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creed

(Encyclopedia)creed [Lat. credo=I believe], summary of basic doctrines of faith. The following are historically important Christian creeds. 1 The Nicene Creed, beginning, “I believe in one God the Father Almighty...

Justinian I

(Encyclopedia)Justinian I jŭstĭnˈēən [key], 483–565, Byzantine emperor (527–65), nephew and successor of Justin I. He was responsible for much imperial policy during his uncle's reign. Soon after becoming ...

circus

(Encyclopedia)circus [Lat.,=ring, circle], historically, the arena associated with the horse and chariot races and athletic contests known in ancient Rome as the Circensian games. The Roman circus was a round or ov...

Jerome, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Jerome, Saint jərōmˈ, jĕrˈəm [key], c.347–420?, Christian scholar, Father of the Church, Doctor of the Church. He was born in Stridon on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia of Christian parent...

Mahmud II

(Encyclopedia)Mahmud II, 1784–1839, Ottoman sultan (1808–39), younger son of Abd al-Hamid I. He was raised to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) upon the deposition of his brother, Mustafa IV, and contin...

Pamuk, Orhan

(Encyclopedia)Pamuk, Orhan ôrˈhän päˈmo͞ok [key], 1952–, Turkey's most celebrated contemporary novelist, studied Robert College (now Univ. of the Bosporus) and İstanbul Univ. Pamuk uses a variety of formal...

Athanasius, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Athanasius, Saint ăthənāˈzhəs [key], c.297–373, patriarch of Alexandria (328–73), Doctor of the Church, great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis of the 4th cent. (see Arianism). In...

Byzantine music

(Encyclopedia)Byzantine music, the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Long thought to be only a further development of ancient Greek music, Byzantine mus...

Tripolitan War

(Encyclopedia)Tripolitan War trĭpŏlˈĭtən [key], 1800–1815, conflict between the United States and the Barbary States. Piracy had become a normal source of income in the N African Barbary States long before t...

Bellini

(Encyclopedia)Bellini jōvänˈnē [key], c.1430–1516, who was first active in Padua where he worked with his father and brother. Also influenced by Mantegna, who became his brother-in-law in 1454, Giovanni paint...