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magic, in entertainment

(Encyclopedia)magic, in entertainment, the seeming manipulation and supernatural control of the natural world for the amusement and amazement of an audience. Entertainment magic can be divided into four main catego...

Meleager

(Encyclopedia)Meleager mĕlēāˈjər [key], hero in Greek mythology. He was the son of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea. When Meleager was born, a prophecy said that he would die when a certain log in the fire...

sparrow

(Encyclopedia)sparrow, common name of various small brown-and-gray perching birds. New World birds called sparrows are members of the finch family. They were named for their resemblance to the English sparrow and t...

Persephone

(Encyclopedia)Persephone prōsûrˈpənē [key], in Greek and Roman religion and mythology, goddess of fertility and queen of the underworld. She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. When she was still a beautiful...

Thomas, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Lewis, 1913–93, American physician and biologist, b. Flushing, New York. In his youth he often accompanied his physician father on his rounds and decided early on to be a doctor or a writer....

Lucian

(Encyclopedia)Lucian lo͞oˈshən [key], b. c.120, d. after 180, Greek writer, also called Lucianus, b. Samosata, Syria. In late life he held a government position in Egypt. Lucian wrote an easy, masterly Attic pro...

Electra

(Encyclopedia)Electra ĭlĕkˈtrə [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After her mother and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon, Electra, eager for revenge, longed only for the return of h...

Penelope

(Encyclopedia)Penelope pənĕlˈəpē [key], in Greek mythology, wife of Odysseus and the mother of Telemachus. In Homer's Odyssey she is pictured as a chaste and faithful wife. When Odysseus was away, she was surr...

snake worship

(Encyclopedia)snake worship. The snake has been variously adored as a regenerative power, as a god of evil, as a god of good, as Christ (by the Gnostics), as a phallic deity, as a solar deity, and as a god of death...

Sarpedon

(Encyclopedia)Sarpedon särpēˈdən [key], in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Laodamia, who was the daughter of Bellerophon. In the Iliad, as an ally of the Trojans, Sarpedon courageously led the Lycians against ...