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Christian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Christian art and architecture: see especially the survey articles on Early Christian art and architecture, Byzantine art and architecture, Coptic art, Merovingian art and architecture, Carolingian ar...

Urban V

(Encyclopedia)Urban V, 1310–70, pope (1362–70), a Provençal named Guillaume de Grimoard; successor of Innocent VI. He was a Benedictine renowned for his knowledge of canon law. The great event of Urban's ponti...

Pskov

(Encyclopedia)Pskov pəskôfˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 204,000), capital of Pskov region, NW European Russia, on the Velikaya River. It is an important rail junction in the heart of a flax-growing area. Industries i...

Iráklion

(Encyclopedia)Iráklion kănˈdēə [key], city, capital of Crete governorate and Iráklion prefecture, N C...

John of Procida

(Encyclopedia)John of Procida prōˈchēdä [key], c.1225–c.1302, Italian conspirator, lord of the island of Procida. He was an ardent supporter of the Hohenstaufen cause in Sicily and attempted to secure the isl...

Cyrus the Great

(Encyclopedia)Cyrus the Great sīˈrəs [key], d. 529 b.c., king of Persia, founder of the greatness of the Achaemenids and of the Persian Empire. According to Herodotus, he was the son of an Iranian noble, the eld...

Hagia Sophia

(Encyclopedia)Hagia Sophia häˈjə sōfēˈə, hāˈjēə, [key] [Gr.,=Holy Wisdom] or Santa Sophia, Turkish Ayasofya, originally a Christian church at Constantinople (now İstanbul, Turkey) and then a mosque unde...

titles

(Encyclopedia)CE5 titles, terms used to designate degrees of sovereignty, nobility, and honor. In the Muslim world the temporal successors of Muhammad received the title caliph (literally, “successor”). ...

Muawiya

(Encyclopedia)Muawiya mo͞oäˈwēä [key], d. 680, 1st Umayyad caliph (661–80), one of the greatest Muslim statesmen; son of Abu Sufyan, a Koreish tribesman of Mecca. He submitted to Islam the year of the surren...

Mahmud I

(Encyclopedia)Mahmud I mämo͞odˈ, mäˈmo͞od [key], 1696–1754, Ottoman sultan (1730–54), son of Mustafa II, nephew and successor of Ahmed III. A revolt of the Janissaries put him on the throne of the Ottoman...