Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gatchina

(Encyclopedia)Gatchina gäˈchēnə [key], city (1989 pop. 80,000), NW European Russia. The city developed around the imperial palace (built 1766–81), which was used as a summer residence by Paul I in the 18th ce...

Housman, Laurence

(Encyclopedia)Housman, Laurence, 1865–1959, English author; brother of A. E. Housman. He achieved success as the anonymous author of An Englishwoman's Love Letters (1900). Best known as a dramatist, he wrote Litt...

Todi

(Encyclopedia)Todi tôˈdē [key], town (1991 pop. 16,722), Umbria, central Italy, on a hill in the Apennines and on the Tiber River. It is an agricultural and tourist center. The picturesque town has important Etr...

Quirinal

(Encyclopedia)Quirinal kwĭrˈĭnəl [key], one of the seven hills of Rome, NE of Capitoline Hill. It was the site of several ancient shrines and the quarter of the quirites, probably the aristocracy in the first c...

Rab

(Encyclopedia)Rab räb [key], Ital. Arbe, island, 40 sq mi (104 sq km) off Croatia, in the Adriatic Sea. One of the Dalmatian islands, it is a popular seaside resort. Fishing and agriculture are the main occupation...

Evans, Sir Arthur John

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Sir Arthur John, 1851–1941, English archaeologist. He was (1884–1908) keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. From 1900 to 1935 he conducted excavations on the Greek island of Crete, prin...

Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of, 1355–97, English nobleman; youngest son of Edward III. He was betrothed (1374) to Eleanor, heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, and became earl o...

Sackville, Thomas, 1st earl of Dorset

(Encyclopedia)Sackville, Thomas, 1st earl of Dorset, 1536–1608, English statesman and poet. A barrister of the Inner Temple, Sackville entered Parliament in 1558, gained favor with Elizabeth I, and was created Ba...

Poussin, Gaspard

(Encyclopedia)Poussin, Gaspard gäspärˈ po͞osăNˈ [key], 1615–75, French landscape painter, b. Rome. The son of a Frenchman named Dughet, he adopted the name of his brother-in-law, Nicolas Poussin, in whose s...

Botta, Paul Émile

(Encyclopedia)Botta, Paul Émile pôl āmēlˈ bôtäˈ [key], 1805–70, French archaeologist and government official. While consular agent at Mosul (1843) he made his renowned discoveries of Assyrian inscriptions...