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Aegean Sea

(Encyclopedia)Aegean Sea, Gr. Aigaion Pelagos, Turkish Ege Denizi, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, c.400 mi (640 km) long and 200 mi (320 km) wide, off SE Europe between Greece and Turkey; Crete and Rhodes mark its s...

labyrinth

(Encyclopedia)CE5 labyrinth lăbˈərĭnth [key], intricate building of chambers and passages, often constructed so as to perplex and confuse a person inside. In Egypt, Amenemhet III of the XII dynasty built him...

Nearchus

(Encyclopedia)Nearchus nēärˈkəs [key], fl. 324 b.c., Macedonian general, b. Crete; friend of Alexander the Great. In 325 b.c., Alexander, about to leave India, had a fleet built in the Indus to transport part o...

Lucaris, Cyril

(Encyclopedia)Lucaris, Cyril lyo͞okāˈrĭs [key], 1572–1637, Greek churchman, b. Crete (then belonging to Venice). He studied at Venice and Padua and was elected patriarch of Alexandria (1602–20) and of Const...

Philopoemen

(Encyclopedia)Philopoemen fĭləpēˈmən [key], c.252–183 b.c., Greek statesman and general, b. Megalopolis. For years he fought as a mercenary in Crete. In 209 he became commander of the Achaean cavalry, with w...

Minoan civilization

(Encyclopedia)Minoan civilization mĭnōˈən [key], ancient Cretan culture representing a stage in the development of the Aegean civilization. It was named for the legendary King Minos of Crete by Sir Arthur Evans...

Ariadne

(Encyclopedia)Ariadne ărēădˈnē [key], in Greek mythology, Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë. She loved Theseus, and gave him the skein of thread that enabled him to make his way out of the labyr...

Mílos, island, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Mílos mēˈlō, mīˈ– [key], mountainous island (1991 pop. 4,390), 58 sq mi (150 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; one of the Cyclades. The main town is Mílos, formerly known as Plaka. The is...

Evans, Sir Arthur John

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Sir Arthur John, 1851–1941, English archaeologist. He was (1884–1908) keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. From 1900 to 1935 he conducted excavations on the Greek island of Crete, prin...

Philistines

(Encyclopedia)Philistines fĭlˈĭstēnz, fĭlĭsˈ– [key], inhabitants of Philistia, a non-Semitic people who came to Palestine from a region in the Mediterranean in the 12th cent. b.c. Genetic studies in the 21...

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