Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Byblos

(Encyclopedia)Byblos bĭbˈləs [key], ancient city, Phoenicia, a port 17 mi (27 km) NNE of modern Beirut, Lebanon. The principal city of Phoenicia during the 2d millennium b.c., it long retained importance as an a...

Webb, Walter Prescott

(Encyclopedia)Webb, Walter Prescott, 1888–1963, U.S. historian, b. Panola co., Tex. He joined the faculty of the history department at the Univ. of Texas in 1918, received his Ph.D. in 1932, and became full profe...

Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess, pseud. Elizabeth, 1866–1941, English novelist, b. Sydney, Australia; cousin of Katherine Mansfield. In 1890 she married Count Henning von Arnim a...

publican

(Encyclopedia)publican [Lat.,=state employee], in ancient Rome, man who was employed by the state government under contract. As early as c.200 b.c. there was a class of men in Rome accustomed to undertaking contrac...

Barré, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Barré, Isaac bârˈē [key], 1726–1802, British soldier and politician. He served under Gen. James Wolfe in the French and Indian Wars and was wounded at Quebec (1759). Entering Parliament in 1761,...

Craven, Avery Odelle

(Encyclopedia)Craven, Avery Odelle, 1886–1980, American historian, b. Randolph co., N.C.; Ph.D., Univ. of Chicago, 1923. He taught at several colleges in the Midwest before returning (1928) to Chicago and becomin...

Ictinus

(Encyclopedia)Ictinus ĭktīˈnəs [key], fl. 2d half of 5th cent. b.c., one of the greatest architects of Greece. His celebrated work is the Parthenon (447–432 b.c.) upon the acropolis at Athens, which he built ...

Magnesia, ancient cities, Lydia

(Encyclopedia)Magnesia măgnēˈzhə [key], two ancient cities of Lydia, W Asia Minor (now W Turkey). They were colonies of the Magnetes, a tribe of E Thessaly. One city (Magnesia ad Maeandrum), SE of Smyrna (Izmir...

Kalisz

(Encyclopedia)Kalisz käˈlēsh [key], Ger. Kalisch, city (1993 est. pop. 106,600), Wielkopolskie prov., central Poland. An industrial center, it has factories producing textiles, clothing, chemicals, aircraft comp...

Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell

(Encyclopedia)Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell fouˈəl [key], 1786–1845, British social reformer. As a member of Parliament (1818–37) he began his reform activities immediately with the publication of An Inquiry Whet...

Browse by Subject