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Festus

(Encyclopedia)Festus (Sextus Pompeius Festus), fl. some time between a.d. 100 and 400, Roman lexicographer; his surviving work, On the Meaning of Words, is an abridgment of the lost glossary of Marcus Verrius Flacc...

Pomponius Laetus, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Pomponius Laetus, Julius pŏmpōˈnēəs lēˈtəs [key], 1425–1498?, Italian humanist, also called Giulio Pomponio Leto. His knowledge of ancient Rome was immense and his works numerous; they inclu...

Salamis, ancient city, Cyprus

(Encyclopedia)Salamis sălˈəmĭs [key], ancient city on Cyprus, once the principal city. St. Paul visited it on his first missionary journey (Acts 13.5). Excavations there revealed the ruins of a Greek theater; t...

Simon, Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Simon, Antoine äNtwänˈ sēmôNˈ [key], 1736–94, French revolutionary, often called “the shoemaker,” a member of the Commune of Paris. He and his wife guarded the dauphin, Louis XVII, in pris...

Street, George Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Street, George Edmund, 1824–81, English architect. One of the foremost champions of the Gothic revival, he did much church work, including St. Mary Magdalene, Paddington, London; St. James the Less,...

James, Saint (the “brother” of Jesus)

(Encyclopedia)James, Saint, in the Bible, the “brother” of Jesus. The Gospels make several references to the brothers of Jesus, and St. Paul speaks of “James the Lord's brother.” While Protestants generally...

Knussen, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Knussen, Oliver (Stuart Oliver Knussen), 1952–2018, British composer, conductor, and teacher, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A musical prodigy, he began to compose at age 6 and studied with, among others, Gu...

Crick, Francis Harry Compton

(Encyclopedia)Crick, Francis Harry Compton, 1916–2004, English scientist, grad. University College, London, and Caius College, Cambridge. Crick was trained as a physicist, and from 1940 to 1947 he served as a sci...

Colette

(Encyclopedia)Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) sēdōnēˈ gäbrēĕlˈ kōlĕtˈ [key], 1873–1954, French novelist. Colette achieved popularity with numerous novels, characterized by sensitive observations—...

Recife

(Encyclopedia)Recife rəsēˈfĭ [key] [Port.,=reef], city (1991 pop. 1,298,229), capital of Pernambuco state, NE Brazil, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. It is also called Pernambuco by foreigners. The chief urban ce...