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Corinna was an ancient Greek lyric poet from Tanagra in Boeotia. Although ancient sources portray her as a contemporary of Pindar (born c. 518 BC), not all modern scholars accept this tradition. When she lived has been much debated since the early twentieth century; proposed dates range from the beginning of the fifth century to the late third century BC. Corinna's works survive only in fragments: three substantial sections of poems are preserved on papyri from the second century AD in Egypt, and several shorter pieces survive in quotations by ancient grammarians. They focus on local Boeotian legends, and are distinctive for their mythological innovations. Corinna's poetry often reworks popular myths to include details not known from any other sources. Though respected in her hometown, Tanagra, and popular in ancient Rome, she is regarded by modern critics as provincial and dull. Her poetry is nonetheless of interest as the work of one of the few preserved female poets from ancient Greece. (Full article...)

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On this day

November 2: All Souls' Day (Western Christianity)

Lewis Hamilton

1917 – The British government issued the Balfour Declaration in support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small Jewish minority.
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2000 – Aboard Expedition 1, American astronaut William Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko became the first resident crew to arrive at the International Space Station.
2008 – At the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton (pictured) overtook Timo Glock in the final corners of the race to become World Drivers' Champion by one point.

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Sphaerechinus granularis is a species of sea urchin in the family Toxopneustidae, commonly known as the violet sea urchin. Its range includes the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from the Channel Islands south to Cape Verde and the Gulf of Guinea. It favours sheltered locations and lives on rocks covered with seaweed or gravelly substrates. It is usually found in the neritic zone down to about thirty metres (100 ft) but occasionally down to a hundred metres (330 ft) in more exposed locations. It is also found in meadows of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica. It grazes on algae, especially encrusting coralline algae, seagrass blades and their epiphytic organisms and detritus. This S. granularis sea urchin was photographed off the coast of Madeira.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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