The Nuremberg race laws were introduced, stripping German Jews of their citizenship and forbidding them to marry Aryans.

1940 Hitler indefinitely postponed his invasion of Britain following a massive defeat of the Luftwaffe.

2008 The financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the biggest such filing in US history, causing the Dow Jones to drop more than 500 points in a day.