Today is Tuesday; 11th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1393 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1435 lunar hijri; and September 2, 2014, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
2504 solar years ago, on this day in 490 BC, Pheidippides, supposed to be a Greek runner and inspiration for the modern marathon sporting event, is said to have run from Marathon to Athens in under 36 hours to deliver news of a brief military setback of the Persian fleet sent by Iran’s Achaemenid emperor, Darius I to capture Athens. It is claimed that he was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon. He ran the 40 km distance from the battlefield to Athens to announce news of the outcome of the Battle of Marathon, and then collapsed and died. There is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend. It first appears in the Roman literary figure Plutarch's work "On the Glory of Athens” in the 1st century AD which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus's lost work. Herodotus says that the Athenian army, having fought the grueling battle to hold back the Persian fleet and fearing a naval raid by the Iranians on undefended Athens, marched quickly back from the battle to Athens, arriving the same day. Ten years later in 480 BC, Persians under Emperor Xerxes captured and destroyed Athens when Iran conquered the whole of Greece. The marathon legend was revived last century as part of the West’s bid to impose the Greco-Roman culture on the rest of the world, when a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 km (26 miles and 385 yards) was named "marathon” and included in the Olympics and other sporting events as a road race.
2045 solar years ago, on this day in 31 BC, the Battle of Actium as the Final War of the Roman Republic was fought off the western coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea near the city of Actium by forces of Octavian (the future Augustus Caesar) to defeat troops under Mark Antony and his mistress the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Octavian's victory enabled him to consolidate his power over Rome and its dominions. He adopted the title of "Princeps” (first citizen) and some years later was awarded the title of "Augustus” (revered) by the Roman Senate, which fully supported his wars against Anthony, who came to be viewed as a rebel, especially after the disastrous war (funded by Cleopatra and without Rome’s permission) against Iran’s Parthian Empire in what are now Armenia, Turkey and Syria. Historians regard the ascension of August (grand nephew of the dictator Julius Caesar) as end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire.
902 lunar years ago, on this day in 533 AH, the prominent Iranian Muslim theologian and mathematician, Abu'l-Hassan Sohravardi, passed away. He was a polymath in sciences and was a student of the Iranian Sunni Muslim philosopher, Mohammad Ghazali. His famous book is on Algebra "Usoul al-Jabr wa'l-Muqabelah".
822 solar years ago, on this day in 1192 AD, the Treaty of Jaffa was signed between the Kurdish ruler of Egypt and Syria, Salah od-Din Ayyubi and Richard I of England, leading to the end of the Third Crusade launched on Palestine and Syria by European Christian invaders. The treaty guaranteed safe passage of Christians and Muslims through Palestine whilst also stating that the Christians would hold the coast from Tyre to Jaffa. However Asqalon's fortifications were to be demolished and the town returned to Saladin. The battle was a decisive encounter, in that it forced Saladin to negotiate an end to the immediate hostilities.
348 solar years ago, on this day in 1666 AD, the Great Fire of London burned for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St Paul's Cathedral.
213 solar years ago, on this day in 1801 AD, a joint Ottoman-British force succeeded in defeating and forcing to withdraw from Egypt, the French occupation army left behind by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
69 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh, declared independence from France, following Japan's defeat in World War 2 and its retreat from Southeast Asia. The French, however, attacked Vietnam in 1946 in a bid to re-impose their colonial rule, but after eight years of fighting were forced to withdraw. The US then interfered and occupied southern Vietnam and set up a puppet regime in Saigon for terrorizing the country on the pretext of stopping the spread of communism. In 1975 after their failure to crush the resistance of the Vietnamese people, despite massive bombing and use of internationally banned chemical weapons, American forces humiliatingly fled Vietnam. Vietnam was united once again. Vietnam covers an area of 329566 sq km and shares borders with China, Laos, and Cambodia.
69 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, upon the unconditional surrender of Japan, World War II ended, and the Americans occupied this country imposing humiliating terms on the Japanese people. Although Japan was freed of US hegemony, American troops have refused to vacate Okinawa Island.