Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

(Encyclopedia)Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse əpŏkˈəlĭps [key], allegorical figures in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The rider on the white horse has many interpretations—one is that he represents Chr...

Virginia, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Virginia, state of the S Middle-Atlantic United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), North Carolina and Tennessee (S), Kentucky and West Virginia (W), and Maryland and the District...

United States Naval Academy

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md.; for training young men and women to be officers of the U.S. navy or marine corps. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, founded and opened (1845) it a...

Diamond Necklace, Affair of the

(Encyclopedia)Diamond Necklace, Affair of the, scandal that took place at the court of King Louis XVI of France just before the French Revolution. An adventuress who called herself the comtesse de La Motte duped Ca...

Diogenes of Apollonia

(Encyclopedia)Diogenes of Apollonia ăpəlōˈnēə [key], 5th cent. b.c., Greek philosopher. An eclectic, he reverted to the Milesian tradition of a century earlier in seeking to explain the constitution of all ma...

Q, letter of the alphabet

(Encyclopedia)Q, 17th letter of the alphabet, corresponding to the koppa of western Greek alphabets. U must follow the letter in English (e.g., queen, question), and the combination properly represents a sound much...

Afars and the Issas, French Territory of the

(Encyclopedia)Afars and the Issas, French Territory of the: see Djibouti, republic. ...

Charles III, emperor of the West, king of the East Franks, and king of the West Franks

(Encyclopedia)Charles III or Charles the Fat, 839–88, emperor of the West (881–87), king of the East Franks (882–87), and king of the West Franks (884–87); son of Louis the German, at whose death he inherit...

Carloman, d. 754, mayor of the palace in the kingdom of Austrasia, brother of Pepin the Short

(Encyclopedia)Carloman, d. 754, mayor of the palace in the kingdom of Austrasia after the death (741) of his father, Charles Martel. Ruling with his brother, Pepin the Short, he carried on successful wars against t...

Alexander, king of Serbia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander (Alexander Obrenović) ōbrĕˈnəvĭch [key], 1876–1903, king of Serbia (1889–1903), son of King Milan. He succeeded on his father's abdication. Proclaiming himself of age in 1893, he t...