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Timotheus , Greek poet and musician

(Encyclopedia)Timotheus tĭmōˈthēəs [key], c.450–c.357 b.c., Greek poet and musician of Miletus. An innovator in music, he added a string to the kithara. Fragments of his dithyrambs and nomes remain. Euripide...

Autolycus, Greek astronomer and mathematician

(Encyclopedia)Autolycus ôtŏlˈĭkəs [key], fl. 4th cent. b.c., astronomer and mathematician of Pitane in Aeolis. Of his two extant works, that on the revolving sphere is said to be the oldest completely preserve...

Neptune, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Neptune, in astronomy, 8th planet from the sun at a mean distance of about 2.8 billion mi (4.5 billion km) with an orbit lying between those of Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto; its period of revolut...

abacus, in architecture

(Encyclopedia)abacus ăbˈəkəs [key], in architecture, flat slab forming the top member of a capital. In classical orders it varies from a square form having unmolded sides in the Greek Doric, to thinner proporti...

Said, Ali Ahmad

(Encyclopedia)Said, Ali Ahmad: see Adonis.

Adunis

(Encyclopedia)Adunis: see Adonis, Syrian poet. ...

Thetis

(Encyclopedia)Thetis thēˈtĭs [key], in Greek mythology, a nereid, mother of Achilles. She was loved by both Zeus and Poseidon, but because of a prophecy that her son would be greater than his father, the gods ga...

Byblos

(Encyclopedia)Byblos bĭbˈləs [key], ancient city, Phoenicia, a port 17 mi (27 km) NNE of modern Beirut, Lebanon. The principal city of Phoenicia during the 2d millennium b.c., it long retained importance as an a...

Attis

(Encyclopedia)Attis āˈ– [key], in Phrygian religion, vegetation god. When Nana ate the fruit of the almond tree, which had been generated by the blood of either Agdistis or of Cybele, she conceived Attis. Later...

Aratus, Greek statesman and general

(Encyclopedia)Aratus, d. 213 b.c., Greek statesman and general of Sicyon, prime mover and principal leader of the Second Achaean League. His objective at first was to free the Peloponnesus from Macedonian dominatio...