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Zephaniah, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Zephaniah zĕfˌənīˈə [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The prophet, who lived in the reign (c.640–609 b.c.) of King Josiah of Judah, traces his genealogy to King Hezekiah. Zephaniah denounces...

West Indies, University of the

(Encyclopedia)West Indies, University of the, autonomous regional institution with main campuses in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados; coeducational; est. 1948 in Mona, Jamaica, as an external university college of t...

Ezra, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ezra, book of the Bible, combined with Nehemiah in the Septuagint to form the book 2 Esdras. In the Vulgate, Ezra and Nehemiah are called 1 and 2 Esdras respectively. Ezra, like Nehemiah, is the work ...

Daughters of the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a Colonial patriotic society in the United States, open to women having one or more ancestors who aided the cause of the Revolution. The society was organiz...

White Horse, Vale of the

(Encyclopedia)White Horse, Vale of the, district (1991 pop. 109,200), Oxfordshire, S central England. The vale is the valley of the Ock River. Abingdon is the administrative seat. Surgical instruments and automobil...

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(Encyclopedia)Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, an early Jewish work, with some Christian interpolations, reckoned among the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The work may have been written as early as 1st cent. b.c...

Seven Wonders of the World

(Encyclopedia)Seven Wonders of the World, in ancient classifications, were the Great Pyramid of Khufu (see pyramid) or all the pyramids with or without the sphinx; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, with or without th...

Cato the Elder

(Encyclopedia)Cato the Elder kāˈtō [key] or Cato the Censor, Lat. Cato Major or Cato Censorius, 234–149 b.c., Roman statesman and moralist, whose full name was Marcus Porcius Cato. He fought in the Second Puni...

Arpad, chief of the Magyars

(Encyclopedia)Arpad ŏrˈpäd [key], c.840–907?, chief of the Magyars. He led his people into Hungary c.895. The leaders of the Magyars and the first dynasty of Hungarian kings (St. Stephen I to Andrew III) were ...

Frederick the Fair

(Encyclopedia)Frederick the Fair, c.1286–1330, German antiking (1314–26), duke of Austria, son of Albert I, German king. On the death of Henry VII, Holy Roman emperor and German king, the split between the supp...