SortStack #870 — 2028-10-26

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The first ancient Olympic Games are held at Olympia 776 BCE

   The only event was a single sprint of about 190 meters, and the first recorded champion was Coroebus of Elis — a cook.

2. Rome is founded, according to legend, by Romulus 753 BCE

   Romans dated their entire calendar 'ab urbe condita' — from the founding of the city — and the legend says Romulus killed his twin brother Remus over the city walls.

3. The last Western Roman emperor is deposed, ending the empire in the west 476

   The final emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was a teenager. The Germanic general Odoacer didn't execute him — he pensioned him off to a villa.

4. Constantinople falls to the Ottoman army of Mehmed the Conqueror 1453

   The Ottomans breached walls that had stood for a thousand years using enormous cannons — built by Orban, a Hungarian engineer who had first offered his services to the Byzantines.

5. The Burj Khalifa opens in Dubai as the world's tallest building 2010

   At 828 meters, its tip can be seen from about 95 km away — and people on the top floors can watch the sunset minutes after it sets at ground level.

6. The World Health Organization declares COVID a global pandemic 2020

   Within weeks, roughly half of humanity was living under some form of lockdown — the largest coordinated shutdown of public life in history.

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