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Sargon, king of Akkad

(Encyclopedia)Sargon särˈgŏn [key], king of Akkad in Mesopotamia (reigned c.2340–c.2305 b.c.). By conquest he established a great empire that included the whole of Mesopotamia and extended over Syria and Elam,...

Sargon, king of Assyria

(Encyclopedia)Sargon, d. 705 b.c., king of Assyria (722–705 b.c.), successor to Shalmaneser V. He completed Shalmaneser's siege of Samaria in 721 b.c., thus destroying the northern Israelite kingdom forever. In 7...

Perseus, king of Macedon

(Encyclopedia)Perseus, c.212–166 b.c., last king of Macedon (179–168 b.c.), son and successor of Philip V. He intrigued against his younger brother, Demetrius, eventually bringing about the latter's execution b...

Peter III, king of Aragón and king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Peter III (Peter the Great), 1239?–1285, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1276–85) and king of Sicily (1282–85); son and successor of James I. In 1280 he established Aragonese influence o...

Viète, François

(Encyclopedia)Viète or Vieta, François fräNswäˈ vyĕt, vyātäˈ, vīēˈtə [key], 1540–1603, French mathematician. As a founder of modern algebra, he introduced the use of letters as algebraic symbols and ...

Hohenstaufen

(Encyclopedia)Hohenstaufen hōˌənshtouˈfən [key], German princely family, whose name is derived from the castle of Staufen built in 1077 by a Swabian count, Frederick. In 1079, Frederick married Agnes, daughter...

Alfonso X, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise), 1221–84, Spanish king of Castile and León (1252–84); son and successor of Ferdinand III, whose conquests of the Moors he continued, notably by taking Cádiz (1262). ...

Crécy

(Encyclopedia)Crécy –äN–pôNtyöˈ [key], village, Somme dept., N France. A nearby forest is popular for camping. At Crécy, on Aug. 26, 1346, Edward III of England defeated Philip VI of France in the Hundred...

Mayno, Juan Bautista

(Encyclopedia)Mayno or Maino, Juan Bautista hwän boutēsˈtä mīˈnō [key], 1578–1649, Spanish painter. He entered the Dominican order in Toledo, where he is thought to have studied with El Greco. He was drawi...

Alberoni, Giulio

(Encyclopedia)Alberoni, Giulio jo͞oˈlyō älbārōˈnē [key], 1664–1752, Italian statesman in Spanish service, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Appointed (1713) representative of the duke of Parma at the...