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turnpike

(Encyclopedia)turnpike, road paid for partly or wholly by fees collected from travelers at tollgates. It derives its name from the hinged bar that prevented passage through such a gate until the toll was paid. See ...

Thatcher, Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Baroness

(Encyclopedia)Thatcher, Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Baroness, 1925–2013, British political leader. Great Britain's first woman prime minister, nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her uncompromising political s...

Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Rhodes rôˈᵺôs [key], island (1990 est. pop. 90,000), c.540 sq mi (1,400 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; largest of the Dodecanese, near Turkey. The modern city of Rhodes or Ródhos (199...

Benedict XVI

(Encyclopedia)Benedict XVI, 1927–2022, pope (2005–13) and Roman Catholic theologian, a German (b. Marktl am Inn, Bavaria) named Josef (or Joseph) Alois Ratzinger;...

Vergil

(Encyclopedia)Vergil or Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) both: vûrˈjil [key], 70 b.c.–19 b.c., Roman poet, b. Andes dist., near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul; the spelling Virgil is not found earlier than the 5th ce...

Malay Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Malay Peninsula məlāˈ, māˈlā [key], southern extremity (c.70,000 sq mi/181,300 sq km) of the continent of Asia, lying between the Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca on the...

Herod

(Encyclopedia)Herod, dynasty reigning in Palestine at the time of Jesus. As a dynasty the Herods depended largely on the power of Rome. They are usually blamed for the state of virtual anarchy in Palestine at the b...

Greek literature, modern

(Encyclopedia)Greek literature, modern, literature written in Greek in the modern era, primarily beginning during the period of rebellion against the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In general, 20th-century Greek lit...

Greek music

(Encyclopedia)Greek music, the music of the ancient and modern inhabitants of Greece. Dormant for nearly two thousand years, Greek music underwent a musical rebirth in the 19th cent. with the works of the opera c...

Giotto

(Encyclopedia)Giotto (Giotto di Bondone) jôtˈtō dē bōndôˈnā [key], c.1266–c.1337, Florentine painter and architect. He is noted not only for his own work, but for the lasting impact he had on the course o...