Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mentor, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Mentor mĕnˈtər, –tôrˌ [key], in Greek mythology, friend of Odysseus and tutor of Telemachus. On several occasions in the Odyssey, Athena assumes Mentor's form to give advice to Telemachus or Od...

Preller, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Preller, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh prĕlˈər [key], 1804–78, German painter and etcher, professor at the Weimar Academy. He is best known for his Odyssey landscapes, a series of 16 encaustic paintings...

Aristarchus of Samothrace

(Encyclopedia)Aristarchus of Samothrace sămˈəthrās [key], c.217–c.145 b.c., Greek scholar, successor to his teacher, Aristophanes of Byzantium, as librarian at Alexandria. He was an innovator of scientific sc...

Achilles

(Encyclopedia)Achilles əkĭlˈēz [key], in Greek mythology, foremost Greek hero of the Trojan War, son of Peleus and Thetis. He was a formidable warrior, possessing fierce and uncontrollable anger. Thetis, knowin...

Circe

(Encyclopedia)Circe sûrˈsē [key], in Greek mythology, enchantress; daughter of Helios. She lived on an island, where she decoyed sailors and treacherously changed them into beasts. According to the Odyssey, she ...

lotus-eaters

(Encyclopedia)lotus-eaters or Lotophagi lətŏfˈəjīˌ [key], a fabulous people who occupied the north coast of Africa and lived on the lotus, which brought forgetfulness and happy indolence. They appear in the O...

Nestor, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Nestor nĕsˈtər [key], in Greek mythology, wise king of Pylos; son of Neleus and father of Antilochus. In the Iliad, Nestor went with the Greeks to the Trojan War, and although he had lived three ge...

Kubrick, Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Kubrick, Stanley ko͞oˈbrĭk, kyo͞oˈ– [key], 1928–99, American film director, writer, and producer, b. New York City. His visually stunning, thematically daring, boldly idiosyncratic, and darkl...

McCloskey, Robert

(Encyclopedia)McCloskey, Robert (John Robert McCloskey) məklŏˈskē [key], 1914–2003, American writer and illustrator of children's books, b. Hamilton, Ohio. He studied at the Vesper George Art School, Boston, ...

Polyphemus

(Encyclopedia)Polyphemus pŏlĭfēˈməs [key], in Greek mythology, a Cyclops. He was a shepherd and the son of Poseidon. In the Odyssey, Polyphemus imprisoned Odysseus and his men in his cave. They gave him wine a...

Browse by Subject