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Ptolemy II

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy II (Ptolemy Philadelphus) fĭlədĕlˈfəs [key], c.308–246 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (285–246 b.c.), of the Macedonian dynasty, son of Ptolemy I and Berenice (c.340–281 b.c.). He cont...

Amphipolis

(Encyclopedia)Amphipolis ămfĭˈpəlĭs [key], ancient city of Macedonia, on the Strymon (Struma) River near the sea and NE of later Thessaloníki. The place was known as Ennea Hodoi [nine ways] before it was sett...

Nemrut, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Nemrut, Mount, Turk. Nemrut Dağ, mountain in SE Turkey, in the Anti-Taurus Mts. Rising 7,052 ft (2,150 m), it is the site of the mausoleum of Antiochus I (c.69–c.34 b.c.), king of ancient Commagene...

Larissa, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Larissa läˈrēsä [key], city (1991 pop. 113,090), capital of Larissa prefecture, E Greece, in Thessaly on the Piniós River. It is an agricultural trade center and a transportation hub, linked by r...

Sanhedrin

(Encyclopedia)Sanhedrin sănhĕdˈrĭn [key], ancient Jewish legal and religious institution in Jerusalem that appears to have exercised the functions of a court between c.63 b.c. and c.a.d. 68. The accounts of it ...

idyl

(Encyclopedia)idyl īˈdəl [key], short poem. The ancient idyls, especially those of Bion and Moschus, were intended as little selections in the style of such longer poems as elegies or epics. There are 10 famous ...

crest

(Encyclopedia)crest, in feudal livery, an ornament of the headpiece that afforded protection against a blow. The term is incorrectly used to mean family coat of arms. Crests were widely used in the 13th cent. by fe...

gens

(Encyclopedia)gens jĕnz [key], ancient Roman kinship group. It was the counterpart of what is known in other societies as a patrilineal clan or sib, and the word has been used in social science as a generic term f...

oracle

(Encyclopedia)oracle, in Greek religion, priest or priestess who imparted the response of a god to a human questioner. The word is also used to refer to the response itself and to the shrine of a god. Every oracula...

Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis

(Encyclopedia)Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis nümäˈ dənēˈ füstĕlˈ də ko͞oläNzhˈ [key], 1830–89, French historian. His masterly study, La Cité antique (1864, tr. The Ancient City, 1874), stressed the...