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Saint-Raphaël

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Raphaël săN-räfäĕlˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 26,799), Var dept., SE France, on the French Riviera. It is an elegant resort and a small commercial port as well as an important naval air base ...

Siwah

(Encyclopedia)Siwah or Siwa both: sēˈwä [key], oasis, c.35 sq mi (90 sq km), NW Egypt, in the Libyan (Western) Desert. Dates and tea are grown in the oasis, parts of which are c.200 ft (60 m) below sea level. Em...

Ptolemaïs, ancient cities, Asia and Africa

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemaïs tŏləmāˈīs [key], ancient name given to several cities to honor members of the dynasty of the Ptolemies. One of these later became known as Akko, in modern Israel. Another was one of th...

Al Aswany, Alaa

(Encyclopedia)Al Aswany, Alaa, 1957–, Egyptian author, b. Cairo. The son of a novelist-lawyer, he was trained as a dentist at Cairo Univ. (grad. 1980) and the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago (M.S., 1987) and has com...

embalming

(Encyclopedia)embalming ĕmbäˈmĭng, ĭm– [key], practice of preserving the body after death by artificial means. The custom was prevalent among many ancient peoples and still survives in many cultures. It was ...

Port Said

(Encyclopedia)Port Said bo͝or [key], city (1986 pop. 469,533), NE Egypt, a port on the Mediterranean Sea at the entrance to the Suez Canal. It is a fueling point for ships using the canal and is the site of the ma...

Abd al-Aziz

(Encyclopedia)Abd al-Aziz Turk. äbdülˈäzēzˈ [key], 1830–76, Ottoman sultan (1861–76), brother and successor of Abd al-Majid. The economic and political reforms enacted under his rule could not outpace the...

Bassiouni, M. Cherif

(Encyclopedia)Bassiouni, M. Cherif (Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni), 1937–2017, Egyptian-American international criminal law jurist and human-rights advocate, b. Cairo. Bassiouni fought for Egypt in the Suez conflict (...

Pan-Arabism

(Encyclopedia)Pan-Arabism, general term for the modern movement for political unification among the Arab nations of the Middle East. Since the Ottoman Turks rose to power in the 14th cent., there have been stirring...

inscription

(Encyclopedia)inscription, writing on durable material. The art is called epigraphy. Modern inscriptions are made for permanent, monumental record, as on gravestones, cornerstones, and building fronts; they are oft...