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Theodoret

(Encyclopedia)Theodoret thēŏdˈərĕt [key], c.393–c.458, Syrian churchman and theologian. He was a monk of Apamaea and a lifelong friend of Nestorius. In 423 he went unwillingly to be bishop of Cyrus, Syria, w...

reaper

(Encyclopedia)reaper, early farm machine drawn by draft animals or tractor and used to harvest grain. Its historical predecessors were the sickle and the cradle scythe, which are still used in some parts of the wor...

Xerxes I

(Encyclopedia)Xerxes I (Xerxes the Great) zûrkˈsēz [key], d. 465 b.c., king of ancient Persia (486–465 b.c.). His name in Old Persian is Khshayarsha, in the Bible Ahasuerus. He was the son of Darius I and Atos...

Bithynia

(Encyclopedia)Bithynia bĭthĭnˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were given some autonomy a...

Jena

(Encyclopedia)Jena yāˈnä [key], city (1994 pop. 100,090), Thuringia, E central Germany, on the Saale River. Manufactures of this industrial center include pharmaceuticals, glass, optical and precision instrument...

credit union

(Encyclopedia)credit union, cooperative, not-for-profit financial institution that makes low-interest personal loans to its members. It is usually composed of persons from the same occupational group or the same lo...

Saint-Just, Louis de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Just, Louis de lwēˈ də săN-zhüstˈ [key], 1767–94, French revolutionary. A member of the Convention from 1792, he became a favorite of Maximilien Robespierre and was (1793–94) a leading...

Chronicles

(Encyclopedia)Chronicles, two books of the Bible, originally a single work in the Hebrew canon (the final book of that canon), called First and Second Chronicles in the Authorized Version, and called First and Seco...

pontoon

(Encyclopedia)pontoon, one of a number of floats used chiefly to support a bridge, to raise a sunken ship, or to float a hydroplane or a floating dock. Pontoons have been built of wood, of hides stretched over wick...

Kananga

(Encyclopedia)Kananga lo͞olwäbo͞orˈ [key], city (1984 pop. 298,693), capital of Kasai-Central prov., S central Congo (Kinshasa), on the Lulua River. It is the commercial and transportation center of a region wh...