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cedar

(Encyclopedia)cedar, common name for a number of trees, mostly coniferous evergreens. The true cedars belong to the small genus Cedrus of the family Pinaceae (pine family). All are native to the Old World from the ...

purgatory

(Encyclopedia)purgatory pûrgˈətôrˌē [key] [Lat.,=place of purging], in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the state after death in which the soul destined for heaven is purified. Since only the perfec...

Quito

(Encyclopedia)Quito kēˈtō [key], city (1990 pop. 1,100,847), N central Ecuador, capital of Ecuador and of Pichincha prov. After Guayaquil it is Ecuador's largest city. The setting of Quito is visually splendid: ...

raisin, in botany and cooking

(Encyclopedia)raisin, dried fruit of certain varieties of grapevines bearing grapes with a high content of sugar and solid flesh. Although the fruit is sometimes artificially dehydrated, it is usually sun-dried. Th...

Ramayana

(Encyclopedia)Ramayana rämäˈyənə [key] [story of Rama], classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed in the 3d cent. b.c. Based on numerous legends, it is traditionally the work of Valmiki, one of the m...

alcalde

(Encyclopedia)alcalde ălkălˈdē, Span. älkälˈdā [key] [Span., from Arab.,=the judge], Spanish official title, in existence at least from the 11th cent. Since the late 19th cent. it has been used for the mayo...

Antiochus III

(Encyclopedia)Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great), d. 187 b.c., king of Syria (223–187 b.c.), son of Seleucus II and younger brother of Seleucus III, whom he succeeded. At his accession the Seleucid empire was in...

Antigonus I

(Encyclopedia)Antigonus I (Antigonus the One-Eyed or Antigonus Cyclops) ăntigˈənəs sīˈklo˘ps [key], 382?–301 b.c., general of Alexander the Great and ruler in Asia. He was made (333 b.c.) governor of Phryg...

Harun ar-Rashid

(Encyclopedia)Harun ar-Rashid häro͞on är-räshēdˈ [key] [Arab.,=Aaron the Upright], c.764–809, 5th and most famous Abbasid caliph (786–809). He succeeded his brother Musa al-Hadi, fourth caliph, a year aft...

Anna, czarina of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Anna (Anna Ivanovna) änˈnə ĭväˈnôvnə [key], 1693–1740, czarina of Russia (1730–40), daughter of Ivan V and niece of Peter I (Peter the Great). On the death of her distant cousin, Peter II,...