Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Salamis, island, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Salamis, island, E Greece, in the Saronic Gulf, W of Athens. It early belonged to Aegina but was later under Athenian control, except for a brief period after it was occupied (c.600 b.c.) by Megara. I...

Ptolemaïs, town, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemaïs ptôlĭmīsˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 25,195), N Greece, in Macedonia. It was a small market town until 1958, when it began to be developed as an industrial center. Lignite, mined there in v...

Síros, island, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Síros sīˈrŏs [key], island (1991 pop. 19,870), 33 sq mi (85 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea, one of the Cyclades. Ermoupolis, or Síros, is the island's main town and port. Síros is the rich...

Aegina, island, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Aegina or Aíyina āˈyēnä [key], island, 32 sq mi (83 sq km), off SE Greece, in the Saronic Gulf (or Gulf of Aegina), near Athens. Sponge fishing and farming (fi...

Phocis

(Encyclopedia)Phocis fōˈsĭs [key], ancient region of central Greece. It included Delphi, Mt. Parnassus, and Elatea; Boeotia (now Voiotía) was on the east, and the Gulf of Corinth was on the south. After the Fir...

Jason, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Jason, in Greek mythology, son of Aeson. When Pelias usurped the throne of Iolcus and killed (or imprisoned) Aeson and most of his descendants, Jason was smuggled off to the centaur Chiron, who reared...

Arcadia, region of ancient Greece

(Encyclopedia)Arcadia ärkāˈdēə [key], region of ancient Greece, in the middle of the Peloponnesus, without a seaboard, and surrounded and dissected by mountains. The Arcadians, relatively isolated from the res...

Rome, city, Italy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Roman Empire (a.d. 117) CE5 Rome, Ital. Roma, city (1991 pop. 2,775,250), capital of Italy and see of the pope, whose residence, Vatican City, is a sovereign state within the city of Rome. R...

Timoleon

(Encyclopedia)Timoleon tĭmōˈlēən [key], d. after 337 b.c., Greek statesman and general, noted as the scourge of tyrants. A Corinthian, he went (344) with a small army to Syracuse in answer to the appeal of the...

Lepanto, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Lepanto, battle of lĭpănˈtō [key], Oct. 7, 1571, naval battle between the Christians and Ottomans fought in the strait between the gulfs of Pátrai and Corinth, off Lepanto (Návpaktos), Greece. T...

Browse by Subject