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Ashurnasirpal II

(Encyclopedia)Ashurnasirpal II äˈsho͝ornäˈzĭrpäl [key], d. 860? b.c., king of ancient Assyria (884–860? b.c.), also called Ashurnazirpal II and Assurnasirbal II. One of the earliest of the Assyrian conquer...

Marwan II

(Encyclopedia)Marwan II märˈwän [key], 684–750, last of the Umayyad caliphs. He served as governor of Armenia before his short-lived rule as caliph (744–50). Marwan reorganized his army, taking Syria by 746....

Kenneth II

(Encyclopedia)Kenneth II, d. 995, Scottish king (971–995). The son of Malcolm I (reigned 943–54), he became king of the united Picts and Scots in 971 and immediately led a savage raid on the British in Northumb...

Khosrow II

(Encyclopedia)Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz) pärvēzˈ [key], d. 628, king of Persia of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; grandson of Khosrow I. He is also called Chosroes II or Khosru II. He succeeded his father ...

Ardashir II

(Encyclopedia)Ardashir II, king of Persia (379–83), of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty. A provincial governor under Shapur II, he succeeded to the throne. He earned popularity by remitting taxes, but his rule...

Pius II

(Encyclopedia)Pius II pīˈəs [key], 1405–64, pope (1458–64), an Italian named Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini (often in Latin, Aeneas Silvius), renamed Pienza after him, b. Corsigniano; successor of Calixtus III....

Pharnaces II

(Encyclopedia)Pharnaces II färˈnəsēz [key], d. 47 b.c., king of Pontus, son of Mithradates VI. In the Roman civil war he overran Colchis and central Asia Minor. Julius Caesar came from Egypt and defeated (47 b....

Calixtus II

(Encyclopedia)Calixtus II, Callixtus II, or Callistus II, d. 1124, pope (1119–24), named Guy of Burgundy, successor of Gelasius II. The son of count William I of Burgundy, he was archbishop of Vienne during the ...

Agesilaus II

(Encyclopedia)Agesilaus II əjĕˌsĭlāˈəs [key], c.444–360 b.c., king of Sparta. After the death of Agis I (398? b.c.), he was brought to power by Lysander, whom he promptly ignored. After the Peloponnesian W...

Casimir II

(Encyclopedia)Casimir II, 1138–94, duke of Poland (1177–94), youngest son of Boleslaus III. A member of the Piast dynasty, he drove his brother Mieszko III from power at Kraków in 1177 and became the principal...