Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Coryate, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Coryate or Coryat, Thomas both: kôrˈēət [key], 1577?–1617, English traveler. Grotesque in appearance, he became part of the household of Henry, the oldest son of James I, where he was a sort of ...

squinch

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Squinch squinch, in architecture, a piece of construction used for filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a proper base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome. It was th...

Susa

(Encyclopedia)Susa so͞oˈzə, –sə [key], ancient city, capital of Elam. The site is 15 mi (23 km) SW of modern Dizful, Iran. It is the biblical Shushan, and its inhabitants were called Susanchites. From the 4th...

Miletus

(Encyclopedia)Miletus mīlēˈtəs [key], ancient seaport of W Asia Minor, in Caria, on the mainland not far from Sámos. It was occupied by Greeks in the settlement of the E Aegean (c.1000 b.c.) and became one of ...

Khosrow II

(Encyclopedia)Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz) pärvēzˈ [key], d. 628, king of Persia of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; grandson of Khosrow I. He is also called Chosroes II or Khosru II. He succeeded his father ...

Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al-

(Encyclopedia)Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al- ho͞osānˈ ĭbn mänso͝orˈ [key], 857–922, Arabic-speaking Persian Muslim mystic and poet popularly known among Muslims as “the martyr of mystical love.” Born a...

Karun

(Encyclopedia)Karun käro͞onˈ [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the Zagros Mts., W Iran, and flowing S to the Shatt al Arab on the Iraqi border. The Karun is navigable to Ahvaz for shallow draft ves...

Jovian

(Encyclopedia)Jovian (Flavius Claudius Jovianus) jōˈvēən [key], c.331–364, Roman emperor (363–64). The commander of the imperial guard under Julian the Apostate in his Persian campaign, Jovian was proclaime...

Alp Arslan

(Encyclopedia)Alp Arslan älp ärslänˈ [key], 1029–72, Seljuk sultan of Persia (1063–72). In 1065 he led the Seljuks in an invasion of Armenia and Georgia and in 1066 attacked the Byzantine Empire. The succes...

Diyarbakir

(Encyclopedia)Diyarbakir dēyärˈbäkŭrˌ [key], anc. Amida, city, capital of Diyarbakir prov., SE Turkey...