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Theodotians

(Encyclopedia)Theodotians, small heretical sect, formed c.190 by Theodotus, a Byzantine. It lasted until the end of the 4th cent. The Theodotians taught that Jesus was a man, who became the Christ only after his ba...

quaestor

(Encyclopedia)quaestor kwĕsˈtôr [key], Roman magistrate, with responsibility for the treasury; in early times a quaestor also had judicial powers. At first there were two quaestors. Sulla named 20, and Caesar se...

Nereus

(Encyclopedia)Nereus nērˈo͞os, –ēəs [key], in Greek mythology, seagod. He was the son of Pontus and Gaea and the father of the nereids (see nymph). A kindly, wise old man of the sea, Nereus could change into...

Williams, Emlyn

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Emlyn, 1905–87, Welsh actor and dramatist. His best-known plays are Night Must Fall (1935) and The Corn Is Green (1941). His Collected Plays were published in 1961. As an actor he is noted...

Winnipeg, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Winnipeg, river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, issuing from the north end of Lake of the Woods, SW Ont., Canada, and flowing in a winding course generally northwest to the southeast end of Lake Winnipeg, SE...

Sumarokov, Aleksandr Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Sumarokov, Aleksandr Petrovich əlyĭksänˈdər pētrôˈvĭch so͞omərôˈkəf [key], 1718–77, Russian dramatist and poet. Sumarokov wrote fables, satires, lyrics, and comic odes in the classical...

Bidpai

(Encyclopedia)Bidpai or Bidpay both: bĭdˈpī [key], supposed name of the author of the fables of the Panchatantra. The name first appears in an Arabic version of these fables—hence they are called the fables of...

Brooks, Preston Smith

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Preston Smith, 1819–57, U.S. Congressman (1852–57), b. Edgefield District, S.C. A lawyer and the nephew of Senator Andrew Pickens Butler, he is remembered as the man who in 1856 caned Char...

Black Rock Desert

(Encyclopedia)Black Rock Desert, arid region of lava beds and alkali flats, NW Nev., in Toiyabe National Forest, stretching c.70 mi (110 km) NE from Gerlach. The Jackson Mts. rise to the east; the Black Rock Range ...

Levi, Primo

(Encyclopedia)Levi, Primo prēˈmō lāˈvē [key], 1919–87, Italian writer. A chemist of Jewish descent, Levi was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz during World War II. His first memoir, If This Is a M...