Australian-British professor Gilbert Murray (1866-1957) helped Austria recover from World War I in 1920. He was an outstanding scholar of Ancient Greek literature, language and culture. Involved in the League of Nations from 1916, he was also president of the Ethical Union (now Humanists UK) in 1929 and 1930, and a founder of Oxfam.
Name origin: Genus of perennial flowering plants native to southern Africa, commonly called the natal or bush lily. They have green, long leaves and mainly bell-shaped flowers, with berry fruits. The genus itself is named after Charlotte Percy (née Clive), who first cultivated the plant in the U.K.
Name origin: Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (1861-1930), a Norwegian polymath, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanitarian. He led the team that first crossed the interior of Greenland, reached a record northern latitude exploring to the North Pole, studied zoology and oceanography, and worked with the League of Nations.
Stateira was a queen of ancient Persia who died about 400 BCE; wife of Artaxerxes II. She had a son, who became Artaxerxes III. She was a popular ruler, apparently because she talked to ordinary people, but did not get on well with her mother-in-law Parysatis, who eventually poisoned her.
Brothers Auguste Marie (19 October 1862-10 April 1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864-6 June 1948), French pioneering manufacturers of photography equipment and early film production. Their screening on 22 March 1895 in Paris was likely the first presentation of projected film.
Name origin: Unknown. Agnes is a female given name derived from Greek, and meaning ‘pure’ or ‘holy’. The popularity of St. Agnes of Rome (c. 291-21 January 304) boosted wide use of the name, which became the third commonest for women in English-speaking countries for more than 400 years, peaking in the early 20th century. There are multiple variants.
Latona is the Roman name for Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus, who was forced to flee Hera’s wrath to give birth in safety. There is no evidence of an independent mythology.
Germanic goddess associated with water and wagons. Only priests were allowed to touch the cart of Nerthus, which was kept in a sacred grove on an island. When the priest found her to be present by the cart, it was drawn on procession; everywhere it went celebrations took place.
Named for Nassau Hall, the oldest building at Princeton University. In 1783, when Princeton became the U.S. provincial capital for four months, Nassau Hall served as its seat of government. Congress met in its library on the second floor. The term Old Nassau refers affectionately to the building and serves as a metonym for the university as a whole.
Name origin: The Hanseatic League, a northern continental European commercial and defensive confederation of cities. The word ‘hansa’ or ‘hanse’ means ‘convoy’ in Old German, and refers to the merchants travelling between points in the League. While the area was not generally independent, it was influential and had diplomatic privileges. Some of the Gothic architecture remains.
