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Azov, Sea of

(Encyclopedia)Azov, Sea of, Gr. Maiotis, Lat. Palus Maeotis, ancient Rus. Surozhskoye, northern arm of the Black Sea, c.14,000 sq mi (36,300 sq km), shared by S European Russia and E Ukraine. The shallow sea (maxim...

John of Brienne

(Encyclopedia)John of Brienne brēĕnˈ [key], c.1170–1237, French crusader. He was a count and in 1210 married Mary, titular queen of Jerusalem. Mary died in 1212, and their daughter, Yolande (1212–28), succee...

Erfurt

(Encyclopedia)Erfurt ĕrˈfo͝ort [key], city, capital of Thuringia, central Germany, on the Gera River. It...

emperor

(Encyclopedia)emperor [Lat. imperator=one holding supreme power, especially applied to generals], the sovereign head of an empire. In the Roman republic the term imperator referred to the chief military commander a...

Alexander Nevsky

(Encyclopedia)Alexander Nevsky nĕvˈskē [key] [Rus.,=of the Neva], 1220–1263, Russian hero, grand duke of Vladimir-Suzdal. As prince of Novgorod (1236–52) he earned his surname by his victory (1240) over the ...

Belgorod

(Encyclopedia)Belgorod byĕlˈgərəd [key], city, capital of Belgorod region, S central European Russia, on the ...

Belarus

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Belarus or Byelarus both: byĕˌləro͞osˈ [key], officially Republic of Belarus, republic (2020 est. pop. ...

Milstein, Nathan

(Encyclopedia)Milstein, Nathan, 1904–92, Russian violinist, b. Odessa. Milstein attended the music school in Odessa before entering the St. Petersburg conservatory, where he studied under Leopold Auer. He toured ...

oblast

(Encyclopedia)oblast ōˈbläst, ŏˈ–, Rus. ôˈbləstyə [key] [Rus.,=region], administrative and territorial division in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the former USSR. In the USSR, oblasts in which the majorit...

Tolstaya, Tatyana

(Encyclopedia)Tolstaya, Tatyana tōlstīˈyä [key], 1951–, Russian short-story writer and essayist. Increasingly recognized as one of the major European writers of the postwar generation, Tolstaya is part of a R...