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Venus, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Venus, in Roman religion and mythology, goddess of vegetation. Later, she became identified (3d cent. b.c.) with the Greek Aphrodite. In imperial times she was worshiped as Venus Genetrix, mother of A...

Myra

(Encyclopedia)Myra mīˈrə [key], ancient city and seaport of Lycia, S Asia Minor (now S Turkey). The Acts of the Apostles reports that the city was visited by Paul. According to tradition, it was the see of St. N...

arts and crafts

(Encyclopedia)arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement dir...

Aeolis

(Encyclopedia)Aeolis ēōˈlēə [key], ancient region of the west coast of Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey). Aeolis was not a geographic term but a collective term for the cities founded there by the Aeolians, a...

Prester John

(Encyclopedia)Prester John, legendary Christian priest and monarch of a vast, wealthy empire in Asia or in Africa. The legend first appeared in the latter part of the 12th cent. and persisted for several centuries....

Evangelical and Reformed Church

(Encyclopedia)Evangelical and Reformed Church, Protestant denomination formed by the merger (1934) of the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America. Both of these bodies had or...

Phocaea

(Encyclopedia)Phocaea fōsēˈə [key], ancient city, W Asia Minor, N of Smyrna (Izmir), in present Turkey. It was northernmost of the Greek Ionian cities. In the 7th cent. b.c. it grew into a maritime state; its c...

Xanthus

(Encyclopedia)Xanthus zănˈthəs [key], ancient city of Lycia, W Asia Minor, in present Turkey. On the Xanthus River, it was besieged and taken by the Persians (c.546 b.c.) and centuries later (c.42 b.c.) by the R...

San Fernando, city, Trinidad and Tobago

(Encyclopedia)San Fernando săn fərnănˈdō [key], city (1990 pop. 30,092), Trinidad and Tobago, on the Gulf of Paria. It is the country's second largest city and a commercial center for S Trinidad. ...

Wilson, James, American agriculturist and cabinet officer

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, James, 1836–1920, American agriculturist and cabinet officer, b. Ayrshire, Scotland. He emigrated to the United States and settled (1851) in Connecticut, later moving (1855) to Tama co., Iow...