Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hoveida, Amir Abbas

(Encyclopedia)Hoveida, Amir Abbas ämērˈ äb-bäsˈ hōvāˈdä [key], 1919–79, Iranian political leader, prime minister of Iran (1965–77). After serving (1958–64) with the National Iranian Oil Company, he ...

Elephantine

(Encyclopedia)Elephantine ĕlˌəfăntīˈnē [key], island, SE Egypt, in the Nile below the First Cataract, near Aswan. In ancient times it was a military post guarding the southern frontier of Egypt. The Elephant...

Ptolemy VI

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy VI (Ptolemy Philometor) fĭləmēˈtər [key], d. 145 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (180–145 b.c.), of the Macedonian dynasty, son of Ptolemy V. He became king when an infant, and his mother, ...

Suppiluliumas

(Encyclopedia)Suppiluliumas, fl. 14th cent. b.c., Hittite king (1390–54 b.c.). The greatest statesman-warrior in Hittite history, he left on his death an empire that was stronger, though not richer, than Egypt. H...

Gottheil, Richard James Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Gottheil, Richard James Horatio, 1862–1936, American Orientalist and Semitic scholar, b. Manchester, England; son of Gustav Gottheil. He taught Semitic languages at Columbia from 1886 and was head o...

Ptolemy VIII

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy VIII (Ptolemy Physcon) fĭsˈkən [key], d. 116 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (145–116 b.c.), of the Macedonian dynasty, brother of Ptolemy VI. He is also called Ptolemy Euergetes II. He was c...

Albumazar

(Encyclopedia)Albumazar älˌbo͞omäˈzər [key], 805?–885, Arab astronomer, more fully Abu-Mashar Jafar ibn Muhammad. In his De magnis conjunctionibus he claimed that the world had been created when the seven p...

Bir Tawil

(Encyclopedia)Bir Tawil, unclaimed territory, c.795 sq mi (2,060 km), along the E Egypt-Sudan border W of the Halayeb Triangle. Its unclaimed status arose from the peculiarities the disputed border: Bir Tawil lies ...

Muslim

(Encyclopedia)Muslim mŭzˈlĭm [key] [Arab.,=one who surrenders (himself to God), an agent form of the verb of which Islam is a verbal noun], one who has embraced Islam, a follower of Muhammad. The form Moslem is ...

Baphomet

(Encyclopedia)Baphomet băfˈəmĕt [key], idol or mystical figure that the Knights Templars were accused of worshiping in the 14th cent. Apparently the name was unknown before that time in Western demonology. Its ...

Browse by Subject