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Hafiz

(Encyclopedia)Hafiz häfēzˈ [key] [Arab.,=one who has memorized the Qur'an], 1319–1389?, Persian lyric poet, b. Shiraz. His original name was Shams al-Din Muhammad. He acquired the surname from having memorized...

Beyazid I

(Encyclopedia)Beyazid I bāyäzĭdˈ [key], 1347–1403, Ottoman sultan (1389–1402), son and successor of Murad I. He besieged Byzantine Emperor Manuel II at Constantinople, then overcame the Turkish rulers in E ...

Bellini

(Encyclopedia)Bellini jōvänˈnē [key], c.1430–1516, who was first active in Padua where he worked with his father and brother. Also influenced by Mantegna, who became his brother-in-law in 1454, Giovanni paint...

Trebizond, empire of

(Encyclopedia)Trebizond, empire of, 1204–1461. When the army of the Fourth Crusade overthrew (1204) the Byzantine Empire and established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, several Greek successor states sprang u...

Reza Shah Pahlevi

(Encyclopedia)Reza Shah Pahlevi rēˈzä shä päˈləvē [key], 1878–1944, shah of Iran (1925–41). He began his career as an army officer and gained a reputation for valor and leadership. He headed a coup in 1...

Sheba, region, Arabian Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Sheba, biblical name of a region, called in Arabic Saba, of S Arabia, including present-day Yemen and the Hadhramaut. Its inhabitants were called Sabaeans or Sabeans. According to some passages in Gen...

Uthman

(Encyclopedia)Uthman ōthˈ [key], c.574–656, 3d caliph (644–56), also known as Uthman ibn al-Affan; son-in-law of Muhammad. He belonged to the great Umayyad family and was selected as caliph after the murder o...

Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah

(Encyclopedia)Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah khōmāˈnē [key], 1900–1989, Iranian Shiite religious leader. Educated in Islam at home and in theological schools, in the 1950s he was designated ayatollah, a supreme...

Mendelssohn, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Mendelssohn, Felix (Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn) mĕnˈdəlsən, Ger. yäˈkôp lo͝otˈvĭkh fāˈlĭks mĕnˈdəls-zōnˌ [key], 1809–47, German composer; grandson of the Jewish philosopher Mos...

Moltke, Helmuth Karl Bernhard, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Moltke, Helmuth Karl Bernhard, Graf von, 1800–1891, Prussian field marshal. Following his graduation from the Royal Military Academy of Denmark, he entered the Danish service, but resigned his commi...