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Cyaxares

(Encyclopedia)Cyaxares sīăkˈsərēz [key], d. 585 b.c., king of Media (c.625–585 b.c.). His name also appears as Umakishtar and Huyakhshtara. In the course of his reign he raised the kingdom of the Medes to a ...

Tigris

(Encyclopedia)Tigris tīˈgrĭs [key], river of SW Asia, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) long, rising in the Taurus Mts., E Turkey, and flowing SE through Iraq to join the Euphrates River, with which it forms the Shatt al Ar...

Media

(Encyclopedia)Media mēˈdēə [key], ancient country of W Asia whose actual boundaries cannot be defined, occupying generally what is now W Iran and S Azerbaijan. It extended from the Caspian Sea to the Zagros Mts...

Assyria

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Assyrian Empire (c.650 b.c.) Assyria əsĭrˈēə [key], ancient empire of W Asia. It developed around the city of Ashur, or Assur, on the upper Tigris River and south of the later capital, Ni...

Necho 609–593 b.c., king of ancient, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Necho nēˈkō [key], 609–593 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, 2d ruler of the XXVI dynasty, the son and successor of Psamtik and grandson of Necho, lord of Saïs. Necho took advantage of the confusion ...

bibliography

(Encyclopedia)bibliography. The listing of books is of ancient origin. Lists of clay tablets have been found at Nineveh and elsewhere; the library at Alexandria had subject lists of its books. Modern bibliography b...

catalog

(Encyclopedia)catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Cal...

Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Mesopotamia mĕsˌəpətāˈmēə [key] [Gr.,=between rivers], ancient region of Asia, the territory about the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, included in modern Iraq. The region extends from the Persian...

cuneiform

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Examples of the development of cuneiform cuneiform kyo͞onēˈĭfôrm [key] [Lat.,=wedge-shaped], system of writing developed before the last centuries of the 4th millennium b.c. in the lower ...

inscription

(Encyclopedia)inscription, writing on durable material. The art is called epigraphy. Modern inscriptions are made for permanent, monumental record, as on gravestones, cornerstones, and building fronts; they are oft...

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