Strata: In History

BAR takes a look back at some important events in history that happened during the months of May and June.

May 6, 1904 A.D. British archaeologist Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, who excavated at Ur and headed the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, is born. His wife, Agatha Christie Mallowan, published Come, Tell Me How You Live about his work and time in Syria.

May 14, 1948 A.D. Israel declares independence.

May 21, 1972 A.D. Michelangelo’s Pietà sculpture is attacked and badly damaged in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

May 28, 585 B.C. The Battle of Halys, between the Greek city-states of Lydia and Media, comes to an abrupt end when a total solar eclipse occurs. Due to scholars’ ability to exactly date the eclipse, this is the earliest historical event that can be accurately calculated.

May 30, 1431 A.D. Joan of Arc is burned at the stake after being found guilty of heresy at an ecclesiastical trial in Rouen, France. The Catholic Church retried her case in 1456 and overturned her conviction, thus declaring her a martyr.

May 31, 1279 B.C. Ramesses II the Great () becomes pharaoh of Egypt.

June 3, 1098 A.D. Crusaders capture Antioch during the First Crusade.

June 7, 1816 A.D. British Parliament agrees to buy the Parthenon marbles from Lord Elgin, who had removed them from the Athens acropolis with the permission of the Ottoman authorities.