(Encyclopedia) HafizHafizhäfēzˈ [key] [Arab.,=one who has memorized the Qur'an], 1319–1389?, Persian lyric poet, b. Shiraz. His original name was Shams al-Din Muhammad. He acquired the surname from…
(Encyclopedia) alabaster, fine-grained, massive, translucent variety of gypsum, a hydrous calcium sulfate. It is pure white or streaked with reddish brown. Alabaster, like all other forms of gypsum,…
(Encyclopedia) ShirazShirazshēräzˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 965,117), capital of Fars prov., SW Iran, at an altitude of c.5,200 ft (1,580 m). It is a commercial and industrial center and has long been…
(Encyclopedia) Beyazid IBeyazid Ibāyäzĭdˈ [key], 1347–1403, Ottoman sultan (1389–1402), son and successor of Murad I. He besieged Byzantine Emperor Manuel II at Constantinople, then overcame the…
(Encyclopedia) Trebizond, empire of, 1204–1461. When the army of the Fourth Crusade overthrew (1204) the Byzantine Empire and established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, several Greek successor…
(Encyclopedia) BelliniBellinibĕl-lēˈnē [key], illustrious family of Venetian painters of the Renaissance. Jacopo BelliniJacopo Belliniyäˈkōpō [key], c.1400–1470, was a pupil of Gentile da Fabriano.…
(Encyclopedia) Khomeini, Ayatollah RuhollahKhomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollahkhōmāˈnē [key], 1900–1989, Iranian Shiite religious leader. Educated in Islam at home and in theological schools, in the 1950s…
(Encyclopedia) Sheba, biblical name of a region, called in Arabic Saba, of S Arabia, including present-day Yemen and the Hadhramaut. Its inhabitants were called Sabaeans or Sabeans. According to some…
