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Borgia, Cesare

(Encyclopedia)Borgia, Cesare or Caesar bōrˈjä [key], 1476–1507, Italian soldier and politician, younger son of Pope Alexander VI and an outstanding figure of the Italian Renaissance. Throughout his pontificat...

Aedui

(Encyclopedia)Aedui hĕˈdyo͞oī [key], Gallic people, occupying in the 1st cent. b.c. a part of what later became Burgundy. Defeated by Ariovistus and at odds with their Gallic neighbors, they were allies of the ...

Mason, James

(Encyclopedia)Mason, James, 1909–84, British stage and film actor. Mason, trained at Cambridge as an architect, became a leading man in British films in the 1940s and thereafter an international star. With a velv...

Zela

(Encyclopedia)Zela zēˈlə [key], ancient city of Pontus, NE Asia Minor. There Mithradates VI defeated Triarius c.67 b.c., and in 47 b.c. Julius Caesar defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, recording the victory in ...

Stirling, William Alexander, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Stirling, William Alexander, earl of, 1567?–1640, Scottish poet. He was tutor of Prince Henry of Scotland and went to England on the accession of James I. The holder of various government offices, h...

Rubicon

(Encyclopedia)Rubicon ro͞oˈbĭkŏn [key], Lat. Rubico, small stream that flows into the Adriatic and in Roman times marked the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and ancient Italy. In 49 b.c., after some hesitation,...

Gallic Wars

(Encyclopedia)Gallic Wars gălˈĭk [key], campaigns in Gaul led by Julius Caesar in his two terms as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, and Illyricum (58 b.c.–51 b.c.). Caesar's first campaign was to...

Catiline

(Encyclopedia)Catiline (Lucius Sergius Catilina) kătˈĭlīn [key], c.108 b.c.–62 b.c., Roman politician and conspirator. At first a conservative and a partisan of Sulla, he was praetor in 68 b.c. and governor o...

Chemin des Dames

(Encyclopedia)Chemin des Dames shəmăNˈ dā däm [key] [Fr.,=ladies' road], road running along a crest between the Aisne and Ailette rivers, N France. Built during Roman times, the road was the site of the battle...

Cicero, Quintus Tullius

(Encyclopedia)Cicero, Quintus Tullius, c.102 b.c.–43 b.c., Roman general; brother of Cicero the orator. After service in Asia he accompanied Julius Caesar to Britain (55 b.c.); wintered in Gaul (54 b.c.), where h...