Quote of the Day

[timelets]

...in the Book of Chronicles the reign of King Solomon is allotted 201 verses, while that of Joash only receives 27 despite the fact that both are reported there to have lasted forty years.
,,,

As far as national memory is concerned (although evidence seems to suggest that this is a much more general pattern), the social shape of the past is essentially bimodal, with most of the events commemorated on national holidays having occurred either in the very distant past or within the last two hundred years.

-- ibid.