Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

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...

O'Neill, Owen Roe

(Encyclopedia)O'Neill, Owen Roe, 1590?–1649, Irish chieftain. Nephew of Hugh O'Neill, 2d earl of Tyrone, he left Ireland after the “flight of the earls” in 1607 and spent 30 years in the Spanish army, serving...

Dongan, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Dongan, Thomas dŏngˈgən [key], 1634–1715, colonial governor of New York, b. Co. Kildare, Ireland. He was appointed governor in 1682, and on the instructions of the duke of York (later James II), ...

Keith, Sir Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Keith, Sir Arthur, 1866–1955, British anatomist, b. Aberdeen, Scotland, educated at the Univ. of Aberdeen, University College, London, and the Univ. of Leipzig. He became conservator of the museum a...

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...

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...

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 ...

Townshend, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Townshend, Charles, 1725–67, English statesman; grandson of the 2d Viscount Townshend. Distrusted for his marked instability, he held relatively minor offices until the 1st earl of Chatham made him ...

Shuster, George Nauman

(Encyclopedia)Shuster, George Nauman, 1894–1977, American educator, b. Lancaster, Wis., grad. Notre Dame (B.A., 1915; M.A., 1920) and Columbia (Ph.D., 1940). He was head of the department of English at Notre Dame...