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Euripides

(Encyclopedia)Euripides yo͝orĭpˈĭdēz [key], 480 or 485–406 b.c., Greek tragic dramatist, ranking with Aeschylus and Sophocles. Born in Attica, he lived in Athens most of his life, though he spent much time o...

Hama

(Encyclopedia)Hama or Hamah both: häˈmä [key], city (1995 est. pop. 280,000), capital of Hama governorate, W central Syria, on the Orontes River. It is the market center for an irrigated farm region where cotton...

Ugarit

(Encyclopedia)Ugarit o͞ogərētˈ [key], ancient city, capital of the Ugarit kingdom, W Syria, on the Mediterranean coast N of modern Latakia. Although the name of this city was known from Egyptian and Hittite sou...

York, Richard, duke of

(Encyclopedia)York, Richard, duke of, 1411–60, English nobleman, claimant to the throne. He was descended from Edward III through his father, Richard, earl of Cambridge, grandson of that king, and also through hi...

Smith, John, English colonist in America

(Encyclopedia)Smith, John, c.1580–1631, English colonist in America, b. Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England. A merchant's apprentice until his father's death in 1596, he thereafter lived an adventurous life, travel...

Toussaint Louverture, François Dominique

(Encyclopedia)Toussaint Louverture or L'Ouverture, François Dominique fräNswäˈ dômēnēkˈ to͞osăNˈ lo͞ovĕrtürˈ [key], c.1744–1803, Haitian patriot and martyr. A self-educated slave freed shortly befo...

Celt

(Encyclopedia)Celt kĕlt [key]. 1 One who speaks a Celtic language or who derives ancestry from an area where a Celtic language was spoken; i.e., one from Ireland, the Scottish Hebrides and Highlands, the Isle of M...

Provençal literature

(Encyclopedia)Provençal literature, vernacular literature of S France. Provençal, or Occitan, as the language is now often called, appears to have been the first vernacular tongue used in French commerce and lite...

Provence

(Encyclopedia)Provence prôväNsˈ [key], region and former province, SE France. It encompasses what now are Var, Vaucluse, and Bouches-du-Rhône depts. and (in part) Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes dep...

Edward VI

(Encyclopedia)Edward VI, 1537–53, king of England (1547–53), son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. Edward succeeded his father to the throne at the age of nine. Henry had made arrangements for a council of regent...