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Herod

(Encyclopedia)Herod, dynasty reigning in Palestine at the time of Jesus. As a dynasty the Herods depended largely on the power of Rome. They are usually blamed for the state of virtual anarchy in Palestine at the b...

Conrad IV, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)Conrad IV, 1228–54, German king (1237–54), king of Sicily and of Jerusalem (1250–54), son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. He was elected (1237) king of the Romans at his father's instigation...

Revolutionary Guards

(Encyclopedia)Revolutionary Guards, officially the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) or Pasdaran, Iranian military group formed in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution by young Islamic activists loyal to Ayato...

Nebuchadnezzar

(Encyclopedia)Nebuchadnezzar nĕbˌəkədnĕzˈər [key], d. 562 b.c., king of Babylonia (c.605–562 b.c.), son and successor of Nabopolassar. In his father's reign he was sent to oppose the Egyptians, who were oc...

Bellow, Saul

(Encyclopedia)Bellow, Saul, 1915–2005, American novelist, b. Lachine, Que., as Solomon Bellow, grad. Northwestern Univ., 1937. Born of Russian-Jewish parents, he grew up in the slums of Montreal and Chicago, and ...

Dead Sea Scrolls

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient leather and papyrus scrolls first discovered in 1947 in caves on the NW shore of the Dead Sea. Most of the documents were written or copied between the 1st cent. b.c. and the...

nightshade

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara nightshade, common name for the Solanaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and a few trees of warm regions, chiefly tropical America. Many are climbing or creeping ty...

Israel, country, Asia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Israel ĭzˈrēəl [key], officially State of Israel, republic (2015 est. pop. 8,065,000, including Israelis in occupied Arab territories), 7,992 sq mi (20,700 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterra...

Grossman, David

(Encyclopedia)Grossman, David, 1954–, Israeli writer and peace activist, b. Jerusalem. He is widely recognized as the finest novelist in the generation that followed Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua. The son of a Polis...

Foss, Lukas

(Encyclopedia)Foss, Lukas fôs [key], 1922–2009, American composer, pianist, and conductor, b. Berlin as Lukas Fuchs. He came to the United States in 1937, attended the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, studied c...