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Diamond Necklace, Affair of the

(Encyclopedia)Diamond Necklace, Affair of the, scandal that took place at the court of King Louis XVI of France just before the French Revolution. An adventuress who called herself the comtesse de La Motte duped Ca...

Shiloh

(Encyclopedia)Shiloh shīˈlō [key], town, central ancient Palestine, the modern Khirbet Seilun, the West Bank, NNE of Jerusalem. In biblical times it lay in the territory of Ephraim. The Hebrews were, apparently,...

Mass, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)Mass, religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, which has as its central act the performance of the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is based on the ancient Latin liturgy of the city of Rome, now ...

Broads, the

(Encyclopedia)Broads, the, region, c.5,000 acres (2,023 hectares), mainly in Norfolk, E England, extending inland to Norwich from the coast. It is composed of wide, interlocking shallow lakes (broads), connected by...

Shallum

(Encyclopedia)Shallum shălˈəm [key], in the Bible. 1 King of Israel for a month. He killed King Zachariah for the throne and was himself killed by Menahem. 2 King of Judah: see Jehoahaz (2.) 3 In 1 Kings, husban...

fall, the

(Encyclopedia)fall, the, i.e., the fall of man, in Christian thought: see original sin; grace. ...

Tiglathpileser III

(Encyclopedia)Tiglathpileser III, d. 728 b.c., king of ancient Assyria. He seems to have usurped the throne in 745 b.c. He bore the alternative name of Pul, by which he was known in biblical history (2 Kings 15.19)...

Law, the

(Encyclopedia)Law, the, in Judaism: see Torah.

Owl and the Nightingale, The

(Encyclopedia)Owl and the Nightingale, The, Middle English poem written probably by Nicholas de Guildford of Dorsetshire about the beginning of the 13th cent. Written in 2,000 lines of octosyllabic couplets, it des...

Massah

(Encyclopedia)Massah mĕrˈĭbə [key], or Massah and Meribah, in the Bible, symbolic name of the place, near Horeb, where Moses brought forth water from the rock. A similar event and an equally symbolic name conce...