Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Thespiae

(Encyclopedia)Thespiae thĕsˈpē-ēˌ [key], ancient city of Greece, in S Boeotia, near Mt. Helicon (now Elikón) and SW of Thebes. The Thespians fought (479 b.c.) against the Persians at Thermopylae and Plataea. ...

Epaminondas

(Encyclopedia)Epaminondas ĭpămĭnŏnˈdəs [key], d. 362 b.c., Greek general of Thebes. He was a pupil of Lysias the Pythagorean, but his early life is otherwise obscure. As the Theban delegate to the peace confe...

Corinthian War

(Encyclopedia)Corinthian War (395 b.c.–86 b.c.), armed conflict between Corinth, Argos, Thebes, and Athens on one side and Sparta on the other. Angered by Sparta's tyrannical overlordship in Greece after the Pelo...

Agesilaus II

(Encyclopedia)Agesilaus II əjĕˌsĭlāˈəs [key], c.444–360 b.c., king of Sparta. After the death of Agis I (398? b.c.), he was brought to power by Lysander, whom he promptly ignored. After the Peloponnesian W...

Pentheus

(Encyclopedia)Pentheus pĕnˈthēəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, son of Cadmus' daughter Agave. When Dionysus came to Thebes, Pentheus denied his divinity and tried to prevent his ecstatic rites. The...

Memnon

(Encyclopedia)Memnon mĕmˈnŏn [key], in Greek mythology, king of Ethiopia, son of Tithonus and Eos. In the Trojan War he fought against the Greeks, and after he had killed Antilochus, he himself was killed by Ach...

Diomedes

(Encyclopedia)Diomedes dīˌōmēˈdēz [key], in Greek legend. 1 Son of Tydeus, he was one of the principal Greek warriors in the Trojan War. Previously he had avenged his father's death in the expedition of the E...

Boeotia

(Encyclopedia)Boeotia bēōˈshə [key], region of ancient Greece. It lay N of Attica, Megaris, and the Gulf of Corinth. The early inhabitants were from Thessaly. A number of small cities scattered over the rough c...

Alcmaeon

(Encyclopedia)Alcmaeon ălkmēˈən [key], in Greek legend, son of Amphiaraüs and Eriphyle, a leader of the expedition of the Epigoni against Thebes. He murdered his mother in revenge for his father's death and co...

Browse by Subject