Round 1
Withheld from the archive
This round was played, but the event belongs to one of our paid content modules, so we do not republish it on the free archive. It is still available in the app to anyone who owns that module.
Terra Tempus Daily #50 — July 20, 2026
These are the 5 rounds every player got on July 20, 2026, with the answers and the history behind them. This day is finished, so nothing here spoils a puzzle you can still play — today’s Daily Challenge is a different five events.
Not enough completed runs on this day to report an average without singling out an individual player’s score — we publish one from 5 finishers up.
Round 2
Battle of Karbala
Battle of Karbala · 680 · Medieval
Why there: The confrontation unfolded on the arid plain of Karbala near the Euphrates in Iraq because it lay on the route toward Kufa, whose partisans had summoned Husayn, and control of the riverbank let the caliphal forces cut his band off from water.
Why then: It came in 680 because the death of the caliph Mu'awiya and the disputed succession of his son Yazid forced Husayn to reject the new hereditary Umayyad rule, turning a brewing political crisis over legitimate leadership into open confrontation.
- This battle took place in October 680 CE on a plain near the Euphrates.
- Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, and his followers were killed by the army of the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad.
- The event (the Battle of Karbala) is central to Shia Islam and is commemorated annually during Ashura.
Round 3
Withheld from the archive
This round was played, but we do not republish it here. Recent events involving mass civilian casualties are excluded from our public archive under our content policy, whatever their place in the day’s puzzle.
Round 4
Battle of Edessa
Battle of Edessa · 260 · Antiquity
Why there: Edessa lay in northern Mesopotamia along the contested Roman-Persian frontier, a fortified crossroads guarding the invasion routes between the two empires, making it a natural flashpoint whenever either power pushed east or west.
Why then: The mid-3rd century was the Roman Empire's 'Crisis of the Third Century,' when plague, civil war, and constant usurpations left its armies overstretched just as the newly aggressive Sasanian dynasty under Shapur I replaced the weaker Parthians and seized the initiative on the frontier.
- At the Battle of Edessa (260 CE), the Sasanian king Shapur I captured the Roman emperor Valerian.
- Valerian was the only Roman emperor ever taken prisoner by a foreign power.
- Shapur commemorated the victory in monumental rock reliefs at Naqsh-e Rostam in Persia.
Round 5
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works · 1880 · 19th Century
Why there: Berne, the capital of neutral, centrally located Switzerland, was a natural diplomatic meeting ground where competing European powers could negotiate a multilateral treaty without any single nation dominating.
Why then: ,
- The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was adopted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
- It was driven by Victor Hugo's Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale and established that copyright is automatic upon creation, with no registration required.
- Today over 180 countries are parties to the treaty, administered by WIPO.
Every Daily Challenge is five real events, one from each of five different eras, identical for every player, scored up to 10,000 points a round on how close you land in space and in time. Read how to play, see where the events come from, or play today’s.