This Day That Year

March 11

in History

Triumph of Orthodoxy — Icons return to the churches of Byzantium
Constantinople, Byzantine EmpireMedieval
843

Triumph of Orthodoxy

Icons return to the churches of Byzantium

Empress Theodora II restored the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches of the Byzantine Empire, ending decades of iconoclasm. The Triumph of Orthodoxy, as it came to be known, was celebrated as a victory for tradition and devotion over theological abstraction. To this day, the first Sunday of Lent in the Orthodox calendar commemorates this restoration, a testament to the enduring power of sacred images in Eastern Christian worship.

843 AD
Ronald Syme Was Born — The historian who reimagined Roman politics
New ZealandEarly 20th Century
1903

Ronald Syme Was Born

The historian who reimagined Roman politics

Ronald Syme was born in New Zealand, a future historian whose work would revolutionize the study of Roman history. His masterpiece, The Roman Revolution, published in 1939, reinterpreted the fall of the Republic through the lens of factional politics and patronage networks. Syme's prosopographical method, tracing the careers and connections of individual Romans, transformed how historians understand power in the ancient world.

1903 AD
World War II — World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.
Early 20th Century
1945

World War II

World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.

World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.

1945 AD