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Thrace

(Encyclopedia)Thrace thrās [key], region, 3,310 sq mi (8,575 sq km), SE Europe, occupying the southeastern tip of the Balkan Peninsula and comprising NE Greece, S Bulgaria, and European Turkey. Its boundaries have...

Atlantis

(Encyclopedia)Atlantis ətlăntĭs, ăt– [key], in Greek legend, large island in the western sea (the Atlantic Ocean). Plato, in his dialogues the Timaeus and the Critias, tells of the high civilization that flou...

Barlaam and Josaphat

(Encyclopedia)Barlaam and Josaphat bärˈläəm, jōˈsəfăt [key], legend popular in medieval times. It corresponds in part to the legend of Buddha. Versions of the story have been found in nearly every language....

Smirke, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Smirke, Sir Robert, 1781–1867, English architect, one of the most noted exponents of the classic revival. His best-known design is the main facade of the British Museum (1823–47). Other buildings ...

Locke, Alain LeRoy

(Encyclopedia)Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1885–1954, American writer, educator, philosopher, and cultural critic, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (A.B., 1907; Ph.D., 1918), first African-American Rhodes Scholar at Oxford ...

Lumet, Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Lumet, Sidney lo͞o-mĕtˈ [key], 1924–2011, one of the great American film directors of the 20th cent., b. Philadelphia. A child actor in New York's Yiddish radio and theater and (1935–41) on Bro...

Kaufman, George S.

(Encyclopedia)Kaufman, George S. kôfˈmən [key], 1889–1961, American dramatist and journalist, b. Pittsburgh as George Kaufman. As a drama critic for various New York newspapers he was influential in raising th...

John of Damascus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John of Damascus, Saint, or Saint John Damascene dămˈəsēn [key], c.675–c.749, Syrian theologian, Father of the Church and Doctor of the Church. He was brought up at the court of the caliph in Da...

Hermes, in Greek religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Hermes, in Greek religion and mythology, son of Zeus and Maia. His functions were many, but he was primarily the messenger of the gods, particularly of Zeus, and conductor of souls to Hades. He was go...

Eros, in Greek religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Eros ērˈŏs, ĕrˈ– [key], in Greek religion and mythology, god of love. He was the personification of love in all its manifestations, including physical passion at its strongest, tender, romantic...