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Agrippina the Younger

(Encyclopedia)Agrippina the Younger, d. a.d. 59, Roman matron; daughter of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. By her first husband, Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, she was the mother of Nero. After her brother...

Lateran Council, Third

(Encyclopedia)Lateran Council, Third, 1179, 11th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. It was convened at the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Pope Alexander III after the Peace of Venice (1178) had reconciled h...

Ricimer

(Encyclopedia)Ricimer rĭsˈĭmər [key], d. 472, Roman general of the tribe of the Suebi. After winning (456) two victories over the Vandals, he allied with the senate and deposed (456) Emperor Avitus. Thereafter ...

Heliogabalus

(Encyclopedia)Heliogabalus ĕləgăbˈələs [key], c.205–222, Roman emperor (218–22). He was a priest of the local sun god, Elagabalus, at Emesa and was named Varius Avitus Bassianus. He was a cousin of Caraca...

Theodosius

(Encyclopedia)Theodosius, d. 376, Roman general under Valentinian I. He defeated (368–69) the Picts and Scots in Britain and the Alemanni in Gaul (369). He suppressed (372–74) a Berber uprising in N Africa, but...

Agatha, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Agatha, Saint ăgˈəthə [key], 3d cent., Sicilian virgin, martyred under Roman Emperor Decius. She is mentioned in the Martyrology of Jerome and the Calendar of Carthage in the 6th cent. Agatha is i...

Lucius III

(Encyclopedia)Lucius III, d. 1185, pope (1181–85), a native of Lucca named Ubaldo Allucingoli; successor of Alexander III. He was a Cistercian with St. Bernard and was created a cardinal in 1141 by Innocent II. H...

Marie Louise

(Encyclopedia)Marie Louise, 1791–1847, empress of the French (1810–15) as consort of Napoleon I and duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla (1816–47), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (later Empero...

Antoninus Pius

(Encyclopedia)Antoninus Pius (Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus) pīˈəs [key], a.d. 86–a.d. 161, Roman emperor (138–161). After a term as consul (120) he went as proconsul to Asia, where he gove...

Jovian

(Encyclopedia)Jovian (Flavius Claudius Jovianus) jōˈvēən [key], c.331–364, Roman emperor (363–64). The commander of the imperial guard under Julian the Apostate in his Persian campaign, Jovian was proclaime...