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Gold dinar of al-Mu'izz

The Fatimid conquest of Egypt took place in 969, as the troops of the Fatimid Caliphate under the general Jawhar captured Egypt, then ruled by the autonomous Ikhshidid dynasty in the name of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Fatimids had launched repeated unsuccessful invasions of Egypt soon after coming to power in Ifriqiya in 909. By the 960s, the collapse of the Ikhshidid regime, and an economic crisis and factional infighting in Egypt, allowed Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz (coin pictured) to organize a large expedition to conquer the country, aided by the activity of a network of Fatimid agents there. When the Fatimid invasion came, the Ikhshidid elites negotiated a peaceful surrender, and the brief resistance of the Ikhshidid soldiery was overcome. Jawhar took control of Fustat, the Egyptian capital, on 6 July. Jawhar served as viceroy of Egypt until 973, when al-Mu'izz arrived and took up residence in a new capital, Cairo, which became the seat of the Fatimid Caliphate. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Blotter art of the Eye of Horus

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In the news

Wildfire damage to Lahaina

In Sudan, approximately 1,000 bodies are discovered in mass graves after the Battle of Geneina.
Wildfires in Hawaii kill more than 110 people and destroy much of Lahaina (damage pictured) on the island of Maui.
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio is assassinated in Quito, eleven days before the general election.
The Hazara Express train derails in Sindh, Pakistan, killing 30 people.

On this day

August 19

Painting of the Battle of Lagos

1759 – Seven Years' War: Having damaged several French vessels, British ships pursued the remainder of the fleet to Lagos, Portugal, and continued the battle there (depicted) in violation of Portuguese neutrality.
1897 – The Bersey Electric Cab entered service as the first electric taxi in London.
1950 – The 766th Independent Infantry Regiment of North Korea was disbanded after fighting for less than two months in the Korean War.
2003 – A Hamas suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded more than 130 others, including many Orthodox Jewish children, on a crowded public bus in Shmuel HaNavi, Jerusalem.

Abu Yazid (d. 947)
Gene Roddenberry (b. 1921)
Henry Wood (d. 1944)
Missy Higgins (b. 1983)

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Today's featured picture

Edgar is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, freely based on the play in verse La Coupe et les lèvres by Alfred de Musset. It premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1889 and was repeatedly revised until 1905, but Puccini did not regard it as a success, describing it as "warmed-up soup". The opera is still occasionally performed, including a 2005 recording by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Alberto Veronesi and featuring Plácido Domingo. This undated set design for act 3 of Edgar, from the archives of the music publisher Casa Ricordi, was created by Giuseppe Palanti with pencil and tempera on paper. It depicts an outdoor glade near Courtray in Flanders, the main setting of the opera.

Set design credit: Giuseppe Palanti

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