Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

259 results found

De Morgan, William Frend

(Encyclopedia)De Morgan, William Frend, 1839–1917, English artist and novelist; son of Augustus De Morgan. A famous potter, he designed glass and tiles and rediscovered an old process of making colored lusterware...

Philippi

(Encyclopedia)Philippi fĭlĭpˈī [key], ancient city of Macedon and Macedonia, now in Greece, in E Macedonia. Inhabited by Thracians and then Thasians, it was renamed (probably 356 b.c.) by Philip II of Macedon, ...

Charles XII, king of Sweden

(Encyclopedia)Charles XII, 1682–1718, king of Sweden (1697–1718), son and successor of Charles XI. The regency under which he succeeded was abolished in 1697 at the request of the Riksdag. At the coronation he ...

American

(Encyclopedia)American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Au...

quaestor

(Encyclopedia)quaestor kwĕsˈtôr [key], Roman magistrate, with responsibility for the treasury; in early times a quaestor also had judicial powers. At first there were two quaestors. Sulla named 20, and Caesar se...

Phaedrus

(Encyclopedia)Phaedrus fēˈdrəs [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Latin writer, a Thracian slave, possibly a freedman of Augustus. He wrote fables in verse based largely on those of Aesop. The prose collections of fable...

Göttingen

(Encyclopedia)Göttingen götˈĭng-ən [key], city, Lower Saxony, central Germany, on the Leine River. It is ...

Nicopolis

(Encyclopedia)Nicopolis nĭkŏpˈəlĭs, nī– [key] [Gr.,=city of victory], ancient city, NW Greece, in Epirus. It was founded by Octavian (later Augustus) to celebrate the victory (31 b.c.) at Actium, which is n...

Nola

(Encyclopedia)Nola nôˈlä [key], town (1991 pop. 32,613), in Campania, S Italy. It is an agricultural center with food-processing industries. An Etruscan stronghold as early as 500 b.c., Nola flourished after pas...

Shaw, Robert Gould

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Robert Gould, 1837–63, Union hero in the American Civil War, b. Boston. An ardent white abolitionist, he was colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first body of black troops raised i...