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Silverius, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Silverius, Saint sĭlvērˈēəs [key], d. 537, pope (536–37), an Italian; successor of St. Agapetus I. The son of Pope Hormisdas, who had been married before taking orders, St. Silverius was electe...

crescent

(Encyclopedia)crescent, emblematic representation of the quarter moon. The crescent and star, ancient Byzantine symbols that became the emblems of Constantinople, were also assumed as the standard of the Ottoman Tu...

Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)Roman Empire: see Rome; Byzantine Empire; Holy Roman Empire. ...

Constans II

(Encyclopedia)Constans II (Constans Pogonatus), 630–68, Byzantine emperor (641–68), son and successor of Constantine III and grandson of Heraclius. Early in his reign Armenia and Asia Minor were invaded by the ...

Duggah

(Encyclopedia)Duggah or Dougga both: do͞oˈgə [key], village, Tunisia, SW of Tunis. It is a tourist spot noted for the ruins of the ancient city of Thugga, including a Punic mausoleum (2d cent. b.c.); temples, ar...

Boris I

(Encyclopedia)Boris I, d. 907, khan [ruler] of Bulgaria (852–89). Baptized in 864, he introduced Christianity of the Byzantine rite among the Bulgarians. There followed a rivalry between Rome and Constantinople f...

Beauharnais, Eugène de

(Encyclopedia)Beauharnais, Eugène de də bōärnāˈ [key], 1781–1824, French general; son of Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais (Empress Josephine). He served ably in the campaigns of his stepfather, Napol...

Poppaea Sabina

(Encyclopedia)Poppaea Sabina pŏpēˈə səbīˈnə [key], d. a.d. 65, Roman empress, wife of Nero. While married to Otho, her second husband, she became mistress of Nero, whom she finally married in a.d. 62. She h...

Peter Damian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter Damian, Saint dāˈmēən [key], Ital. Pietro Damiani, 1007?–1072, Italian reformer, Doctor of the Church, b. Ravenna. He became a Camaldolese monk at Fonte-Avellino (near Gubbio) and because ...

Vigilius

(Encyclopedia)Vigilius vĭjĭlˈēəs [key], pope (537–55), a Roman; successor of St. Silverius. Empress Theodora exiled Silverius and made Vigilius pope in the expectation that he would compromise with the Monop...