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Hipparchus, Greek astronomer

(Encyclopedia)Hipparchus, fl. 2d cent. b.c., Greek astronomer, b. Nicaea, Bithynia. He is the first systematic astronomer of whom there are records. He made his observations chiefly on the island of Rhodes. Ptolemy...

Orkhan

(Encyclopedia)Orkhan ôr-khänˈ [key], 1288?–1362?, Ottoman sultan (1326–1362?), son and successor of Osman I as leader of the Ottoman Turks. He defeated Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III and conquered large pa...

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America

(Encyclopedia)National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York Cit...

Dio Cassius

(Encyclopedia)Dio Cassius (Cassius Dio Cocceianus) dīo kăshˈəs [key], c.155–235?, Roman historian and administrator, b. Nicaea in Bithynia. He was a grandson of Dio Chrysostom. His rise in civil and military ...

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

(Encyclopedia)Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON or MEA), international organization active between 1956 and 1991 for the coordination of economic policy among certain nations then under Communist domi...

Adam, the first man, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Adam ădˈəm [key], [Heb.,=man], in the Bible, the first man. In the Book of Genesis, God creates humankind in his image as a species of male and female, giving them dominion over other life. Elsewhe...

Eugene IV

(Encyclopedia)Eugene IV, 1383–1447, pope (1431–47), a Venetian named Gabriele Condulmer; successor of Martin V. He was of exemplary character and ascetic habits. Gregory XII, his uncle, made him cardinal (1408)...

Trebizond, empire of

(Encyclopedia)Trebizond, empire of, 1204–1461. When the army of the Fourth Crusade overthrew (1204) the Byzantine Empire and established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, several Greek successor states sprang u...

Baldwin I, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin I (Baldwin of Boulogne), 1058?–1118, Latin king of Jerusalem (1100–1118), brother and successor of Godfrey of Bouillon, whom he accompanied on the First Crusade (see Crusades). Separating ...

Henry of Flanders

(Encyclopedia)Henry of Flanders, c.1174–1216, Latin emperor of Constantinople (1206–16), brother and successor of Emperor Baldwin I. The ablest and most respected of the Latin emperors, he fought successfully a...