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Ambarvalia

(Encyclopedia)Ambarvalia ămbərvālˈyə [key], in Roman religion, yearly agricultural rite held at the end of May. To insure fertility and disperse evil, each farmer led members of his household and a sacrificial...

Hebe

(Encyclopedia)Hebe hēˈbē [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of youth; daughter of Zeus and Hera and wife of Hercules. She appears only occasionally in legend as a cupbearer and attendant of the gods...

Camenae

(Encyclopedia)Camenae kəmēˈnē [key], in Roman religion and mythology, water nymphs gifted in prophecy. At Rome they had a sacred spring from which the vestals drew water for their rites. In later myth they were...

Mayenne, Charles de Lorraine, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Mayenne, Charles de Lorraine, duc de shärl də lôrĕnˈ dük də mäyĕnˈ [key], 1554–1611, French Catholic general in the Wars of Religion (see Religion, Wars of); brother of Henri, 3d duc de Gu...

Kołakowski, Leszek

(Encyclopedia)Kołakowski, Leszek lĕshˈĕk kôˌwəkôfˈskē [key], 1927–2009, Polish philosopher, b. Radom, Ph.D Univ. of Warsaw, 1953. A Marxist revisionist and a critic of the Eastern European Communism he ...

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli

(Encyclopedia)Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli sŭrˌvəpŭlˈlē räˈdəkrĭshˌən [key], 1888–1975, Indian philosopher, president of India (1962–67). The main part of his life was spent as an academic; he was a ph...

Tibetan Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Tibetan Buddhism, form of Buddhism prevailing in the Tibet region of China, Bhutan, the state of Sikkim in India, Mongolia, and parts of Siberia and SW China. It has sometimes been called Lamaism, fro...

Otto III, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Otto III, 980–1002, Holy Roman emperor (996–1002) and German king (983–1002), son of Holy Roman Emperor Otto II and the Byzantine princess Theophano. On Otto's accession Henry the Wrangler, the ...

Hungarian language

(Encyclopedia)Hungarian language, also called Magyar, member of the Ugric group of the Finno-Ugric languages. These languages form a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see U...

Hume, David

(Encyclopedia)Hume, David hyo͞om [key], 1711–76, Scottish philosopher and historian. Educated at Edinburgh, he lived (1734–37) in France, where he finished his first philosophical work, A Treatise of Human Nat...