Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Xenophon

(Encyclopedia)Xenophon zĕnˈəfən [key], c.430 b.c.–c.355 b.c., Greek historian, b. Athens. He was one of the well-to-do young disciples of Socrates before leaving Athens to join the Greek force (the Ten Thousa...

Neapolis

(Encyclopedia)Neapolis nēăpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=new city], name of many cities in ancient Greek and Roman times. The most important is the modern Naples, Italy. ...

Nemean lion

(Encyclopedia)Nemean lion nĭmēˈən [key], in Greek mythology, an enormous lion, said to be the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. It was invulnerable to all weapons until Hercules, in his first labor, strangled it...

Neptune, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Neptune, in Roman religion and mythology, god of water. He was presumably an indigenous god of fertility, but in later times he was identified with the Greek Poseidon, god of the sea. At his festival,...

Lincoln Memorial

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln Memorial, monument, 107 acres (45 hectares), in Potomac Park, Washington, D.C.; built 1914–17. The building, designed by Henry Bacon and styled after a Greek temple, has 36 Doric columns rep...

Astraea

(Encyclopedia)Astraea ăstrēˈə [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of justice; daughter of Zeus and Themis. Because of the wickedness of man, she withdrew from the earth at the end of the Golden Age ...

Asopus

(Encyclopedia)Asopus əsōˈpəs [key], in Greek mythology, river god. He tried to prevent Zeus from abducting his daughter Aegina, but Zeus drove him off with a thunderbolt. ...

Salmoneus

(Encyclopedia)Salmoneus sălmōˈnēəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Elis; son of Aeolus. Pretending to be Zeus, he demanded sacrifices, threw torches to imitate lightning, and made noises like thunder with h...

Tchernihovsky, Saul

(Encyclopedia)Tchernihovsky, Saul chərnəhôfˈskē [key], 1873–1943, Russian poet who wrote in Hebrew. He was a practicing physician. His sonnets and idylls eschew the didacticism of typical Hebrew poetry and s...

Thersander

(Encyclopedia)Thersander thərsănˈdər [key], in Greek legend, son of Polynices. He avenged his father's death in the expedition of the Epigoni and was made king of Thebes. ...

Browse by Subject