September 26

Caesar Honors Venus

A dictator dedicates a temple to his divine ancestor

Julius Caesar dedicated the Temple of Venus Genetrix in Rome, honoring the goddess whom he claimed as his family's mythical ancestor. The temple was as much a political statement as a religious one, linking the most powerful man in Rome to divine lineage. It stood for centuries as a monument to the ambition that both built and destroyed the Republic.

Suzanne Belperron Was Born

The jeweler who never signed her work

Suzanne Belperron was born in Saint-Claude, France, in the Jura mountains. She became one of the twentieth century's most influential jewelry designers, whose bold, sculptural creations adorned royalty and socialites on both sides of the Atlantic. She never signed her pieces, declaring that her style was her signature.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein publishes the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity.