Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dexippus

(Encyclopedia)Dexippus (Publius Herennius Dexippus) dĕksĭpˈəs [key], fl. 253–276, Greek historian of the Roman period. He commanded Greek troops in an unsuccessful attempt to halt a Gothic invasion in 262. Hi...

Dioscorides, Pedanius

(Encyclopedia)Dioscorides, Pedanius pĭdānˈēəs dīəskôrˈĭdēz [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Greek physician of Anazarbus, Cilicia. While traveling as a surgeon in the Roman army, he collected information on th...

Ochakiv

(Encyclopedia)Ochakiv əchäˈkəf [key], city, S Ukraine, on the Dnieper-Buh estuary and on the Black Sea. It is the center of an agricultural district and a seaport with fishing industries. In the 7th and 6th cen...

Cumae

(Encyclopedia)Cumae kyo͞oˈmē [key], ancient city of Campania, Italy, near Naples. According to Strabo, it was the earliest Greek colony in Italy or Sicily, and it seems to have been founded c.750 b.c. by Chalcis...

acrostic

(Encyclopedia)acrostic əkrŏˈstĭk [key], arrangement of words or lines in which a series of initial, final, or other corresponding letters, when taken together, stand in a set order ...

Capo d'Istria, Giovanni Antonio, Count

(Encyclopedia)Capo d'Istria, Giovanni Antonio, Count käˈpō dēˈstrēä [key], Gr. Joannes Antonios Capodistrias or Kapodistrias, 1776–1831, Greek and Russian statesman, b. Corfu. After administrative work in ...

Cheke, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Cheke, Sir John chēk [key], 1514–57, English scholar. As professor of Greek at Cambridge he taught Roger Ascham and later was tutor to Edward VI. A Protestant, he was imprisoned by Mary I. Although...

Reinmar von Zweter

(Encyclopedia)Reinmar von Zweter tsvāˈtər [key], c.1200–c.1260, German minnesinger. He is best known for his Sprüche, short and often satirical verses on politics, religion, morals, and courtly love. ...

Hathor

(Encyclopedia)Hathor hăthˈôr [key], in Egyptian religion, celestial goddess of love and festivity. The personification of the sky, she was represented as a star-studded cow or as a woman with the head of a cow. ...

Aristophanes of Byzantium

(Encyclopedia)Aristophanes of Byzantium bĭzănˈshēəm, –tēəm [key], c.257–180 b.c., Greek scholar. He was librarian at Alexandria, edited various texts, and reputedly invented the Greek diacritical marks. ...