Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

120 results found

Cassandra

(Encyclopedia)Cassandra kəsănˈdrə [key], in Greek legend, Trojan princess, daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was given the power of prophecy by Apollo, but because she would not accept him as a lover, he change...

Creusa

(Encyclopedia)Creusa krēo͞oˈsə [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Daughter of Erechtheus and wife of Xuthus. Her sons, Achaeus by Xuthus, and Ion by Xuthus or Apollo, are the ancestors of the Achaeans and the Ionians...

Muses

(Encyclopedia)Muses, in Greek religion and mythology, patron goddesses of the arts, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Originally only three, they were later considered as nine. Calliope was the Muse of epic poetry a...

Laomedon

(Encyclopedia)Laomedon lāŏmˈĭdŏn [key], in Greek mythology, king of Troy. When Laomedon failed to pay Poseidon, Apollo, and King Aeacus for building the walls of Troy, Poseidon sent a sea monster to ravage the...

Aristaeus

(Encyclopedia)Aristaeus ărĭstēˈəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Apollo and Cyrene, especially honored as the inventor of beekeeping. Aristaeus tried to violate Eurydice, wife of Orpheus. Eurydice was fatal...

Phigalia

(Encyclopedia)Phigalia fĭgāˈlēə [key], ancient city of Greece, in SW Arcadia (now Arkadhía). It gives its name to the Phigalian Marbles, a frieze c.100 ft (30 m) long and 2 ft (61 cm) high, in high relief, re...

Euphranor

(Encyclopedia)Euphranor yo͞ofrāˈnər [key], fl. 364 b.c., Greek painter and sculptor from Corinth. His most famous paintings were in the Stoa of Zeus at Athens—A Cavalry Charge between the Athenians and Boeoti...

Grumman, Leroy Randle

(Encyclopedia)Grumman, Leroy Randle, 1895–1982, American aviation pioneer and aerospace executive, b. Huntington, N.Y. After graduating from Cornell (1916), he joined the U.S. navy, where he served as a flight in...

Periander

(Encyclopedia)Periander pĕrˈēănˌdər [key], d. 585 b.c., one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, tyrant of Corinth. His rule raised his city to a high state of prosperity, and he established friendly relations wi...

McDonnell, James Smith

(Encyclopedia)McDonnell, James Smith, 1899–1980, American aviation pioneer, b. Denver, B.S. Princeton, 1921, M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1925. He designed the Doodlebug (1929), a small monoplane, ...