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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...

epic

(Encyclopedia)epic, long, exalted narrative poem, usually on a serious subject, centered on a heroic figure. The earliest epics, known as primary, or original, epics, were shaped from the legends of an age when a n...

Valentinus

(Encyclopedia)Valentinus văləntēˈnəs [key], fl. c.135–c.160, founder of the Valentinians, the most celebrated of the Gnostic sects (see Gnosticism) of the 2d cent. The little that is known of his life is fou...

Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan

(Encyclopedia)Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan mo͞oēnˈ äd-dĭn häsänˈ chĭshˈtē [key], 1142–1236, Indian Muslim saint, b. Sistan, Persia. He founded a Sufi mystic order responsible for spreading Islamic teachi...

Ibn Tufayl

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Tufayl ĭˈbən to͞ofālˈ [key], d. 1185/86?, 12th-century Spanish-Arab philosopher and physician, b. near Granada. His chief work was a philosophical romance, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, describing the de...

Juliana of Norwich

(Encyclopedia)Juliana of Norwich nôrˈĭch [key], d. c.1443, English religious writer, an anchoress, or hermit, of Norwich called Mother (or Dame) Juliana or Julian. Her work, completed c.1393, Revelations of Divi...

Avempace

(Encyclopedia)Avempace āˈvəmpās, äˌvĕmpäˈthā [key], Arabic Ibn Bajja, d. 1138, Spanish-Arab philosopher. Little is known of his life, but he was born in Zaragoza and died in Fès, Morocco. Developing the ...

Cecco d'Ascoli

(Encyclopedia)Cecco d'Ascoli chĕkˈkō däsˈkōlē [key], 1269?–1327, Italian astrologer, mathematician, poet, and physician, whose real name was Francesco degli Stabili, b. Ascoli. A teacher of astrology at se...

Sacchi, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Sacchi, Andrea ändrĕˈä säkˈkē [key], 1599–1661, Italian baroque painter, b. Rome. He studied in Rome and in Bologna under Francesco Albani. His masterpiece, an allegory of Divine Wisdom (c.16...

soma

(Encyclopedia)soma sōˈmə [key], psychotropic plant, the juice of which was sometimes drunk as part of the Vedic sacrifice (see Veda). Many hymns in the Rig-Veda are in praise of soma. In the late Vedic period su...