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Sargon, king of Akkad

(Encyclopedia)Sargon särˈgŏn [key], king of Akkad in Mesopotamia (reigned c.2340–c.2305 b.c.). By conquest he established a great empire that included the whole of Mesopotamia and extended over Syria and Elam,...

Dahlak Archipelago

(Encyclopedia)Dahlak Archipelago däläkˈ ärkĭpĕlˈəgō [key], island group, Eritrea, in the Red Sea off Massawa. There are two large, inhabited islands and more than 200 small, largely uninhabited islands. Th...

Dmitri Donskoi

(Encyclopedia)Dmitri Donskoi dəmēˈtrē dənskoiˈ [key], 1350–89, Russian hero, grand duke of Moscow (1359–89). He successfully resisted Lithuanian attempts to invade Moscow, and was the first Russian prince...

Pella

(Encyclopedia)Pella pĕlˈə [key], ancient city of Macedon, about 24 mi (39 km) NW of Thessalonica (now Thessaloníki). It became the capital of the Macedonian kingdom in the 4th cent. b.c. It prospered under Mace...

Piankhi

(Encyclopedia)Piankhi pēängˈkē, –ăngˈ– [key], king of ancient Nubia (c.741–c.715 b.c.). After subduing Upper Egypt, he defeated (c.721 b.c.) Tefnakhte, lord of Saïs, who had just completed the conquest...

Saxons

(Encyclopedia)Saxons, Germanic people, first mentioned in the 2d cent. by Ptolemy as inhabiting the southern part of the Cimbric Peninsula (S Jutland). Holding the area at the mouth of the Elbe River and some of th...

Almagro, Diego de

(Encyclopedia)Almagro, Diego de dyāˈgō dā älmäˈgrō [key], c.1475–1538, Spanish conquistador, a leader in the conquest of Peru. A partner of Francisco Pizarro, he took part in the first (1524) and second (...

Louis VII, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis VII (Louis the Young), c.1120–1180, king of France (1137–80), son and successor of King Louis VI. Before his accession he married Eleanor of Aquitaine. A controversy with Pope Innocent II ov...

Aśoka

(Encyclopedia)Aśoka əshōˈkə, –sōˈk– [key] or Ashoka, d. c.232 b.c., Indian emperor (c.273–c.232 b.c.) of the Maurya dynasty; grandson of Chandragupta. One of the greatest rulers of ancient India, he br...

Wends

(Encyclopedia)Wends or Sorbs, Slavic people (numbering about 60,000) of Brandenburg and Saxony, E Germany, in Lusatia. They speak Lusatian (also known as Sorbic or Wendish), a West Slavic language with two main dia...