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Dead Sea Scrolls

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient leather and papyrus scrolls first discovered in 1947 in caves on the NW shore of the Dead Sea. Most of the documents were written or copied between the 1st cent. b.c. and the...

Koons, Jeff

(Encyclopedia)Koons, Jeff, 1955–, American artist, b. York, Pa., studied Maryland Institute College of Art (B.F.A., 1976), Art Institute of Chicago. He moved to New York City in 1977 and has lived and worked ther...

Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462 (table)

(Encyclopedia)Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462(including dates of rule) House of Rurik House of Godunov Usurpers House of Romanov Provisional Government(premiers) Soviet Russia (1917–22) and the U...

Constantinople

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople kŏnˌstănˌtĭnōˈpəl [key], former capital of the Byzantine Empire and of the Ottoman Empire, since 1930 officially called İstanbul (for location and description, see İstanbul). ...

Finnish literature

(Encyclopedia)Finnish literature. The first printed work in Finnish was the ABC book published c.1542 by Bishop Michael Agricola (1508–57). In 1642 the first complete translation of the Bible in Finnish appeared ...

Pole, English noble family

(Encyclopedia)Pole, English noble family. The first member of importance was William de la Pole, d. 1366, a rich merchant who became the first mayor of Hull (1332) and a baron of the exchequer (1339). His oldest so...

intelligent design

(Encyclopedia)intelligent design, theory that some complex biological structures and other aspects of nature show evidence of having been designed by an intelligence. Such biological structures are said to have int...

Sigismund III

(Encyclopedia)Sigismund III, 1566–1632, king of Poland (1587–1632) and Sweden (1592–99). The son of John III of Sweden and Catherine, sister of Sigismund II of Poland, he united the Vasa and Jagiello dynastie...

contract

(Encyclopedia)contract, in law, a promise, enforceable by law, to perform or to refrain from performing some specified act. In a general sense, all civil obligations fall under tort or contract law. Torts are usual...

electronic music

(Encyclopedia)electronic music or electro-acoustic music, term for compositions that utilize the capacities of electronic media for creating and altering sounds. Initially, a distinction must be made between the te...