Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hadrian, for popes, variant spelling of Adrian

(Encyclopedia)Hadrian. For popes of that name, use Adrian.

Holy Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Holy Roman Empire (c.1100) CE5 Holy Roman Empire, designation for the political entity that originated at the coronation as emperor (962) of the German king Otto I and endured until the renu...

Castel Sant' Angelo

(Encyclopedia)Castel Sant' Angelo kästĕlˈ säntänˈjālō [key], Hadrian's Mausoleum, or Hadrian's Mole, massive round construction on the right bank of the Tiber in Rome. Originally built (a.d. 135–39) by Em...

Suetonius

(Encyclopedia)Suetonius (Caius Suetonius Tranquillus) swētōˈnēəs [key], c.a.d. 69–c.a.d. 140, Roman biographer. Little is known about his life except that he was briefly the private secretary of Emperor Hadr...

Roman art

(Encyclopedia)Roman art, works of art produced in ancient Rome and its far-flung provinces. The continued striving after three-dimensional illusionist effects revealed in the various phases of painting was dup...

Orestes, Roman general

(Encyclopedia)Orestes ōrĕstˈēz [key], d. 476, Roman general. With the help of barbarians he deposed (475) the Roman emperor of the West, Julius Nepos, and raised his own son, Romulus Augustulus, to the throne. ...

Gratian, Roman emperor of the West

(Encyclopedia)Gratian grāˈshən [key], 359–83, Roman emperor of the West (375–83). At the death of his father, Valentinian I, he accepted the army's election of his brother, Valentinian II, as his colleague. ...

Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus), Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Severus or Septimius Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus) sĕptĭmˈēəs sēvēˈrəs [key], 146–211, Roman emperor (193–211), b. Africa. He was campaigning in Pannonia and Illyria when the emperor...

Severus (Flavius Valerius Severus), Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Severus (Flavius Valerius Severus), d. 307, Roman emperor (306–7). He participated with Galerius in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Maxentius. Surrendering to Maximian (father of Maxentius) at ...

Trajan

(Encyclopedia)Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Trajanus) trāˈjən [key], c.a.d. 53–a.d. 117, Roman emperor (a.d. 98–a.d. 117). Born in Spain, he was the first non-Italian to become head of the empire. Trajan served in t...