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Heliogabalus

(Encyclopedia)Heliogabalus ĕləgăbˈələs [key], c.205–222, Roman emperor (218–22). He was a priest of the local sun god, Elagabalus, at Emesa and was named Varius Avitus Bassianus. He was a cousin of Caraca...

Theodosius

(Encyclopedia)Theodosius, d. 376, Roman general under Valentinian I. He defeated (368–69) the Picts and Scots in Britain and the Alemanni in Gaul (369). He suppressed (372–74) a Berber uprising in N Africa, but...

Agatha, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Agatha, Saint ăgˈəthə [key], 3d cent., Sicilian virgin, martyred under Roman Emperor Decius. She is mentioned in the Martyrology of Jerome and the Calendar of Carthage in the 6th cent. Agatha is i...

Lucius III

(Encyclopedia)Lucius III, d. 1185, pope (1181–85), a native of Lucca named Ubaldo Allucingoli; successor of Alexander III. He was a Cistercian with St. Bernard and was created a cardinal in 1141 by Innocent II. H...

Marie Louise

(Encyclopedia)Marie Louise, 1791–1847, empress of the French (1810–15) as consort of Napoleon I and duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla (1816–47), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (later Empero...

Antoninus Pius

(Encyclopedia)Antoninus Pius (Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus) pīˈəs [key], a.d. 86–a.d. 161, Roman emperor (138–161). After a term as consul (120) he went as proconsul to Asia, where he gove...

Jovian

(Encyclopedia)Jovian (Flavius Claudius Jovianus) jōˈvēən [key], c.331–364, Roman emperor (363–64). The commander of the imperial guard under Julian the Apostate in his Persian campaign, Jovian was proclaime...

Field of the Cloth of Gold

(Encyclopedia)Field of the Cloth of Gold, locality between Guines and Ardres, not far from Calais, in France, where in 1520 Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for the purpose of arranging an alliance...

Sejanus

(Encyclopedia)Sejanus (Lucius Aelius Sejanus) sĭjāˈnəs [key], d. a.d. 31, Roman statesman; son of Sejus Strabo, Praetorian prefect. When his father went to Egypt as governor, he succeeded to the command of the ...

Theodosian Code

(Encyclopedia)Theodosian Code thēˌədōˈshən [key], Latin Codex Theodosianus, Roman legal code, issued in 438 by Theodosius II, emperor of the East. It was at once adopted by Valentinian III, emperor of the Wes...