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Uranus , in Greek religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Uranus, in Greek religion and mythology, the heaven, first ruler of the universe, son of Gaea (the earth). He was the father of Gaea's children, the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Hundred-handed Ones (...

Celtic languages

(Encyclopedia)Celtic languages, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. At one time, during the Hellenistic period, Celtic speech extended all the way from Britain and the Iberian Peninsula in the west ...

Valla, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Valla, Lorenzo lōrānˈtsō välˈlä [key], c.1407–57, Italian humanist. Valla knew Greek and Latin well and was chosen by Pope Nicholas V to translate Herodotus and Thucydides into Latin. From hi...

Nag Hammadi

(Encyclopedia)Nag Hammadi näg häˈmädi [key], a town in Egypt near the ancient town of Chenoboskion, where, in 1945, a large cache of gnostic texts in the Coptic language was discovered. The Nag Hammadi manuscri...

Highet, Gilbert Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Highet, Gilbert Arthur məkĭnˈəs [key], 1907–85, b. Glasgow, is noted for her fast-paced, intricately plotted novels of espionage, including Above Suspicion (1941), While Still We Live (1944), De...

Phrygia

(Encyclopedia)Phrygia frĭˈjēə [key], ancient region, central Asia Minor (now central Turkey). The Phrygians, who settled here c.1200 b.c., came from the Balkans and apparently spoke an Indo-European language. A...

Media

(Encyclopedia)Media mēˈdēə [key], ancient country of W Asia whose actual boundaries cannot be defined, occupying generally what is now W Iran and S Azerbaijan. It extended from the Caspian Sea to the Zagros Mts...

versification

(Encyclopedia)versification, principles of metrical practice in poetry. In different literatures poetic form is achieved in various ways; usually, however, a definite and predictable pattern is evident in the langu...

Phoenicia

(Encyclopedia)Phoenicia fĭnēˈshə [key], ancient territory occupied by Phoenicians. The name Phoenicia also appears as Phenice and Phenicia. These people were Canaanites (see Canaan), and in the 9th cent. b.c. t...

Anatolian languages

(Encyclopedia)Anatolian languages ănˌətōˈlēən [key], subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see The Indo-European Family of Languages, tableIndo-European, table); the term “Anatolian languages...