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Black, Hugh

(Encyclopedia)Black, Hugh, 1868–1953, Scottish-American theologian and author. After serving as a pastor in Paisley and Edinburgh, he emigrated to the United States in 1906 to begin a professorship of practical t...

Bona Dea

(Encyclopedia)Bona Dea bōˈnə dēˈə [key], in Roman religion, ancient fertility goddess worshiped only by women; also called Fauna. She was said to be the daughter, sister, or wife of Faunus. No man could be pr...

monsters and imaginary beasts

(Encyclopedia)monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...

Defoe, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Defoe or De Foe, Daniel dĭfōˈ [key], 1660?–1731, English writer, b. London. He was nearly sixty when he turned to writing novels. In 1719 he published his famous Life and Strange Surprising Adv...

human evolution

(Encyclopedia)human evolution, theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology, anthropology, and genetics, and i...

Nereus

(Encyclopedia)Nereus nērˈo͞os, –ēəs [key], in Greek mythology, seagod. He was the son of Pontus and Gaea and the father of the nereids (see nymph). A kindly, wise old man of the sea, Nereus could change into...

Lützelburger, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Lützelburger, Hans häns lüˈtsəlbo͝orgər [key], d. 1526, German wood engraver, assumed to be the same man as Hans Franck, active from c.1516. He worked in Augsburg and Basel and probably in Main...

Meyrink, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Meyrink, Gustav go͝osˈtäf mīˈrĭngk [key], 1868–1932, German author, b. Vienna. His original name was Gustav Meyer. A staff member of Simplicissimus from 1902, he became famous for his sketches...

Morley, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Morley, Henry, 1822–94, English man of letters. In 1850 he closed his successful school to assist Dickens in editing Household Words. After that he combined an editorial with an academic career, tea...

Mannyng, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Mannyng or Manning, Robert, fl. 1298–1338, English poet, b. Brunne (modern Bourne), Lincolnshire; also called Robert of Brunne. He was a monk in the Gilbertine order. Mannyng is known chiefly for hi...