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Istakhr

(Encyclopedia)Istakhr ĭstäˈkər [key], old town, S Iran. Built largely from the ruins of ancient Persepolis, 3 mi (4.8 km) away, it was a capital of the Sassanid dynasty. Istakhr stubbornly resisted (640–49) t...

Dragonetti, Domenico

(Encyclopedia)Dragonetti, Domenico dōmĕˈnēkō drägōnĕtˈtē [key], 1763–1846, Italian double-bass virtuoso. He appeared in opera houses in Europe and after 1794 in concerts in England. He was a friend of B...

Dyfed

(Encyclopedia)Dyfed dŭvˈĕd [key], former county, W Wales. It was created in the 1974 administrative reorganization of Wales from the counties of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire, but in 1996 the...

Sittingbourne

(Encyclopedia)Sittingbourne sĭtˈĭngbôrn [key], town (1991 pop. 35,893), Kent, SE England, on the ancient Watling Street and on the old route of pilgrimage to Canterbury. It is an agricultural market with paper,...

Wayland Smith

(Encyclopedia)Wayland Smith, in English folklore, a skillful blacksmith and great armor maker, whose forge was near the White Horse (Oxfordshire). He appears in the Old English Beowulf and Deor and in Sir Walter Sc...

Capell, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Capell, Edward kāˈpəl [key], 1731–81, English Shakespearean scholar. His 10-volume edition of Shakespeare (1768) was the first to incorporate exact collations of all available old texts. He follo...

Česká Lípa

(Encyclopedia)Česká Lípa chĕˈskä lēˈpä [key], Ger. Böhmisch-Leipa, city, Czech Republic, in Bohem...

condor

(Encyclopedia)condor, common name for certain American vultures, found in the high peaks of the Andes of South America and the Coast Range of S California. Condors are the largest of the living birds, nearly 50 in....

Coventry, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Coventry kŏvˈəntrē, kŭvˈ– [key], city and metropolitan borough (2021 est. met...

Goldoni, Carlo

(Encyclopedia)Goldoni, Carlo kärˈlō gōldôˈnē [key], 1707–93, Italian dramatist. He was enamored of comedy from childhood, having sketched his first comic drama at eight. He took a degree in law at Padua bu...