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Ptolemy III

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy III (Ptolemy Euergetes) yo͞oûrˈjĭtēz [key], d. 221 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (246–221 b.c.), of the Macedonian dynasty, son of Ptolemy II and the first Arsinoë. He plunged immediatel...

Hathor

(Encyclopedia)Hathor hăthˈôr [key], in Egyptian religion, celestial goddess of love and festivity. The personification of the sky, she was represented as a star-studded cow or as a woman with the head of a cow. ...

Gnosticism

(Encyclopedia)Gnosticism nŏsˈtĭsĭzəm [key], dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d c...

Heracleopolis

(Encyclopedia)Heracleopolis hərăkˌlēŏpˈəlĭs [key], ancient city, N Egypt, just S of El Faiyum. One of the oldest Egyptian cities, it was in existence before 3000 b.c. and was the capital (c.2155–c.2050) o...

Constitution of Athens

(Encyclopedia)Constitution of Athens, treatise by Aristotle or a member of his school, written in the late 4th cent. b.c. It was lost until discovered on Egyptian papyrus in 1890. It is a history of the Athenian go...

Shur

(Encyclopedia)Shur shŭr [key], landmark of the Egyptian border N of the Red Sea, also called the Wilderness of Shur. In the Bible it is associated with the the wandering of Hagar, the journeying of Abraham, the se...

Ptah

(Encyclopedia)Ptah ptä [key], in Egyptian religion, great god of Memphis. He was one of the important gods of ancient Egypt and, according to Memphite theology, created the universe through the thought of his hear...

Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders

(Encyclopedia)Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders pēˈtrē [key], 1853–1942, English archaeologist, a noted Egyptologist. He excavated ancient remains in Britain (1875–80), Egypt (1880–1924), and Palestine ...

apse

(Encyclopedia)apse, the termination at the sanctuary end of a church, generally semicircular in plan but sometimes square or polygonal. The apse appeared early in Roman temples and basilicas; it was originally a se...

mandorla

(Encyclopedia)mandorla mänˈdôrlä [key], [Ital.,=almond], a medieval Christian artistic convention by which an oval or almond-shaped area or series of lines surrounds a deity, most commonly Jesus. The mandorla i...