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Ptolemy XII

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy XII (Ptolemy Auletes) ôlēˈtēz [key], d. 51 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (80–58 b.c., 55–51 b.c.), of the Macedonian dynasty, illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX. He is also called Ptolemy Ne...

Francis

(Encyclopedia)Francis, 1936–, pope (2013–), an Argentinian (b. Buenos Aires to Italian immigrants) named Jorge Mario Bergoglio; successor of Benedict XVI. Francis, the first non-European to assume the papacy in...

Rheinberger, Josef

(Encyclopedia)Rheinberger, Josef yōˈzĕf rīnˈbĕrgər [key], 1839–1901, German composer; studied at the Munich Conservatory, where he later taught. An eclectic, late romantic composer, he wrote 20 organ sonat...

Barnes, Barnabe

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, Barnabe, 1569?–1609, English poet. His major work is Parthenophil and Parthenophe (1593), a collection of sonnets, madrigals, elegies, and odes. He also wrote A Divine Century of Spiritual S...

Villa Doria Pamphili

(Encyclopedia)Villa Doria Pamphili vēlˈlä dôˈryä pämˈfēlē [key], Roman villa, built in the 17th cent. for Camillo Pamphili, nephew of Pope Innocent X, from plans designed by Alessandro Algardi. It was sit...

Alfonso IX, Spanish king of León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso IX, 1171–1230, Spanish king of León (1188–1230), son and successor of Ferdinand II. He conquered from the Moors several cities in Extremadura and was frequently at war with Alfonso VIII o...

apostrophe, figure of speech

(Encyclopedia)apostrophe, figure of speech in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present. The term is derived from a Greek word meaning “a turning away...

Lacan, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Lacan, Jacques zhäk läkäNˈ [key], 1901–81, French psychoanalyst. After receiving a medical degree, he became a psychoanalyst in Paris. Lacan was infamous for his unorthodox methods of treatment,...

business cycles

(Encyclopedia)business cycles, fluctuations in economic activity characterized by periods of rising and falling fiscal health. During a business cycle, an economy grows, reaches a peak, and then begins a downturn f...

William of Occam

(Encyclopedia)William of Occam or Ockham both: ŏkˈəm [key], c.1285–c.1349, English scholastic philosopher. A Franciscan, Occam studied and taught at Oxford from c.1310 until 1324, when he was summoned to the p...