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Herodotus

(Encyclopedia)Herodotus hērŏdˈətəs [key], 484?–425? b.c., Greek historian, called the Father of History, b. Halicarnassus, Asia Minor. Only scant knowledge of his life can be gleaned from his writings and fr...

Darius the Mede

(Encyclopedia)Darius the Mede, in the Bible, a king of the Medes who succeeded to the throne of Babylonia after Belshazzar. Otherwise unknown outside biblical tradition, it is likely that this Darius has been confu...

Rawlinson, George

(Encyclopedia)Rawlinson, George, 1812–1902, English Orientalist and historian, educated at Oxford. He is known for his long, authoritative, and still useful histories of the ancient world. His most famous history...

Arion

(Encyclopedia)Arion ərĭˈən [key], Greek poet, inventor of the dithyramb. He is said to have lived at Periander's court in Corinth in the late 7th cent. b.c. A legend repeated by Herodotus tells how, having been...

phoenix, in mythology

(Encyclopedia)phoenix, fabulous bird that periodically regenerated itself, used in literature as a symbol of death and resurrection. According to legend, the phoenix lived in Arabia; when it reached the end of its ...

Rennell, James

(Encyclopedia)Rennell, James, 1742–1830, English cartographer, geographer, and oceanographer. He was surveyor general (1764–77) of Bengal and published A Bengal Atlas (1779). He constructed the first approximat...

Ctesias

(Encyclopedia)Ctesias tēˈshēəs, tēˈsēəs [key], fl. 400 b.c., Greek historian and physician of Cnidus. He lived many years in the Persian court. He tended Artaxerxes II when he was wounded in the battle of C...

Thurii

(Encyclopedia)Thurii thyo͞oˈrēī [key], ancient city of Magna Graecia, S Italy, in Bruttium, on the Gulf of Tarentum (now Taranto). It was founded by Pericles in 443 b.c. to replace ruined Sybaris. New Greek col...

Dodona

(Encyclopedia)Dodona dōdōˈnə [key], in Greek religion, the oldest oracle, in inland Epirus, near modern Janina, sacred to Zeus and Dione. According to Herodotus, an old oak tree there became an oracle when a bl...

Leonidas

(Encyclopedia)Leonidas lēŏnˈĭdəs [key], d. 480 b.c., king of Sparta. He succeeded (c.491 b.c.) his half-brother, Cleomenes I. When the Persians invaded Greece under Xerxes (480 b.c.), Leonidas with 300 Spartan...

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