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Eve, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Eve [Heb.,=life], in the Bible, the first woman, wife of Adam and the mother of Cain, Abel, and Seth. Fashioned from Adam's rib, she was beguiled by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit of the ...

Frederick the Winter King

(Encyclopedia)Frederick the Winter King, 1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman E...

patriarch, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)patriarch pāˈtrēärk [key], in biblical tradition, one of the antediluvian progenitors of the race as given in Genesis (e.g., Seth) or one of the ancestors of the Jews (e.g., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,...

Lot, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Lot, in the Book of Genesis, the son of Abraham's brother Haran. Lot settled in Sodom and received a warning of its destruction. As he fled with his family, his wife, disobeying God's orders, looked b...

Israel, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Israel ĭzˈrēəl, ĭzˈrāəl [key] [as understood by Hebrews,=he strives with God], according to the book of Genesis, name given to Jacob as eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, the chosen people of ...

Magdala, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Magdala măgˈdələ [key], in the New Testament, home of Mary Magdalene. It is identified with Migdal, Israel, a town on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the neighboring site of the former A...

Gamelyn, The Tale of

(Encyclopedia)Gamelyn, The Tale of gămˈəlĭn [key], a romance in verse, written c.1350, containing about 900 lines. It tells of the tribulations of a young man abused by his older brothers. The tale survives in ...

Zoar, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Zoar bēˈlə [key], it was the only one of the Cities of the Plain (see Sodom) to escape destruction. Lot and his daughters took refuge here. It is probably now submerged in the southern end of the D...

Lady of the Lake

(Encyclopedia)Lady of the Lake, in Arthurian legend, a misty, supernatural figure endowed with magic powers, who gave the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. She inhabited a castle in an underwater kingdom. According t...

Dothan, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Dothan dōthāˈĭm [key], city, central ancient Palestine, in the uplands NE of Samaria. In the Bible, it was in the vicinity of Dothan that Joseph was sold into slavery and that the Syrians were bli...