Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

265 results found

cesarean section

(Encyclopedia)cesarean section sĭzârˈēən [key], delivery of an infant by surgical removal from the uterus through an abdominal incision. The operation is of ancient origin: indeed, the name derives from the le...

Ptolemy XIII

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy XIII, 61?–47 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (51–47 b.c.), of the Macedonian dynasty; son of Ptolemy XII. On the death of his father he was under the guardianship of Pompey. He was completely ...

Pontus, ancient country, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Pontus, ancient country, NE Asia Minor (now Turkey), on the Black Sea coast. On its inland side were Cappadocia and W Armenia. It was not significantly penetrated by Persian or Hellenic civilization. ...

Cassius

(Encyclopedia)Cassius kăshˈəs [key], ancient Roman family. There were a number of well-known members. Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, d. c.485 b.c., seems to have been consul several times. In 493 b.c. he negotiate...

dictator

(Encyclopedia)dictator, originally a Roman magistrate appointed to rule the state in times of emergency; in modern usage, an absolutist or autocratic ruler who assumes extraconstitutional powers. From 501 b.c. unti...

Clermont-Ferrand

(Encyclopedia)Clermont-Ferrand klĕrmôNˈ-fĕräNˈ [key], city, capital of Puy-de-Dôme dept., central France, in ...

higher criticism

(Encyclopedia)higher criticism, name given to a type of biblical criticism distinguished from textual or lower criticism. It seeks to interpret text of the Bible free from confessional and dogmatic theology. Higher...

National Gallery

(Encyclopedia)National Gallery, London, one of the permanent national art collections of Great Britain, est. 1824. The nucleus of museum was the 38-picture collection of the late English banker John Julius Angerste...

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da

(Encyclopedia)Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da jōvänˈnē pyārlo͞oēˈjē päˌlāstrēˈnä [key], c.1525–1594, Italian composer whose family name was Pierluigi; b. Palestrina, from which he took his name. ...

Bethlen, Count Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Bethlen, Count Stephen, 1874–1947?, Hungarian premier (1921–31). A Transylvanian, he entered the Hungarian parliament in 1901, and in 1919 he was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. Called t...

Browse by Subject