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Dante Alighieri

(Encyclopedia)Dante Alighieri dănˈtē, Ital. dänˈtā älēgyĕˈrē [key], 1265–1321, Italian poet, b. Florence. Dante was the author of the Divine Comedy, one of the greatest of literary classics. Dante's ...

Gnosticism

(Encyclopedia)Gnosticism nŏsˈtĭsĭzəm [key], dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d c...

Ea

(Encyclopedia)Ea ĕngˈkē [key], ancient water god of Sumerian origin, worshiped in Babylonian religion. The great benefactor of mankind, Ea was called the lord of wisdom, of magic, and of the arts and sciences. W...

Francesca da Rimini

(Encyclopedia)Francesca da Rimini fränchĕsˈkä dä rēˈmēnē [key], fl. 13th cent., Italian beauty, daughter of Guido da Polenta of Ravenna. She was married by proxy to the hunchbacked lord of Rimini, Gianciot...

Pátmos

(Encyclopedia)Pátmos pätˈmôs, pătˈməs [key], island (1991 pop. 2,663), c.13 sq mi (34 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; one of the Dodecanese, near Turkey. On the island, according to Rev. 1.9, the exile...

Beatrice Portinari

(Encyclopedia)Beatrice Portinari bēˈətrĭs, Ital. bāätrēˈchā pōrtēnäˈrē [key], 1266–90, Florentine woman believed to be the Beatrice of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and Vita nuova. He first saw Be...

Semele

(Encyclopedia)Semele sĕmˈĭlē [key], in Greek mythology, mother of Dionysus, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Zeus, who loved her, appeared to her as a man. Semele asked him to come to her in his divine form, bu...

Chaos

(Encyclopedia)Chaos kāˈōs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, vacant, unfathomable space. From it arose all things, earthly and divine. There are various legends explaining it. In one version, Eurynome rose ...

healers

(Encyclopedia)healers, people who treat illness or suffering by calling forth divine help or by attempting to control the body with the mind and spirit. Since prehistoric times healers have used such techniques as ...

Schmidt, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Schmidt, Wilhelm, 1868–1954, German linguist and anthropologist, a Roman Catholic priest. Educated at the universities of Berlin and Vienna, he entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1890. Residi...