Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

monsters and imaginary beasts

(Encyclopedia)monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...

Charles V, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Charles V, 1500–1558, Holy Roman emperor (1519–58) and, as Charles I, king of Spain (1516–56); son of Philip I and Joanna of Castile, grandson of Ferdinand II of Aragón, Isabella of Castile, Ho...

Woden

(Encyclopedia)Woden ōˈdĭn [key], in Germanic religion and mythology, the supreme god. His cult, although widespread among the Germanic tribes, was sometimes subordinated to that of his son Thor. With his brother...

Hephaestus

(Encyclopedia)Hephaestus hĕfĕsˈtəs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, Olympian god. According to Homer he was the son of Hera and Zeus, but Hesiod states that he was conceived and borne by Hera alone. Orig...

Otto I, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Otto I or Otto the Great, 912–73, Holy Roman emperor (962–73) and German king (936–73), son and successor of Henry I of Germany. He is often regarded as the founder of the Holy Roman Empire. Bol...

code, in law

(Encyclopedia)code, in law, in its widest sense any body of legal rules expressed in fixed and authoritative written form. A statute thus may be termed a code. Codes contrast with customary law (including common la...

week

(Encyclopedia)week, period of time shorter than the month, commonly seven days. The ancient Egyptians used a 10-day period, as did the French under the short-lived French Revolutionary calendar. In many regions a f...

Guelphs and Ghibellines

(Encyclopedia)Guelphs and Ghibellines gwĕlfs, gĭbˈəlēnz, –lĭnz [key], opposing political factions in Germany and in Italy during the later Middle Ages. The names were used to designate the papal (Guelph) pa...

Cinna, d. 84 b.c., Roman politician

(Encyclopedia)Cinna (Lucius Cornelius Cinna) sĭnˈə [key], d. 84 b.c., Roman politician, consul (87 b.c.–84 b.c.), and leader of the popular party. Shortly after Cinna's first election, Sulla left Rome to fight...

Hestia

(Encyclopedia)Hestia hĕsˈtēə [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of the hearth; daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Both public and private worship of Hestia were widespread; she represented personal and c...