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Maccabees, Jewish family

(Encyclopedia)Maccabees or Machabees both: măkˈəbēz [key], Jewish family of the 2d and 1st cent. b.c. that brought about a restoration of Jewish political and religious life. They are also called Hasmoneans or ...

Hannibal, Carthaginian general

(Encyclopedia)Hannibal hănˈəbəl [key], b. 247 b.c., d. 183 or 182 b.c. Carthaginian general, an implacable and formidable enemy of Rome. Although knowledge of him is based primarily on the reports of his enemie...

Jerome, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Jerome, Saint jərōmˈ, jĕrˈəm [key], c.347–420?, Christian scholar, Father of the Church, Doctor of the Church. He was born in Stridon on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia of Christian parent...

Aral Sea

(Encyclopedia)Aral Sea ărˈəl [key], salt lake, SW Kazakhstan and NW Uzbekistan, E of the Caspian Sea in an area of interior drainage. To the north and west are the edges of the arid Ustyurt Plateau; the Kyzyl Ku...

Baja California, peninsula, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Baja California Span.: bäˈhä kälēfōrˈnyä [key] or Lower California, peninsula, c.760 mi (1,220 km) long and from 30 to 150 mi (48–241 km) wide, NW Mexico, separating the Gulf of California f...

Baluchistan

(Encyclopedia)Baluchistan bəlôˈ– [key], province (2017 provisional pop. 12,344,408), c.134,000 sq mi (347,000 sq km), Pakistan. The country's largest and least populous province, it is bounded by Iran on the w...

Islamic art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Islamic art and architecture, works of art and architecture created in countries where Islam has been dominant and embodying Muslim precepts in its themes. Among the ceramic types are unglazed wares...

Athanasius, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Athanasius, Saint ăthənāˈzhəs [key], c.297–373, patriarch of Alexandria (328–73), Doctor of the Church, great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis of the 4th cent. (see Arianism). In...

Defoe, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Defoe or De Foe, Daniel dĭfōˈ [key], 1660?–1731, English writer, b. London. He was nearly sixty when he turned to writing novels. In 1719 he published his famous Life and Strange Surprising Adv...

Champlain, Samuel de

(Encyclopedia)Champlain, Samuel de shămplānˈ, Fr. sämüĕlˈ də shäNplăNˈ [key], 1567–1635, French explorer, the chief founder of New France. After serving in France under Henry of Navarre (King Henry IV)...