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Charles V, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Charles V (Charles the Wise), 1338–80, king of France (1364–80). Son of King John II, Charles became the first French heir apparent to bear the title of dauphin after the addition of the region of...

Nereus

(Encyclopedia)Nereus nērˈo͞os, –ēəs [key], in Greek mythology, seagod. He was the son of Pontus and Gaea and the father of the nereids (see nymph). A kindly, wise old man of the sea, Nereus could change into...

Bidpai

(Encyclopedia)Bidpai or Bidpay both: bĭdˈpī [key], supposed name of the author of the fables of the Panchatantra. The name first appears in an Arabic version of these fables—hence they are called the fables of...

Star of Bethlehem, in the Gospels

(Encyclopedia)Star of Bethlehem, name given to the luminous celestial object rising in the sky that, as related in the Gospel of Matthew, led the Wise Men of the East to the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus was born...

Chilon

(Encyclopedia)Chilon kīˈlŏn [key], 6th cent. b.c., one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He was a Spartan and brought greater strictness to Spartan training. As an ephor (c.556 b.c.) he strengthened the power of ...

Juan Manuel, Infante de Castile

(Encyclopedia)Juan Manuel, Infante de Castile hwän mänwĕlˈ, ēnfänˈtā ᵺā kästēˈlā [key], 1282–1349?, Spanish nobleman, soldier, and writer; nephew of Alfonso X (called the Wise). Juan Manuel was a w...

Nestor, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Nestor nĕsˈtər [key], in Greek mythology, wise king of Pylos; son of Neleus and father of Antilochus. In the Iliad, Nestor went with the Greeks to the Trojan War, and although he had lived three ge...

Pittacus

(Encyclopedia)Pittacus pĭtˈəkəs [key], c.650–c.570 b.c., Greek statesman and military leader; one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He helped to overthrow the tyrant of Mytilene in Lesbos and became the lawgiv...

Gotham

(Encyclopedia)Gotham gŏthˈəm [key], name for New York City first used by Washington Irving and others in the Salmagundi Papers, with satirical reference to Gotham, England, where the wise men acted as fools in o...

Jarosław

(Encyclopedia)Jarosław yärôˈsläf [key], town (1994 est. pop. 42,500), Podkarpackie prov., SE Poland, on the San River. The town was founded by Yaroslav the Wise, duke of Kiev, in the 11th cent. It passed to Po...