Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Leo X, pope

(Encyclopedia)Leo X, 1475–1521, pope (1513–21), a Florentine named Giovanni de' Medici; successor of Julius II. He was the son of Lorenzo de' Medici, was made a cardinal in his boyhood, and was head of his fami...

Romagna

(Encyclopedia)Romagna rōmäˈnyä [key], historic region, N central Italy, bordering on the Adriatic Sea in the east, now included in the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Tuscany. Although its boundaries var...

Strauss, Franz Josef

(Encyclopedia)Strauss, Franz Josef shtrous [key], 1915–88, West German political figure, leader of the Christian Social Union. He became prominent in the Bavarian Christian Social Union (the Bavarian wing of the...

Fouquet, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Fouquet or Foucquet, Nicolas fo͞okāˈ [key], 1615–80, superintendent of finance (1653–61) under King Louis XIV of France. His loyalty to Cardinal Mazarin during the Fronde helped to secure his ...

Minucius Felix, Marcus

(Encyclopedia)Minucius Felix, Marcus märˈkəs mĭnyo͞oshˈəs fēˈlĭks [key], fl. 2d cent., Christian apologist, author of a dialogue, Octavius, one of the earliest Latin apologies. In it a pagan and a Christi...

Hirtius, Aulus

(Encyclopedia)Hirtius, Aulus ôˈləs hûrˈshēəs [key], d. 43 b.c., Roman soldier. He was a friend of Julius Caesar, with whom he served in Gaul. After Caesar's assassination (44 b.c.) Hirtius and Caius Vibius P...

Vanini, Lucilio

(Encyclopedia)Vanini, Lucilio lo͞ochēˈlyō vänēˈnē [key], c.1585–1619, Italian philosopher, who gave himself the name Julius Caesar. A freethinker, he was persecuted for his ideas and driven from one Europ...

Sommer, William

(Encyclopedia)Sommer, William, 1867–1949, American painter and lithographer, b. Detroit. He was apprenticed as a lithographer and studied drawing with Julius Melchers in Detroit and drawing and painting in Munich...

Ptolemy XIV

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy XIV, d. 44 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (47–44 b.c.), the last of the Macedonian dynasty, but for his sister, Cleopatra. He was a child when his brother Ptolemy XIII drowned. Julius Caesar ma...

Ptolemy XV

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy XV (Ptolemy Caesarion), 47–30 b.c., son of Cleopatra and (almost certainly) Julius Caesar. He became joint ruler with his mother, but played no role in the great and tragic events that broug...

Browse by Subject