Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

229 results found

Pappus

(Encyclopedia)Pappus păpˈəs [key], fl. c.300, Greek mathematician of Alexandria. He recorded and enlarged on the results of his predecessors, including Euclid and Apollonius of Perga, in his Mathematical Collect...

Serapis

(Encyclopedia)Serapis säräˈpĭs [key], Egyptian god whose devotees united the worship of the Apis bull and the god Osiris. His cult, which originated at Memphis, rose to its greatest significance at Alexandria d...

Roanne

(Encyclopedia)Roanne rôänˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 42,848), Loire dept., E central France, on the Loire River. Cotton and metals are the chief products; other industries include tanning, machine and vehicle manuf...

Fontana, Lavinia

(Encyclopedia)Fontana, Lavinia, 1552–1614, Italian painter, daughter of Prospero Fontana, who trained her in the Mannerist style. Noted for her sensitivity in color and detail, she was a fashionable portrait pain...

Malherbe, François de

(Encyclopedia)Malherbe, François de fräNswäˈ də mälĕrbˈ [key], 1555–1628, French poet and critic, official poet of Henry IV and Louis XIII. His own poems approach technical perfection but lack verve and f...

Boniface IX

(Encyclopedia)Boniface IX, c.1345–1404, pope (1389–1404), a Neapolitan named Pietro Tomacelli; successor of Urban VI. The Avignon antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII were his contemporaries during the Great...

Bergerac

(Encyclopedia)Bergerac bĕrzhəräkˈ [key], town, Dordogne dept., SW France, in Périgord, on the Dordogne...

Sixtus V

(Encyclopedia)Sixtus V, 1521–90, pope (1585–90), an Italian (b. near Montalto) named Felice Peretti; successor of Gregory XIII. He entered the Franciscan order in early youth. After ordination (1547) he became ...

Antiochus III

(Encyclopedia)Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great), d. 187 b.c., king of Syria (223–187 b.c.), son of Seleucus II and younger brother of Seleucus III, whom he succeeded. At his accession the Seleucid empire was in...

Philip V, king of Macedon

(Encyclopedia)Philip V, 238–179 b.c., king of Macedon (221–179), son of Demetrius II, successor of Antigonus III. He won fame in a war in Greece (220–217), in which he sided with the Achaean League against th...