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Vulcan, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Vulcan, in Roman religion and mythology, fire god. Chiefly a god of destructive fire, Vulcan seems to have originated as a god of volcanoes. His festival, the Volcanalia, was held on Aug. 23. He was l...

Neptune, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Neptune, in Roman religion and mythology, god of water. He was presumably an indigenous god of fertility, but in later times he was identified with the Greek Poseidon, god of the sea. At his festival,...

Vishniac, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Vishniac, Roman vĭshˈnēăk [key], 1897–1990, Russian-American biologist, photographer, linguist, art historian, and philosopher, b. Pavlosk, near St. Petersburg. Vishniac took degrees in medicine...

Margaret Maultasch

(Encyclopedia)Margaret Maultasch moulˈtäsh [key] [Ger.,=pocket mouth], 1318–69, countess of Tyrol, called the Ugly Duchess, probably because of her unattractive appearance, especially her mouth. When Margaret's...

Ceres, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Ceres sîrˈēz [key], in Roman religion and mythology, goddess of grain; daughter of Saturn and Ops. She was identified by the Romans with the Greek Demeter. Her worship was connected with that of th...

Jakobson, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Jakobson, Roman rəmänˈ yäkˈôbsən [key], 1896–1982, Russian-American linguist and literary critic, b. Moscow. He coined the term structural linguistics and stressed that the aim of historical ...

Hohenstaufen

(Encyclopedia)Hohenstaufen hōˌənshtouˈfən [key], German princely family, whose name is derived from the castle of Staufen built in 1077 by a Swabian count, Frederick. In 1079, Frederick married Agnes, daughter...

electors

(Encyclopedia)electors, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, the princes who had the right to elect the German kings or, more exactly, the kings of the Romans (Holy Roman emperors). Until the reign (1493–1519...