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Plataea

(Encyclopedia)Plataea plətēˈə [key], ancient city of Greece, in S Boeotia (now Voiotía), on the slope of Mt. Cithaeron (Kithairón). Plataea had voluntarily passed from Theban to Athenian protection before the...

martial arts

(Encyclopedia)martial arts, various forms of self-defense, usually weaponless, based on techniques developed in ancient China, India, and Tibet. In modern times they have come into wide use for self-protection, as ...

phalanx

(Encyclopedia)phalanx, ancient Greek formation of infantry. The soldiers were arrayed in rows (8 or 16), with arms at the ready, making a solid block that could sweep bristling through the more dispersed ranks of t...

Aegean Sea

(Encyclopedia)Aegean Sea, Gr. Aigaion Pelagos, Turkish Ege Denizi, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, c.400 mi (640 km) long and 200 mi (320 km) wide, off SE Europe between Greece and Turkey; Crete and Rhodes mark its s...

Potidaea

(Encyclopedia)Potidaea pŏtĭdēˈə [key], ancient city, NE Greece, at the narrowest point of the Pallene (now Kassándra) peninsula in Chalcidice (now Khalkidhikí). It was a Corinthian colony (c.600 b.c.) but jo...

Thule , ancient name for extreme N Europe

(Encyclopedia)Thule tho͞oˈlē [key], name given by the ancients to the most northerly land of Europe. It was an island discovered and described (c.310 b.c.) by the Greek navigator Pytheas and variously identified...

Pylos

(Encyclopedia)Pylos pīˈlŏs [key], ancient harbor, Messenia, SW Greece, on a bay of the Ionian Sea. Excavations have revealed a great Mycenaean palace of the 13th cent. b.c., perhaps the dwelling of King Nestor. ...

Lake, Kirsopp

(Encyclopedia)Lake, Kirsopp kûrˈsəp [key], 1872–1946, noted English biblical scholar. He was curate of St. Mary the Virgin (Oxford) until 1904, when he became a professor at the Univ. of Leiden (until 1913). A...

repoussé

(Encyclopedia)repoussé rəpo͞osāˈ [key], the process or the product of ornamenting metallic surfaces with designs in relief hammered out from the back by hand. Gold and silver are most commonly used today for f...

orders of architecture

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Orders of architecture orders of architecture. In classical tyles of architecture the various columnar types fall, in general, into the five so-called classical orders, which are named Doric, ...