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Edessa

(Encyclopedia)Edessa ĭdĕsˈə [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia, on the site of modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It emerged in the 4th cent. b.c. as Orrhoe, or Arrhoe, and was later named Edessa by Seleucus I of Syri...

Ockeghem, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Ockeghem, Johannes yōhänˈəs ŏkˈəgĕm [key], c.1410–1497, Flemish composer. Ockeghem is thought to have been a pupil of Gilles Binchois and was definitely taught by Guillaume Dufay. He himself...

Alexander, king of Greece

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, 1893–1920, king of the Hellenes (1917–20), second son of Constantine I. After his father's forced abdication, he succeeded to the Greek throne with the support of the Allies, who distru...

Trebizond, empire of

(Encyclopedia)Trebizond, empire of, 1204–1461. When the army of the Fourth Crusade overthrew (1204) the Byzantine Empire and established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, several Greek successor states sprang u...

Robert Guiscard

(Encyclopedia)Robert Guiscard gēskärˈ [key], c.1015–1085, Norman conqueror of S Italy, a son of Tancred de Hauteville (see Normans). Robert joined (c.1046) his brothers in S Italy and fought with them to expel...

Paulicians

(Encyclopedia)Paulicians pôlĭshˈənz [key], Christian heretical sect. The sect developed in Armenia from obscure origins and is first mentioned in the middle of the 6th cent., where it is associated with Nestori...

Palermo

(Encyclopedia)Palermo pälĕrˈmō [key], Lat. Panormus, city (1991 pop. 698,556), capital of Palermo prov. and of Sicily, NW Sicily, Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Situated on the edge of the Conca d'Oro (Golden Co...

Potemkin, Grigori Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Potemkin, Grigori Aleksandrovich pōtĕmˈkĭn, Rus. grĭgôˈrē əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch pŭtyômˈkĭn [key], 1739–91, Russian field marshal and favorite of Catherine II. He studied at Moscow Univ....

Golden Bull

(Encyclopedia)Golden Bull, term translated from the Latin bulla aurea and generally referring to a bull (edict) with a golden seal. Golden bulls were promulgated by medieval Byzantine rulers and by Western European...

Sofia

(Encyclopedia)Sofia sōfēˈə, sōˈfēə [key], Bulg. Sofiya, city (1993 pop. 1,114,476), capital of Bulgaria, W central Bulgaria, on a high plain surrounded by the Balkan Mts. It is Bulgaria's chief industrial, ...