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entasis

(Encyclopedia)entasis ĕnˈtəsĭs [key] [Gr.,=stretching], the slight convex curvature of a classical column that diminishes in diameter as it rises. This device, as used by Greek builders, was of extreme subtlety...

Eudoxus of Cnidus

(Encyclopedia)Eudoxus of Cnidus yo͞odŏkˈsəs, nīˈdəs [key], 408?–355? b.c., Greek astronomer, mathematician, and physician. From the accounts of various ancient writers, he appears to have studied with Plat...

Odysseus

(Encyclopedia)Odysseus yo͞olĭsˈēz [key], in Greek mythology, son and successor of King Laertes of Ithaca. A leader of Greek forces during the Trojan War, Odysseus was noted (as in the Iliad) for his cunning str...

Palamas, Kostes

(Encyclopedia)Palamas, Kostes kôstēsˈ pälämäsˈ [key], 1859–1943, Greek poet. He studied at the Univ. of Athens of which he later was secretary for many years. Except in his early work, he wrote in demotic ...

Iphigenia

(Encyclopedia)Iphigenia ĭfˌəjənīˈə [key], in Greek legend, daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. When the Greek ships were delayed by contrary winds at Aulis en route to the Trojan War, Calchas informed Ag...

Simonides of Ceos

(Encyclopedia)Simonides of Ceos sīmŏnˈĭdēz, sēˈŏs [key], c.556–468? b.c., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos. At Athens for a time under the patronage of Hipparchus, he seems then to have gone to Thessaly, returni...

Y

(Encyclopedia)Y, 25th letter of the alphabet. It was a Latin importation of the eastern Greek upsilon (see U), which was pronounced like ü; the Romans used it for Greek words. In English y mainly represents the se...

Charon, in mythology

(Encyclopedia)Charon, in Greek mythology: see Hades. ...

Pétain, Henri Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Pétain, Henri Philippe äNrēˈ fēlēpˈ pātăNˈ [key], 1856–1951, French army officer, head of state of the Vichy government (see under Vichy). In World War I he halted the Germans at Verdun (1...

naiads

(Encyclopedia)naiads, in Greek mythology: see nymph. ...