March 30

in History

Tomis, Byzantine EmpireMedieval

598

Avars Retreat from Tomis

A Byzantine fortress withstands the siege

The Avar siege of the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis was lifted as their leader Bayan I retreated northward across the Danube. The fortress, perched on the shores of the Black Sea in modern-day Romania, had withstood the Avar assault, demonstrating the resilience of Byzantine frontier defenses. The Avar retreat offered Constantinople a brief reprieve from the relentless pressure of barbarian incursions along its Danubian border.

598 AD

Linear A Discovered — Archaeologists unearth a mysterious ancient script

Knossos, CreteEarly 20th Century

1900

Linear A Discovered

Archaeologists unearth a mysterious ancient script

Archaeologists working at Knossos on the island of Crete discovered the first clay tablets inscribed with hieroglyphic writing in a script that would later be called Linear A. The discovery opened a window into the mysterious Minoan civilization, the first advanced society in Europe. Linear A remains undeciphered to this day, a tantalizing puzzle that guards the secrets of a people who built palaces and commanded the seas four thousand years ago.

1900 AD

1947–1991 geopolitical rivalry between US and USSREarly 20th Century

1949

Cold War

Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

1949 AD