Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ezekiel

(Encyclopedia)Ezekiel ēzēˈkēĕl [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The book is a collection of oracles emanating from the career of the priest Ezekiel, who preached to Jews of the Babylonian captivity from 593...

Farouk

(Encyclopedia)Farouk färo͞okˈ [key], 1920–65, king of Egypt (1936–52), son and successor of Fuad I. After a short regency he acceded (1937) to the throne. A constitutional monarch, Farouk was frequently at o...

emerald

(Encyclopedia)emerald, the green variety of beryl, of which aquamarine is the blue variety. Chemically, it is a beryllium-aluminum silicate whose color is due to small quantities of chromium compounds. The emerald ...

Seleucus II

(Encyclopedia)Seleucus II (Seleucus Callinicus), d. 226 b.c., king of ancient Syria (247–226 b.c.), son of Antiochus II. On his father's death there was a struggle for the throne between Seleucus and his stepmoth...

Sennar

(Encyclopedia)Sennar – [key], town, SE Sudan, on the Blue Nile. It was the capital of the Muslim kingdom of Sennar, traditionally known as the “Black Sultanate,” which was founded in the 16th cent. Under its ...

shaduf

(Encyclopedia)shaduf or shadoof both: shədo͝ofˈ, shäˈdo͝of [key], primitive device used to lift water from a well or stream for irrigation purposes. Essentially the device consists of a long boom balanced acr...

Thutmose II

(Encyclopedia)Thutmose II thŏthˈmēz, tōtˈmĕs [key], reigned c.1495–1490 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, fourth ruler of the XVIII dynasty and the son and successor of Thutmose I. Unlike Hatshepsut, his half-si...

Navarino, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Navarino, battle of nävärēˈnō [key], 1827, naval battle resulting from the intervention of the European powers in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). England, France, ...

Volney, Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Volney, Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de kôNstäNtăNˈ fräNswäˈ də shäsböfˈ kôNt də vôlnāˈ [key], 1757–1820, French scholar. He traveled in Egypt and Syria in the 1780s an...

Afghan hound

(Encyclopedia)Afghan hound ăfˈgăn [key], breed of tall, swift hound originating about 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Its modern ancestors were perfected in the northern part of Afghanistan and introduced into...