Read the most important events that happened today, August 27:

479 BC The Battle of Plataea. The Greeks, led by the Spartan Pausanias, defeat the Persian army of Mardonius in a decisive battle.

1813 Napoleon the Great, commanding an army of 130,000 men, defeats the allied Austrian, Russian and Prussian army of 200,000 in the battle of Dresden. Alexandros Ypsilantis, who participates in the battle on the side of the allies, is injured and loses his right arm.

1829 The first Greeks set foot in Australia. They are seven sailors, who have been convicted of piracy by the English. Their names: Georgios Vassilakis, Gikas Voulgaris, Georgios Laritsos, Antonis Manolis, Damianos Ninis, Nikolaos Papandreas and Konstantinos Strombolis.

1859 Edwin Drake, the man who created the US oil industry, drills the first oil well in the Pennsylvania region.

1922 The last Greek divisions leave Smyrna. At 11 a.m. vanguard of the Turkish cavalry enters Smyrna, while in the evening an infantry division also arrives. The Turks set fire to the city and massacred its Greek population. Among the massacred is the Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Smyrna. The fire will continue until September 3, reducing the city to a pile of rubble.

1942 The opera “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini premieres in Athens by the National Opera. It is presented at the Park Theater in Klathmonos Square, with 19-year-old Maria Kalogeropoulou (later Maria Kallas) in the central role, under the musical direction of Sotos Vassiliadis.

Births

1909 Nikos Tsiforos, Greek journalist, playwright, screenwriter and director. (D. 6/8/1970)

1909 Lester Young, American saxophonist, leading figure in jazz. (D. 15/3/1959)

1941 Cesaria Evora, singer from the Cape Verde Islands. (Thu. 17/12/2011)

Deaths

1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan, American blues guitarist. (Born 3/10/1954)

2001 Michalis Dertouzos, Greek IT guru, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and director of the Computer Science Research Laboratory. (Born 5/11/1936)

2005 Giorgos Mouzakis, Greek trumpeter and composer of light music. (Born 15/8/1922).

Celebrate

Liverios, Lymberis, Fanourios, Fanouria.