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Shechem, town, West Bank

(Encyclopedia)Shechem shēˈkəm [key], town, central ancient Palestine, the modern Tell Balatan, between Mts. Gerizim and Ebal, near Nablus. Archaeological excavations indicate a village there c.3500 b.c. Shechem'...

Saba, island, West Indies

(Encyclopedia)Saba säˈbə [key], island (1990 est. pop. 1,100), 5 sq mi (13 sq km), a special municipality of the Netherlands, one of the NW Leeward Islands, West Indies. It was formerly part of the Netherlands A...

Achaemenids

(Encyclopedia)Achaemenids ăkˌəmĕnˈĭdz [key], dynasty of ancient Persia. They were descended presumably from one Achaemenes, a minor ruler in a mountainous district of SW Iran. His successors, when Elam declin...

Darius II

(Encyclopedia)Darius II, d. 404 b.c., king of ancient Persia (423?–404 b.c.); son of Artaxerxes I and a concubine, hence sometimes called Darius Nothus [Darius the bastard]. His rule was not popular or successful...

University Park

(Encyclopedia)University Park, city (1990 pop. 22,259), Dallas co., N Tex., surrounded by Dallas on three sides; inc. 1924. A residential suburb, the city is the seat of Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Love Field A...

Constantinople, Second Council of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Second Council of, 553, regarded generally as the fifth ecumenical council. It was convened by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle the dispute known as the Three Chapters. In an at...

Mithredath

(Encyclopedia)Mithredath mĭthˈrēdăth [key], in the Bible. 1 Cyrus' treasurer. 2 Persian officer who hindered the rebuilding of the Temple. ...

Field of the Cloth of Gold

(Encyclopedia)Field of the Cloth of Gold, locality between Guines and Ardres, not far from Calais, in France, where in 1520 Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for the purpose of arranging an alliance...

Curtis Institute of Music

(Encyclopedia)Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia; coeducational; founded 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok (later married to Efrem Zimbalist) and named for her father, Cyrus Curtis. The institute operates enti...

Artaxerxes II

(Encyclopedia)Artaxerxes II, d. 358 b.c., king of ancient Persia (404–358 b.c.), son and successor of Darius II. He is sometimes called in Greek Artaxerxes Mnemon [the thoughtful]. Early in his reign Cyrus the Yo...