Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

infanticide

(Encyclopedia)infanticide ĭnfănˈtəsīd [key] [Lat.,=child murder], the putting to death of the newborn with the consent of the parent, family, or community. Infanticide often occurs among peoples whose food sup...

Joyner-Kersee, Jackie

(Encyclopedia)Joyner-Kersee, Jackie joiˈnər-kûrˈzē [key], 1962–, American track and field athlete, b. East St. Louis, Ill. One of the world's best all-around women athletes, she won the silver medal in the h...

Eleusinian Mysteries

(Encyclopedia)Eleusinian Mysteries ĕlyo͞osĭnˈēən [key], principal religious mysteries of ancient Greece. The mysteries may have originated as part of an early agrarian festival peculiar to certain families in...

Thessaloníki

(Encyclopedia)Thessaloníki sălənēˈkə, səlŏnˈĭkə [key], also known as Thessalonike, Thessalonica, Salonika, and Saloniki, city (1991 pop. 383,967), capital of Thessaloníki prefecture, N Greece, in Macedo...

Kilkenny, county, Republic of Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Kilkenny kĭlkĕnˈē [key], Gaelic Cill Chainnigh, county (1991 pop. 73,635), 796 sq mi (2,062 sq km), S Republic of Ireland. The county seat is Kilkenny. The region is mainly a rolling plain, part o...

Elgin Marbles

(Encyclopedia)Elgin Marbles ĕlˈgĭn [key], ancient sculptures taken from Athens to England in 1806 by Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of Elgin; other fragments exist in several European museums. Consisting of much of the ...

chorus, in Greek drama

(Encyclopedia)chorus, in the drama of ancient Greece. Originally the chorus seems to have arisen from the singing of the dithyramb, and the dithyrambic chorus allegedly became a true dramatic chorus when Thespis in...

temple, edifice of worship

(Encyclopedia)temple, edifice or sometimes merely an enclosed area dedicated to the worship of a deity and the enshrinement of holy objects connected with such worship. The temple has been employed in most of the w...

dithyramb

(Encyclopedia)dithyramb dĭthˈĭrăm [key], in ancient Greece, hymn to the god Dionysus, choral lyric with exchanges between the leader and the chorus. It arose, probably, in the extemporaneous songs of the Dionys...

Peloponnesus

(Encyclopedia)Peloponnesus mōrēˈə [key], peninsula (1991 pop. 1,086,935), c.8,300 sq mi (21,500 sq km), S Greece. It is linked with central Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth, and it is washed by the Aegean Sea o...