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Coin depicting Seleucus VI

Seleucus VI Epiphanes (c. 115 – 94 BC) was a Seleucid monarch who reigned as King of Syria between 96 and 94 BC during the Hellenistic period. He was the son of Antiochus VIII and his Egyptian wife Tryphaena. A period of civil war between his father and his uncle Antiochus IX ended in 96 BC when his father was assassinated. Antiochus IX then occupied the capital Antioch while Seleucus VI established his power base in western Cilicia. After his uncle was killed, Seleucus VI became the master of the capital but shared Syria with his brother Demetrius III and his cousin Antiochus X. According to the ancient historian Appian, Seleucus VI was a violent ruler. He taxed his dominions extensively to support his wars, and resisted allowing the cities a measure of autonomy, as former kings allowed. His reign did not last long; in 94 BC, he was expelled from Antioch by Antiochus X, who followed him to the Cilician city of Mopsuestia, where his attempts to raise money led to riots that eventually claimed his life. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Illustration in Chinese Fables and Folk Stories

... that Chow Leung started a language school for children in Chicago before writing Chinese Fables and Folk Stories (illustration pictured) with Mary Hayes Davis?
... that following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a diverse group of exiled Russian public figures formed the Anti-War Committee of Russia to unite different political movements to oppose the war?
... that Charlie Moore played basketball for four universities?
... that each song on Andy Shauf's 2016 album The Party is sung from the perspective of a different guest at a house party?
... that in the twelve-stanza Easter hymn "Ihr Christen, singet hocherfreut", based on a 15th-century hymn in Latin, an angel tells women to not remain at the empty tomb?
... that convicted serial killer Mariam Soulakiotis, a Greek Old Calendarist abbess, is known in Greece as "Mother Rasputin" for fasting nuns to death?
... that Winston Churchill painted Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, his only painting during World War II, at the Villa Taylor?
... that Italian anarchists founded the first trade union for bakers in Argentina?

In the news

Russian cruiser Moskva

Russia's Black Sea Fleet flagship, the cruiser Moskva (pictured), sinks after an explosion off the coast of Ukraine.
Flooding across KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, leaves at least 300 people dead.
Shehbaz Sharif is elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan after Imran Khan is removed in a no-confidence motion.
A series of attacks by armed bandits kill more than 150 people in Plateau State, Nigeria.

On this day

April 17: Easter (Western Christianity, 2022); Evacuation Day in Syria (1946)

The superstructure, bow guns, and wing turrets of Minas Geraes

Superstructure of Minas Geraes

1080 – Canute IV became King of Denmark upon the death of his brother Harald III.
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: British forces commanded by Lieutenant-General Ralph Abercromby invaded the Spanish colonial port of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1907 – Minas Geraes (pictured), the first of three Brazilian dreadnought battleships, was laid down, sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race with Argentina and Chile.
1951 – The Peak District was designated the first national park in the United Kingdom.
1971 – Ustaše-affiliated Croatian separatists attacked the Yugoslav embassy in Stockholm, fatally shooting the ambassador, Vladimir Rolović.

Benjamin Franklin (d. 1790)
Karen Blixen (b. 1885)
Victoria Beckham (b. 1974)

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Today's featured picture

The Talamanca hummingbird (Eugenes spectabilis) is a large species of hummingbird, in the family Trochilidae. Some taxonomic authorities, such as the International Ornithological Committee, split the magnificent hummingbird (genus Eugenes), in which case the nominate subspecies fulgens is renamed Rivoli's hummingbird and spectabilis is named the admirable hummingbird. Other taxonomic authorities have not recognized the split. The range of the Talamanca hummingbird is from Costa Rica to Panama. This male was photographed in the Mount Totumas cloud forest in Panama.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

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