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Provinces of the Roman Empire involved in the Diaspora Revolt

The Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE) was a series of uprisings by Jewish diaspora communities across the eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan. The uprisings erupted nearly simultaneously in Egypt, Cyrenaica and Cyprus, amid tensions following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the imposition of the Fiscus Judaicus tax, messianic expectations, hopes for a return to Judaea, and Trajan's engagement with the Parthian campaign in Mesopotamia. Roman forces under generals Marcius Turbo and Lusius Quietus suppressed the revolts. The conflict resulted in the destruction of Jewish communities in multiple regions. Damage to temples, structures and roads is well attested in Cyrene and its surroundings. A festival celebrating victory was still observed eighty years later in Oxyrhynchus. Jewish communities re-established themselves in the affected provinces in late antiquity, but never regained their former prominence. (Full article...)

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In the news

Daniel Ortega

Co-president of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega (pictured) announces the suspension of the next general election, declaring that the country will no longer have elections.
Andy Burnham succeeds Keir Starmer as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party following a leadership election.
Carlos Vila Nova is re-elected President of São Tomé and Príncipe.
In association football, the FIFA World Cup concludes with Spain defeating Argentina in the final.

On this day

July 23: Tisha B'Av (Judaism, 2026); Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)

One Direction

1891 – During a visit of the French Navy to Kronstadt in Russia, the two nations reached a secret agreement on a joint response to any future war in Europe.
1942 – Bulgarian poet and communist activist Nikola Vaptsarov was executed by firing squad.
1995 – Hale–Bopp, one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was independently discovered by astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.
1999 – Forty-seven people were arrested in Tulia, Texas, for dealing cocaine; 35 of them were pardoned by the governor of Texas years later.
2010 – The English-Irish boy band One Direction (pictured) were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor.

Thomas Brisbane (b. 1773)
Mollie Steimer (d. 1980)
David Dobrik (b. 1996)
Arnold Palacios (d. 2025)

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Today's featured picture

The West Indian whistling duck (Dendrocygna arborea) is a species of bird in the family Anatidae. The largest and darkest of the whistling ducks, it is roughly the size of a mallard, growing to 48 to 58 centimetres (19 to 23 inches) in length. Widely scattered across the West Indies, the species was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 as Anas arborea, based on earlier accounts. The species is now placed in the genus Dendrocygna, introduced by William Swainson in 1837, and has no recognised subspecies. This photograph shows the head of a West Indian whistling duck in George Town, on the island of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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