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Antiochus I

(Encyclopedia)Antiochus I (Antiochus Soter) āntīˈəkəs sōˈtər [key], b. c.324 b.c., d. c.262 or 261 b.c., king of Syria (280–261? b.c.), son of Seleucus I. He did not, like his father, seek to expand in Eu...

Niebuhr, Karsten

(Encyclopedia)Niebuhr, Karsten nēˈbo͝or [key], 1733–1815, German traveler in Arabia. He was sole survivor of a party of five (of whom the best known was Peter Forskal, a Swedish naturalist) sent by Frederick ...

Kittim

(Encyclopedia)Kittim or Chittim both: kĭtˈĭm [key]. 1 Biblical term for Cyprus; often extended to include lands W of Syria. The name originally designated the Phoenician port of Citium in Cyprus. 2 Term appearin...

Baldwin III, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin III, 1130–62, Latin king of Jerusalem (1143–62), son and successor of Fulk. Until 1152 he ruled with his mother, Melisende. In his reign began the decay of Latin power in the East. Edessa ...

Damascus

(Encyclopedia)Damascus dəmăsˈkəs [key], Arabic Dimashq or ash-Sham, city (1995 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Syria and of its Damascus governorate, SW Syria, on the eastern edge of the Anti-Lebanon Mts. It i...

Arab Spring

(Encyclopedia)Arab Spring, in modern North African and Middle Eastern history, antigovernment demonstrations and uprisings that, from late 2010, swept many of the regions' Arab nations. Arising in large part in rea...

Hazael

(Encyclopedia)Hazael hăzˈāĕl, həzāˈəl [key], fl. 840 b.c., king of Damascus; successor and murderer of Benhadad. In the Bible he appears as the ally of the party of Elisha in Israel and later as the conquer...

Elisha

(Encyclopedia)Elisha ēlīˈshə [key], in the Bible, prophet who functions as a model of the Mosaic prophetic office after Elijah, whose work he continued; he is believed to have lived in the 9th cent. b.c. Elisha...

As Salamiya

(Encyclopedia)As Salamiya äs-sälämˈēyä [key], town (1988 est. pop. 47,000), W central Syria. It is a transportation center situated in a fertile plain where cereals, vegetables, and cotton are grown. As Salam...

Seti I

(Encyclopedia)Seti I sēˈtī, sāˈtē [key], d. 1290 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the XIX dynasty; son and successor of Ramses I. He succeeded to the throne c.1302 b.c. Invading Palestine and Syria, Seti I red...