On the Spot: Alan Knight James Hoare Wed, 12/10/2025 - 08:09

Throughout history, warlords have often straddled the line between legend and reality, their actions and personas sometimes more fantastical than factual. These leaders, both men and women, have ruled with iron fists and eccentric behaviors, leaving legacies that seem stranger than fiction. This article delves into the lives of 15 of the most unusual and ...

The marble head of a kore, a type of free-standing statue from the Greek Archaic period (800-480 B.C.) depicting a young female figure, has been discovered in the ancient Etruscan city of Vulci, central Italy. The head of the female statue is one of only a handful of known large-scale Greek Archaic statues ever discovered outside of Greece. The kore head was found in an excavation of the area of a monumental temple discovered in 2021 as part of the ongoing Vulci Cityscape project. The sculpture depicts a young woman with almond-shaped eyes and a serene smile known as an “archaic smile” intended to convey a sense of ideal harmony and well-being rather than happiness. Her hair is elaborately curled and braided. It is attributed to an Attic workshop of the early 5th century B.C. “The discovery of the late Archaic marble head of Kore at Vulci is an event of extraordinary significance both for its artistic value and for the implications it carries. It was not simply a prestigious votive gift that was found, but a concrete testimony to the spiritual and therefore politico-civil ties that united Etruria and the Greek world. This is an archaeological discovery that can change our perception of the world as would happen with a new scientific law. It reshapes our representation of reality cognitively, symbolically and also politically,” said Minister Alessandro Giuli. “It is no coincidence that this happens in Vulci, a city open to contact through its port, recently acquired by the Ministry of Culture, and through the hinterland where already from the Orientalizing period, from the end of the 8th century B.C., all the objects, but above all the rituals, now reconstructible thanks to new diagnostic tools for archaeology, confirm to us a dynamism, a cultural permeability that still today must represent and represent our models.” The head is currently at the Central Institute for Restoration (ICR) in Rome, where it is being cleaned and conserved. It will be thoroughly analyzed to investigate the traces of original polychromy that survive on the marble surface, what materials and techniques were used to create the piece.

1688 - King James II flees London 1768 - The first of 100 weekly "numbers" of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which are bound into three volumes in 1771, is published in Edinburgh, Scotland 1913 - Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore becomes the first non-European to be presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature for "Gitanjali" 1939 - KNVB celebrates 50th anniversary 1954 - Linus Pauling wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its applications 1963 - Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta receive the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the technology of high polymers 1971 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt receives the Nobel Peace Prize 1994 - 60th Heisman Trophy Award: Rashaan Salaam, Colorado (RB) More Historical Events »

When William McKinley appeared at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on Sept. 6, 1901, no one expected that the visit would change history. The president had traveled to Buffalo to examine the latest technologies of the day and to give a speech about trade and tariffs. But that afternoon, McKinley became one of the eight presidents who died in office when he was fatally shot by assassin Leon Czolgosz. By the time McKinley was killed on that late summer day in 1901, four other presidents had died before their term was complete. Two had been killed by assassins, and two had perished from natural causes. And in the following century, three more presidents would lose their lives. These are the stories of the presidents who died in office — and how the nation changed in the wake of their sudden demises. William Henry Harrison, The President Who Died In Office Just Weeks Into His Term Public DomainWilliam Henry Harrison in an 1840 portrait. He died the following year. William Henry Harrison is famous for one thing: dying. A war hero known as “Tippecanoe,” Harrison was elected in 1840 after a raucous campaign against the incumbent president, Martin Van Buren. Harrison was mocked for his age during the campaign — he was then in his late 60s — but a newspaper attack that suggested he should retire to a “log cabin” with a “barrel of hard cider” made Harrison more appealing to voters than Van Buren, who was painted as out of touch. Ironically, it was Harrison who came from a privileged background and Van Buren who had more humble roots. But Harrison was nevertheless elected president in a landslide victory. Harrison began to prepare for his presidency, which would begin that March, shortly after his 68th birthday. On March 4, 1841, the day of Harrison’s inauguration, the new president gave the longest inaugural address in U.S. history. It was 8,445 words, and it took him almost two hours to deliver it while standing in the chill of a Washington, D.C. winter wearing no gloves or hat. Despite the length of his speech, Harrison’s term would turn out to be the shortest in American history. Public DomainA depiction of William Henry Harrison’s inauguration, during which the new president gave the longest inaugural speech in American history. Just weeks later, on March 27, 1841, reports spread that the new president had fallen ill. Just days later, on April 4, William Henry Harrison died. According to a report from Harrison’s physicians, the president had been “seized with a chill and other symptoms of fever” that progressed into pneumonia. Because of Harrison’s age, the doctors hesitated to treat him with “blood letting,” though they did give him opium and laxatives. After suffering from “profuse diarrhea,” the president died. His death ushered in an era of uncertainty, as no president had ever died in office before. Some believed that his vice president, John Tyler, should merely be an “acting president” until the nation could hold elections. However, Tyler forcefully took command of the presidency, setting an important precedent for the powers of the vice president. Public DomainA depiction of John Tyler, William Henry Harrison’s vice president, learning of the president’s death. In the years since, a story has developed that William Henry Harrison died from pneumonia that he possibly caught during his long inaugural address. However, some scholars have argued that the president actually caught enteric or typhoid fever from Washington, D.C.’s poor water supply. They argue that it wasn’t all that cold on the day that Harrison gave his address (an estimated 48 degrees Fahrenheit) and that it wouldn’t make sense for his symptoms to appear three weeks later. Whatever his cause of death, William Henry Harrison became the first U.S. president who died in office. But he would not be the last. The post Inside The Tragic Stories Of The Eight U.S. Presidents Who Have Died In Office appeared first on All That's Interesting.