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Hiero I

(Encyclopedia)Hiero I hīˈərō [key], 5th cent. b.c., Greek Sicilian ruler, tyrant of Syracuse (478–467 b.c.). He succeeded his brother Gelon. A noted patron of literature, Hiero had Simonides, Pindar, and Aesc...

epithalamium

(Encyclopedia)epithalamium ĕpˌĭthəlāˈmēəm [key], song or poem written to celebrate a marriage. An elaborate form of pastoral, the epithalamium usually tells of the happenings of the wedding day. Nymphs, she...

Eustathius

(Encyclopedia)Eustathius, d. c.1194, Byzantine scholar, archbishop of Salonica (from 1175). He became renowned as master of the orators at Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, then a center of learning. He lectured on Hom...

Aristarchus of Samothrace

(Encyclopedia)Aristarchus of Samothrace sămˈəthrās [key], c.217–c.145 b.c., Greek scholar, successor to his teacher, Aristophanes of Byzantium, as librarian at Alexandria. He was an innovator of scientific sc...

Gelon

(Encyclopedia)Gelon jēˈlŏn [key], d. 478 b.c., Greek Sicilian ruler. As tyrant of Gela, his native city, he interfered in the struggle for power in Syracuse (485 b.c.) and made himself the leader of the popular ...

Simonides of Ceos

(Encyclopedia)Simonides of Ceos sīmŏnˈĭdēz, sēˈŏs [key], c.556–468? b.c., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos. At Athens for a time under the patronage of Hipparchus, he seems then to have gone to Thessaly, returni...

Ronsard, Pierre de

(Encyclopedia)Ronsard, Pierre de pyĕr də rôNsärˈ [key], 1524–1585, French poet. As page, then squire, Ronsard seemed destined for a career at court both in France and abroad. However, deafness turned him to ...

Bury, John Bagnell

(Encyclopedia)Bury, John Bagnell băgˈnəl byo͝oˈrē [key], Irish historian, an authority on the Byzantine Empire. He was professor at the Univ. of Dublin from 1893 to 1902 and at Cambridge from 1902. Bury consi...

lyric

(Encyclopedia)lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more generally used to ref...

Etna

(Encyclopedia)Etna or Aetna both: ĕtˈnə [key], volcano, 10,958 ft (3,340 m) high, on the east coast of Sicily, S Italy. One of the most active volcanoes in the world, it also is the highest active volcano in Eur...

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