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wax figures

(Encyclopedia)wax figures, sculptures usually made of beeswax or tallow, which is susceptible to modeling, casting, and coloring. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used wax to make sacred images or death masks. Wax...

Ahaz

(Encyclopedia)Ahaz āˈhăz [key], d. c.727 b.c., king of Judah (c.731–727 b.c.), son of Jotham. His reign marked the end of the real independence of Judah. A coalition of Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria attac...

Bessarion

(Encyclopedia)Bessarion bĕsârˈēən [key], 1395?–1472, Byzantine humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a leading figure at the Council of Ferrara-Florence, which he attended as metropolitan o...

Boccioni, Umberto

(Encyclopedia)Boccioni, Umberto o͞ombĕrˈtō bŏt-chôˈnē [key], 1882–1916, Italian futurist painter and sculptor. He played a primary role in the drafting of the manifesto of futurism in 1910 and was the maj...

Boötes

(Encyclopedia)Boötes bō-ōˈtēz [key] [Gr.,=the herdsman], northern constellation located to the SE of the Big Dipper in Ursa Major and W of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. It contains the brilliant orange ...

governor, in government

(Encyclopedia)governor, chief executive of a dependent or component unit in a political system. In the United States, a governor is the chief executive of each state and is elected by the people of the state. In th...

Stevens, Thaddeus

(Encyclopedia)Stevens, Thaddeus, 1792–1868, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania (1849–53, 1859–68), b. Danville, Vt. He taught in an academy at York, Pa., studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Marylan...

Achenwall, Gottfried

(Encyclopedia)Achenwall, Gottfried gôtˈfrēt äkhˈənväl [key], 1719–72, German statistician and political scientist. He used the term Statistik for the first time in his Staatsverfassung der heutigen vornehm...

populism

(Encyclopedia)populism, in politics, a movement or political strategy that purports to endorse the will of the common or ordinary people, especially when distinguished from and opposed to a corrupt political or eco...

Strauss, Leo

(Encyclopedia)Strauss, Leo, 1899–1973, American philosopher, b. Hesse, Germany. Strauss fled the Nazis and in 1938 came to the United States, where he taught at the New School in New York City (1938–48) and the...