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Delphi

(Encyclopedia)Delphi dĕlˈfī [key], locality in Phocis, Greece, near the foot of the south slope of Mt. Parnassós, c.6 mi (10 km) northeast of the port of Cirrha. It was the seat of the Delphic oracle, the most ...

church, building for Christian worship

(Encyclopedia)church [Gr. kuriakon=belonging to the Lord], in architecture, a building for Christian worship. The earliest churches date from the late 3d cent.; before then Christians, because of persecutions, wors...

harvest customs

(Encyclopedia)harvest customs, practices associated with the celebration of the gathering of agricultural crops. The gathering of the harvest—the climax of the year's labors wherever the soil is cultivated—has ...

Japanese architecture

(Encyclopedia)Japanese architecture, structures created on the islands that constitute Japan. Evidence of prehistoric architecture in Japan has survived in the form of models of terra-cotta houses buried in tombs a...

Ionic order

(Encyclopedia)Ionic order īŏnˈĭk [key], one of the early orders of architecture. The spreading scroll-shaped capital is the distinctive feature of the Ionic order; it was primarily a product of Asia Minor, wher...

Chengde

(Encyclopedia)Chengde or Chengteh both: chŭng-do͝o [key], city, N Hebei prov., China, near the Luan River. It is a ...

Dendara

(Encyclopedia)Dendara or Dendera both: dĕnˈdərä [key], town, N Egypt, on the Nile River. Nearby is the site of the ancient Greek city of Tentyra. There is a large, well-preserved temple of Hathor (1st cent. b.c...

Satanism

(Encyclopedia)Satanism. The cult of Satan, or Satan worship, is in part a survival of the ancient worship of demons and in part a revolt against Christianity or the church. It rose about the 12th cent. in Europe an...

Thebes , city of ancient Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Thebes thēbz [key], city of ancient Egypt. Luxor and Karnak now occupy parts of its site. The city developed at a very early date from a number of small villages, particularly one around modern Luxor...

Pharisees

(Encyclopedia)Pharisees fârˈĭsēz [key], one of the two great Jewish religious and political parties of the second commonwealth. Their opponents were the Sadducees, and it appears that the Sadducees gave them th...