On this day: September 13

Events on September 13

• 509 BC According to Roman tradition, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the most important temple in ancient Rome, was dedicated. Wikipedia
• 533 The Byzantines under Belisarius defeated the Vandal King Gelimer at the Battle of Ad Decimum near Carthage, and began the "Reconquest of the West" under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Wikipedia
• 1229 Ögedei Khan is proclaimed Khagan of the Mongol Empire in Kodoe Aral, Khentii: Mongolia. Wikipedia
• 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral and his Portuguese fleet arrive in Calicut, having crossed both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Wikipedia
• 1541 After three years of exile, French theologian John Calvin returned to Geneva to reform the church under a system of Christian theology later known as Calvinism. Wikipedia
• 1567 The siege of Inabayama Castle, the final battle in Oda Nobunaga's campaign to conquer Mino Province, began; it culminated in a decisive victory for Nobunaga. Wikipedia
• 1609 Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River. Wikipedia
• 1759 French and Indian War: British forces won the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City, despite General James Wolfe being mortally wounded. Wikipedia
• 1814 War of 1812: Fort McHenry in Baltimore's Inner Harbor was attacked by British forces during the Battle of Baltimore, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write "Defence of Fort McHenry", later used as the lyrics to the United States national anthem. Wikipedia
• 1848 An explosion drove an iron rod through the head of railroad foreman Phineas Gage; his survival and recovery influenced 19th-century discussion of psychology and neuroscience. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam. Wikipedia
• 1899 Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The French army repulsed a German assault against their positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. Wikipedia
• 1919 The Boston police strike ended after four days of rule by the state militia, the deaths of nine people, and accusations that striking officers were "agents of Lenin". Wikipedia
• 1937 Chicago Public Schools began delivering lessons via radio amid to a polio outbreak, marking the first large-scale use of radio broadcasts for distance education. Wikipedia
• 1959 The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 struck the Moon, the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body. Wikipedia
• 1964 South Vietnamese generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức staged a coup attempt after being demoted by junta leader Nguyễn Khánh. Wikipedia
• 1971 Following a failed coup attempt, Mao Zedong's second-in-command Lin Biao died in a plane crash while attempting to flee China. Wikipedia
• 1985 Super Mario Bros., one of the most influential and best-selling video games in history, was first released in Japan for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Wikipedia
• 1988 Hurricane Gilbert reached a minimum pressure of 888 mb (26.22 inHg) with sustained flight-level winds of 185 mph (295 km/h), making it the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time. Wikipedia
• 1989 Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu. Wikipedia
• 1993 Nirvana released their third and final studio album, In Utero, which went on to sell more than 15 million copies. Wikipedia
• 1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords granting limited Palestinian autonomy. Wikipedia
• 2001 Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks. Wikipedia
• 2005 A software bug caused a simulated pandemic in the online video game World of Warcraft, serving as a model for epidemiologists to understand how human interaction influences disease outbreaks. Wikipedia
• 2007 The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Wikipedia
• 2008 Five bomb blasts took place in Delhi, India, killing at least 20 people as part of a series of attacks perpetrated by the Indian Mujahideen. Wikipedia

Born on September 13

• 1087 John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (died 1143) Wikipedia
• 1475 Cesare Borgia, Italian cardinal (died 1507) Wikipedia
• 1819 Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (died 1896) Wikipedia
• 1830 Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1860 John J. Pershing, American general and lawyer (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1874 Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer and painter (died 1951) Wikipedia
• 1876 Sherwood Anderson, American novelist and short story writer (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1886 Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1887 Leopold Ružička, Croatian-Swiss biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1903 Claudette Colbert, American actress (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1916 Roald Dahl, British novelist, poet, and screenwriter (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1924 Maurice Jarre, French composer and conductor (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1939 Richard Kiel, American actor and voice artist (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1940 Óscar Arias, Costa Rican politician, President of Costa Rica, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1941 Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish judge and politician, 10th President of the Republic of Turkey Wikipedia
• 1944 Jacqueline Bisset, English actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1951 Salva Kiir, South Sudanese politician, 1st President of South Sudan Wikipedia
• 1957 Bongbong Marcos, 17th President of the Philippines Wikipedia
• 1961 Dave Mustaine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Wikipedia
• 1973 Fabio Cannavaro, Italian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1989 Thomas Müller, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1993 Niall Horan, Irish singer Wikipedia

Died on September 13

• 81 Titus, Roman emperor (born AD 39) Wikipedia
• 531 Kavad I, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran (born 473) Wikipedia
• 1506 Andrea Mantegna, Italian painter and engraver (born 1431) Wikipedia
• 1592 Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author (born 1533) Wikipedia
• 1598 Philip II of Spain, King of Spain, Portugal, England and Ireland (born 1526) Wikipedia
• 1872 Ludwig Feuerbach, German anthropologist and philosopher (born 1804) Wikipedia
• 1928 Italo Svevo, Italian author and playwright (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1931 Lili Elbe, Danish model and painter (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1949 August Krogh, Danish physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1971 Lin Biao, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 1996 Tupac Shakur, American rapper, producer, and actor (born 1971) Wikipedia
• 1998 George Wallace, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 45th Governor of Alabama (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2015 Moses Malone, American basketball player and sportscaster (born 1955) Wikipedia
• 2022 Jean-Luc Godard, French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic (born 1930) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Feast of the Cross (Assyrian Church of the East) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aimé (Amatus) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amé (Amatus) of Remiremont Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Chrysostom Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marcellinus of Carthage Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed María López de Rivas Martínez Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maurilius (Maurille) of Angers Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nectarius of Autun Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Venerius the Hermit Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Wulfthryth (Wilfrida) of Wilton Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of the Programmer, during a non-leap year. (Russia) Wikipedia
• Día de los Niños Héroes (Mexico) Wikipedia
• Engineer's Day (Mauritius) Wikipedia
• Roald Dahl Day (Africa, United Kingdom, Latin America) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “September 13” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/September 13” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 13” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for September 13 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 27 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. The 1993 Oslo Accords entry stays as well, and comes first in the one-line summary: we keep a short list, checked by hand, of widely known events that Wikipedia's editors leave out of their selection, usually because the article carries a maintenance notice. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.