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Ardashir I

(Encyclopedia)Ardashir I ärdäshērˈ [key] [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?–240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the c...

Mongkut

(Encyclopedia)Mongkut rämˈə [key], 1804–68, king of Siam, now Thailand (1851–68). A devout Buddhist monk, he was displaced in succession to the throne by his brother, who ascended as Rama III. Mongkut became...

Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Lusignan lüzēnyäNˈ [key], French noble family. The name is derived from a castle in Poitou, built, according to legend, by Mélusine. The family was powerful in the Middle Ages and ruled (13th–1...

Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch pərzhĭvälˈskē [key], 1839–88, Russian geographer and explorer in central and E Asia. He made five major expeditions—one to the...

El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

Shapur III

(Encyclopedia)Shapur III or Sapor III, d. 388, king of Persia (383–88), of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; son of Shapur II; successor of his uncle, Ardashir II. He made a new attempt to settle the long-last...

Armenian literature

(Encyclopedia)Armenian literature. The Armenian Church fostered literature, and the principal early works are religious or hagiographical, most of them translations. The first major Armenian literary work is a 5th ...

Turkmanchai, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Turkmanchai, Treaty of to͝orkmänchīˈ [key], 1828, agreement signed by Russia and Persia at the village of Turkmanchai (Torkaman), East Azerbaijan prov., NW Iran. It concluded the Russo-Persian war...

Abdul Rahman, Tunku

(Encyclopedia)Abdul Rahman, Tunku, to͝onˈko͞o äbˈdo͝ol räˈmän [key], 1903–90, Malaysian political leader. A prince (tunku), he was the fifth son of Sultan Abdul Halim Shah of Kedah and was educated in En...

Sher Ali

(Encyclopedia)Sher Ali shēr älēˈ, shâr [key], 1825–79, emir of Afghanistan (1863–79), son of Dost Muhammad. His succession was opposed by other members of his family, notably his brothers. Sher Ali turned ...