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Ardashir I

(Encyclopedia)Ardashir I ärdäshērˈ [key] [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?–240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the c...

kuvasz

(Encyclopedia)kuvasz (pl. kuvaszok) ko͝ovˈäs, ko͞oˈväs [key], breed of powerful working dog perfected in Hungary over many centuries. The kuvasz may stand as high as 30 in. (76 cm) at the shoulder and weigh u...

Zenobia

(Encyclopedia)Zenobia zĭnōˈbēə [key], d. after 272, queen of Palmyra. She was of Arab stock and was the wife of Septimius Odenathus. He was murdered, probably through her contrivance, and she obtained rule of ...

Behistun Inscription

(Encyclopedia)Behistun Inscription bēso͞oto͞onˈ, bēsə– [key], cuneiform text, the decipherment of which was the key to all cuneiform script and opened to scholars the study of the written works of ancient M...

Arabian horse

(Encyclopedia)Arabian horse, breed of light horse developed in Mesopotamia and N Africa, and probably the first true domesticated breed. Prized since earliest times for its superior beauty, spirit, speed, grace of ...

Odenathus, Septimius

(Encyclopedia)Odenathus, Septimius sĕptĭmˈēəs ŏdĭnāˈthəs [key], d. 267, king of Palmyra. His family (the Septimii) had dominated Palmyra for many years, and Odenathus by his policy of cooperation with Rom...

Babylonian captivity

(Encyclopedia)Babylonian captivity, in the history of Israel, the period from the fall of Jerusalem (586 b.c.) to the reconstruction in Palestine of a new Jewish state (after 538 b.c.). After the capture of the cit...

Woolley, Sir Charles Leonard

(Encyclopedia)Woolley, Sir Charles Leonard, 1880–1960, English archaeologist. His early work included excavations at Carchemish (1912–14) and the Egyptian site of Tell el Amarna (1921–22). He was then chosen ...

Breasted, James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Breasted, James Henry brĕsˈtĭd [key], 1865–1935, American Egyptologist, b. Rockford, Ill., grad. North Central College, 1888, M.A. Yale, 1891, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1894. He began teaching at th...

sun worship

(Encyclopedia)sun worship. Deification and adoration of the sun occurred primarily in agrarian societies. When man became a farmer, and thus dependent upon daily and seasonal changes of weather, he often turned to ...