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Levites

(Encyclopedia)Levites lēˈvīts [key], a religious caste among the ancient Hebrews, descended from Jacob's son Levi and figuring prominently in the Bible. There were three divisions of Levites—Kohathites, Merari...

Veil, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Veil, Simone, 1927–2017, French politician, b. Simone Jacob. Interned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II because she was Jewish, she became a lawyer and government official. She served ...

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(Encyclopedia)Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, an early Jewish work, with some Christian interpolations, reckoned among the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The work may have been written as early as 1st cent. b.c...

Bilderdijk, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Bilderdijk, Willem wĭlˈəm bĭlˈdərdīk [key], 1756–1831, Dutch poet. He tutored Louis Bonaparte in Dutch and later conducted a small private college at Leiden, where his pupils included Isaäc ...

Šibenik

(Encyclopedia)Šibenik shēbĕˈnĭk [key], Ital. Sebenico, town (2011 pop. 46,332), S Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea. It is a seaport, naval base, and resort center on the Dalmatian coast. The city has shipbuilding,...

Dan

(Encyclopedia)Dan. 1 In the Bible, son of Jacob and Bilhah and eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Their allotment in SW Palestine was the least extensive. The hostility of the Amorites living the...

Gilead

(Encyclopedia)Gilead gĭlˈēăd [key], in the Bible. 1 Eponym of the Gileadites, grandson of Manasseh. 2 Gadite. 3 Jephthah's father. 4 City near Mizpah, denounced by Hosea. 5 Fertile, mountainous region, NE of th...

John, Augustus Edwin

(Encyclopedia)John, Augustus Edwin, 1879–1961, British painter and etcher, b. Wales. John studied at the Slade School, London. A leading portrait painter, he had many important sitters, among them Queen Elizabeth...

phlox

(Encyclopedia)phlox, common name for plants of the genus Phlox and for members of the Polemoniaceae, a family of herbs (and some shrubs and vines) found chiefly in the W United States. The family includes many popu...

Stuart, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Stuart, Robert, 1785–1843, American explorer, b. Scotland. He emigrated (1807) to Canada and became a fur trader. He joined in John Jacob Astor's Astoria venture, and in 1812 he led the overland par...