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Kiev

(Encyclopedia)Kiev or Kyiv kēˈĕf, –ĕv [key], Ukrainian Kyyiv, Rus. Kiyev, city (1990 est. pop. 2,600,000) and municipality with the status of a region (oblast), capital of Ukraine and of Kiev region, a port o...

Vikings

(Encyclopedia)Vikings, Scandinavian warriors who raided the coasts of Europe and the British Isles from the 9th cent. to the 11th cent. In their language, the word “viking” originally meant a journey, as for tr...

catacombs

(Encyclopedia)catacombs katˈəkōmz [key], cemeteries of the early Christians and contemporary Jews, arranged in extensive subterranean vaults and galleries. Besides serving as places of burial, the catacombs were...

Sakha Republic

(Encyclopedia)Sakha Republic yəko͞oˈshēə [key], constituent republic (1995 pop. 1,035,000), c.1,200,000 sq mi (3,108,000 sq km), NE Siberian Russia. Yakutsk is the capital. The Sakha Republic is bounded in the...

Satan

(Encyclopedia)Satan [Heb.,=adversary], traditional opponent of God and humanity in Judaism and Christianity. In Scripture and literature the role of the opponent is given many names, such as Apolyon, Beelzebub, Sem...

Priestley, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Priestley, Joseph, 1733–1804, English theologian and scientist. He prepared for the Presbyterian ministry and served several churches in England as pastor but gradually rejected orthodox Calvinism a...

Neoplatonism

(Encyclopedia)Neoplatonism nēˌōplāˈtənĭzəm [key], ancient mystical philosophy based on the doctrines of Plato. Neoplatonism was an early influence on Christian thinkers. The Christian apologists Clement...

Zoroastrianism

(Encyclopedia)Zoroastrianism zôˌrōăsˈtrēənĭzəm [key], religion founded by Zoroaster, but with many later accretions. The religion's priests, successors to the pre-Zoroastrian Magi, acquired great power b...

Aleppo

(Encyclopedia)Aleppo əlĕpˈ [key], Arabic Haleb, city (2021 est. pop. 1,917,000), capital of Aleppo governorate, NW Syria. It is a commercial and industrial center located in a semide...

Alexander I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander I, 1777–1825, czar of Russia (1801–25), son of Paul I (in whose murder he may have taken an indirect part). In the first years of his reign the liberalism of his Swiss tutor, Frédéric ...