May 11

in History

Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey)Classical

330

Constantinople Dedicated

A new Rome rises on the Bosphorus

Emperor Constantine the Great stood at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and dedicated his magnificent new capital, christening it New Rome -- though the world would know it forever by his name: Constantinople. The rebuilt and greatly expanded city of Byzantium, adorned with treasures plundered from across the empire, became the seat of Roman power in the East. For over a thousand years, its massive walls would guard the gateway between continents, making it the most coveted city on Earth.

330 AD

Rose Auslander Was Born — Poetry survives where empires do not

Czernowitz, Bukovina (modern Ukraine)Early 20th Century

1901

Rose Auslander Was Born

Poetry survives where empires do not

In Czernowitz, a city that would belong to four different nations during her lifetime, Rose Auslander was born into a thriving Jewish community. A poet of extraordinary lyrical power, she wrote in both German and English, her verses shaped by the trauma of the Holocaust and the rootlessness of exile. From the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Romania to America to West Germany, she carried her language like a homeland, proving that poetry can survive even when everything else is lost.

1901 AD

Deep Blue — Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first.

Late 20th Century

1997

Deep Blue

Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first.

Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

1997 AD