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Firdausi

(Encyclopedia)Firdausi or Ferdowsi both: fərdouˈsē [key], c.940–1020, principal Persian poet, author of the Shah Namah [the book of kings], the great Persian epic. His original name was Abul Kasim Mansur; he i...

Esfahan

(Encyclopedia)Esfahan ĭsˈfəhän [key], anc. Aspadana, city, capital of Esfahan prov., central Iran, on t...

Tripoli , city, Lebanon

(Encyclopedia)Tripoli täräbˈo͝olo͝os [key], ancient Tripolis, city (1996 est. pop. 300,000), NW Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea. Citrus fruits, cotton, and other goods are exported from Tripoli. It has an oi...

Palermo

(Encyclopedia)Palermo pälĕrˈmō [key], Lat. Panormus, city (1991 pop. 698,556), capital of Palermo prov. and of Sicily, NW Sicily, Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Situated on the edge of the Conca d'Oro (Golden Co...

Palmyra, ancient city, Syria

(Encyclopedia)Palmyra pălmīˈrə [key], ancient city of central Syria. A small modern village known as Tudmor or Tadmor (the Syrian Arabic name of Palmyra) is nearby; residents were relocated from the ancient sit...

Galilee

(Encyclopedia)Galilee gălˈĭlē [key], region, N Israel, roughly the portion north of the plain of Esdraelon. Galilee was the chief scene of the ministry of Jesus. The Sea of Galilee (see Galilee, Sea of), the co...

Hussein I

(Encyclopedia)Hussein I ho͝osānˈ, –īnˈ [key], 1935–99, king of Jordan; educated in England at Harrow and Sandhurst. He ascended the throne (1953) after his grandfather Abdullah I had been killed (1951) by ...

Ishmael

(Encyclopedia)Ishmael ĭshˈmāĕl [key] [Heb.,=God hears], in the Bible. 1 Son of Abraham and Hagar; ancestor of 12 tribes in N Arabia. Through Sara's jealousy he and his mother were sent into the desert, where th...

Harun ar-Rashid

(Encyclopedia)Harun ar-Rashid häro͞on är-räshēdˈ [key] [Arab.,=Aaron the Upright], c.764–809, 5th and most famous Abbasid caliph (786–809). He succeeded his brother Musa al-Hadi, fourth caliph, a year aft...

Bukhara, emirate of

(Encyclopedia)Bukhara, emirate of, former state, central Asia, in Turkistan, in the Amu Darya River basin. Part of ancient Sogdiana, it was ruled (a.d. 709–874) by the Umayyad Arabs and played an important role u...