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Bialik, Hayyim Nahman

(Encyclopedia)Bialik, Hayyim Nahman hīˈyəm näˈmən byäˈlēk [key], 1873–1934, Hebrew poet, publisher in Odessa, Berlin, and Tel-Aviv, b. Volhynia, Russia. As an editor and publisher Bialik spread the ideas...

Perrault, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Perrault, Charles shärl pĕrōˈ [key], 1628–1703, French poet. His collections of eight fairy tales, Histoires ou contes du temps passé [stories or tales of olden times] (1697) gave classic form ...

despotism

(Encyclopedia)despotism, government by an absolute ruler unchecked by effective constitutional limits to his power. In Greek usage, a despot was ruler of a household and master of its slaves. The title was applied ...

Hamann, Johann Georg

(Encyclopedia)Hamann, Johann Georg yōˈhän gāˈôrk häˈmən [key], 1730–88, German Protestant theologian, b. Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). Although opposed to the rationalism of Kant and the German Enlighte...

Hertzberg, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Hertzberg, Arthur, 1921–2006, American rabbi, scholar, and Jewish community leader, b. Poland. His family emigrated to the United States in 1926. He attended Johns Hopkins, the Jewish Theological Se...

Gottsched, Johann Christoph

(Encyclopedia)Gottsched, Johann Christoph yōˈhän krĭsˈtôf gôtˈshĕt [key], 1700–1766, German literary critic, disciple of the Enlightenment. As professor of poetry and philosophy at the Univ. of Leipzig, ...

Thomasius, Christian

(Encyclopedia)Thomasius, Christian krĭsˈtyän tōmäˈzyo͝os [key], 1655–1728, German jurist and philosopher. A lawyer, he lectured on natural law at Leipzig; he broke with the traditional custom of lecturing ...

Radishchev, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Radishchev, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch rədyēshˈchĭf [key], 1749–1802, Russian writer and liberal. Of a noble family, he studied in Leipzig and there came under ...

Chih-i

(Encyclopedia)Chih-i chēˈ-ē [key], 538–97, Chinese Buddhist scholar and founder of the T'ien-t'ai (in Japan, called Tendai, or Lotus) school of Buddhism. Chih-i produced a conceptual framework that integrated ...

Anuradhapura

(Encyclopedia)Anuradhapura ənäˈräjə– [key], city (1995 est. pop. 40,000), N central Sri Lanka, on the Aruvi River. Rice plantations and vegetable gardens surround the city, which is famous chiefly for its va...