Facts

1516:The Beer Purity Law (“Reinheitsgebot”) is adopted by German brewers. According to the law, the ingredients of beer are: water, barley and hops.

1821:The Battle of Alamana. The Greek revolutionary forces under Diovouniotis, Panourgias and Diakos face the superior Ottoman hordes of Omer Bryonis and Kiose Mehmet at the bridge of Alamana (Thermopylon area) and are defeated.

1882: The work of opening the Isthmus of Corinth begins.

1960: Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis lays the foundation stone for the Nestos Dam.

1999: The Serbian TV building in Belgrade is bombed by NATO planes during the Kosovo War, killing 16 people and injuring many. In Greece, the next day’s newspapers are printed with a black ribbon as a sign of mourning, while NATO, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary at a solemn meeting in Brussels, signing a Declaration on its new role, describes the building in Belgrade as a “legitimate target”.

2010: Greece requests the activation of the support mechanism of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou announces from Kastellorizo. The reactions from the opposition parties are strong.

Births

1889: Vassilis Rotas, Greek writer, who translated all the works of William Shakespeare into Greek. (D. 30/5/1977)

1905: Kostas Perrikos, Greek Air Force officer and resistance fighter during the Occupation. (D. 4/2/1943)

1916: Yiannis Moralis, Greek visual artist, one of the greatest Greek painters of the so-called generation of the ’30s, with many distinctions in Greece and abroad. (Wed. 20/12/2009)

Deaths

1616: William Shakespeare, English playwright. (Born 23/4/1564)

1827: George Karaiskakis, hero of the Greek Revolution. Seconds before he succumbed to the fatal blow he received the day before in Faliro, he expressed his belief that he had been shot by a “friendly” hand. (Born 23/1/1780)

1998: Konstantinos Karamanlis, one of the leading modern Greek politicians, who served as prime minister and president of the Hellenic Republic. (Born 8/3/1907)