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Mariette, Auguste Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Mariette, Auguste Édouard ōgüstˈ ādwärˈ märyĕtˈ [key], 1821–81, French Egyptologist. On a visit (1850–54) to Egypt to collect Coptic manuscripts for the Louvre, he excavated (1851) the r...

Matuta

(Encyclopedia)Matuta or Mater Matuta māˈtər məto͞oˈtə [key], Roman goddess. Sometimes called the goddess of dawn, she was more properly the goddess of childbirth. Her festival, the Matralia (June 11), was at...

oath

(Encyclopedia)oath, vocal affirmation of the truth of one's statements, generally made by appealing to a deity. From the earliest days of human history, calling upon the gods of a community to witness the truth of ...

Arish, Al

(Encyclopedia)Arish, Al äl ärēshˈ [key], town (1986 pop. 67,337), NE Egypt, in the Sinai peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a fishing port and a military and administrative center; since the 1980s it ha...

Zawahiri, Ayman al-

(Encyclopedia)Zawahiri or Zawahri, Ayman al- both: īˈmän äl-zäwäˈrē [key], 1951–, militant Egyptian Islamist. A surgeon by education and training, he became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood and joined...

Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Josiah jōsīˈəs [key], in the Bible. 1 King of Judah, son and successor of Amon. The great event of his reign came in its 18th year, when the book of the law, apparently Deuteronomy, was found in t...

Huitzilopochtli

(Encyclopedia)Huitzilopochtli wēˌtsēlōpōchtˈlē [key], chief deity of the Aztec, god of war. He is said to have guided the Aztecs during their migration from Aztlán. Usually represented in sculptured images ...

naos

(Encyclopedia)naos nāˈŏs [key], inner portion of a Greek temple, enclosed within walls and generally surrounded by colonnaded porticoes. In it stood the statue of the deity to whom the temple was consecrated. Th...

Bel

(Encyclopedia)Bel bāl, bĕl [key], deity of the Middle Eastern religions. The name is a cognate of that of Baal. For Bel in the Bible, see Bel and the Dragon. ...

Belzoni, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Belzoni, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä bĕltsôˈnē [key], 1778–1823, Italian adventurer and antiquities dealer. He began as a Capuchin monk and later sold religious goods and worke...