Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

39 results found

Sivan

(Encyclopedia)Sivan sēvänˈ [key], in the Jewish calendar, the third month (or ninth month, depending upon the system of reckoning). Esther 8.9; Baruch 1.8. ...

Temple University

(Encyclopedia)Temple University, mainly in Philadelphia; coeducational; founded 1884 by Russell H. Conwell, chartered 1888 as a college, became a university 1907. In 1965 the university became a state-related insti...

Steele, Joel Dorman

(Encyclopedia)Steele, Joel Dorman, 1836–86, American educator and textbook writer, b. Lima, N.Y., grad. Genesee College (now Syracuse Univ.), 1858. While serving as principal of the Elmira (N.Y.) Free Academy (18...

Ahasuerus

(Encyclopedia)Ahasuerus āhăsˌyo͞oēˈrəs [key], Hebrew form of the name Xerxes, as used in the Bible. The Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther is probably Xerxes I. That in the Book of Tobit may be Cyaxares I, dest...

Tarshish

(Encyclopedia)Tarshish tärˈshĭsh [key], in the Bible. 1 Eponym of a country distant from Palestine which cannot be accurately identified; Cyprus, Spain, and Tarsus (S Asia Minor) have been suggested. Traditional...

Caylus, Marie Marguerite, comtesse de

(Encyclopedia)Caylus, Marie Marguerite, comtesse de kālüsˈ [key], 1673–1729, French writer and actress. A noted beauty and wit, she was lauded for her performance at Saint-Cyr in Racine's Esther. Her Souvenir...

Brooks, Maria Gowen

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Maria Gowen gouˈən [key], 1795?–1845, American poet, b. Medford, Mass. Her first collection of verse, Judith, Esther, and Other Poems (1820), was praised by Southey, who named her “Maria...

Saint Valentine's Day

(Encyclopedia)Saint Valentine's Day, Western European Christian holiday, originally the Roman feast of Lupercalia. It was christianized in memory of the martyrdom of St. Valentine in a.d. 270, who, in medieval time...

Goddard, Robert Hutchings

(Encyclopedia)Goddard, Robert Hutchings, 1882–1945, American physicist and rocket expert, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (B.S., 1908), Ph.D. Clark Univ., 1911. From 1914 he was associa...

Leyner, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Leyner, Mark, 1956–, American writer, b. Jersey City, N.J. His hyperliterate postmodernist short stories, collected in I Smell Esther Williams (1983), My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist (1990), and To...

Browse by Subject