Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Persia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Persian Empire (c.500 b.c.) Persia pûrˈzhə, –shə [key], old alternate name for the Asian country Iran. The article Iran contains a description of the geography and economy of the modern ...

Modestinus, Herennius

(Encyclopedia)Modestinus, Herennius hərĕnˈēəs mŏdəstīˈnəs [key], fl. c.a.d. 250, Roman jurist; student of Ulpian. Under the Roman Empire he was one of the five jurists, including Papinian, whose views wer...

Harpocrates

(Encyclopedia)Harpocrates härpŏkˈrətēz [key], the Greek name for the Egyptian sky god Horus. He was represented as a small boy with his finger held to his lips and came to be considered the god of silence. His...

Ipsus

(Encyclopedia)Ipsus ĭpˈsəs [key], small town, ancient Phrygia, Asia Minor. Antigonus I, who had summoned his son Demetrius to his aid, was defeated and slain there by his rivals Seleucus and Lysimachus in 301 b....

Couture, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Couture, Thomas tômäˈ ko͞otürˈ [key], 1815–79, French academic painter. He was a pupil of Gros and Delaroche. He achieved fame with his vast orgy painting, Romans in the Decadence of the Empir...

Chanthaburi

(Encyclopedia)Chanthaburi chäntäˌbo͝orēˈ [key], town, capital of Chanthaburi prov., SE Thailand, near the Gulf of ...

Prester John

(Encyclopedia)Prester John, legendary Christian priest and monarch of a vast, wealthy empire in Asia or in Africa. The legend first appeared in the latter part of the 12th cent. and persisted for several centuries....

Tyana

(Encyclopedia)Tyana tīˈənə [key], town of ancient Cappadocia, at the northern foot of the Taurus range, in present S central Turkey. A powerful military fortress and a prosperous commercial center as early as t...

Osroene

(Encyclopedia)Osroene ŏsrōēˈnē [key], ancient kingdom of NW Mesopotamia, in present-day SE Turkey and NE Syria. Edessa was its capital. It broke away (2d cent. b.c.) from the Seleucid empire and formed a separ...

Adrianople, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Adrianople, Treaty of, also called Treaty of Edirne, 1829, peace treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (see Russo-Turkish Wars). Turkey gave Russia access to the mouths of the Danube and additi...

Browse by Subject