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Phidias

(Encyclopedia)Phidias or Pheidias both: fĭdˈēəs [key], c.500–c.432 b.c., Greek sculptor, one of the greatest sculptors of ancient Greece. No original in existence can be attributed to him with certainty, alth...

lamp

(Encyclopedia)lamp, originally a vessel for holding oil or some combustible substance that could be burned through a wick for illumination; the term has been extended to other lighting devices. Stones, shells, and ...

Macedonia, region, Europe

(Encyclopedia)Macedonia măsˌədōˈnēə [key], region, SE Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula, divided among the countries of Greece, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia. A secret terrorist organization working for Mace...

candle, cylinder of wax or tallow

(Encyclopedia)candle, cylinder of wax or tallow containing a wick, used for illumination or for ceremonial purposes. The evidence of ancient writings is not conclusive as to the history of the candle; words transla...

Orphic Mysteries

(Encyclopedia)Orphic Mysteries or Orphism, religious cult of ancient Greece, prominent in the 6th cent. b.c. According to legend Orpheus founded these mysteries and was the author of the sacred poems from which the...

Snead, Sam

(Encyclopedia)Snead, Sam (Samuel Jackson Snead) snēd [key], 1912–2002, American golfer, b. Ashwood, Va. An outstanding high school athlete, he turned to golf after injuring a hand as a football player. He attrac...

Bolt, Usain St. Leo

(Encyclopedia)Bolt, Usain St. Leo, 1986–, Jamaican sprinter. Unusually tall (6 ft 5 in./1.96 m) for his sport, he won the gold medal for the 200-m sprint at the 2002 world junior championships and then broke the ...

dice, in games and gambling

(Encyclopedia)dice [plural of die], small cubes used in games. They are usually made of ivory, bone, wood, plastic, or similar materials. The six sides are numbered by dots from 1 to 6, so placed that the sum of th...

Xerxes I

(Encyclopedia)Xerxes I (Xerxes the Great) zûrkˈsēz [key], d. 465 b.c., king of ancient Persia (486–465 b.c.). His name in Old Persian is Khshayarsha, in the Bible Ahasuerus. He was the son of Darius I and Atos...

Hellas

(Encyclopedia)Hellas: see Greece.