SortStack #2396 — 2032-12-30

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The Great Pyramid of Giza is completed for Pharaoh Khufu 2560 BCE

   It remained the tallest human-made structure on Earth for about 3,800 years, until Lincoln Cathedral's spire topped it in the 1300s.

2. Julius Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate 44 BCE

   He was stabbed 23 times on the Ides of March. A comet appeared months later, which Romans took as proof his soul had ascended to the gods.

3. Emperor Hadrian orders a great wall built across northern Britain 122

   The wall ran about 117 km from coast to coast and took roughly six years to build — soldiers' letters from its forts survive, including a birthday party invitation.

4. Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Romans in St. Peter's Basilica 800

   Pope Leo III crowned him on Christmas Day, reportedly taking Charlemagne by surprise — reviving the idea of a Roman emperor in the west after three centuries.

5. The world's first public steam railway opens between Stockton and Darlington 1825

   George Stephenson's engine Locomotion No. 1 pulled the opening train. A man on horseback rode ahead waving a flag — the train soon outpaced him.

6. The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, goes on sale 1840

   It bore Queen Victoria's profile and no country name — and because Britain invented the stamp, British stamps still omit the country's name today.

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