Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

495 results found

Unser, Al

(Encyclopedia)Unser, Al (Alfred Unser, Sr.) ŭnˈsər [key] 1939–2021, American automobile racing driver, b. Albuquerque, ...

Rurik

(Encyclopedia)Rurik ro͞oˈrĭk [key], d. 879, semilegendary Varangian warrior, regarded as the founder of the princely dynasty of Kievan Rus. Rurik and his two brothers, at the head of an armed band, apparently se...

Titan , in Greek religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Titan, in Greek religion and mythology, one of 12 primeval deities. The female Titan is also called Titaness. The Titans—six sons and six daughters—were the children of Uranus and Gaea. They were ...

Thomas à Kempis

(Encyclopedia)Thomas à Kempis kĕmˈpĭs [key], b. 1379 or 1380, d. 1471, German monk, traditional author of The Imitation of Christ, b. Kempen, Germany. He was schooled at Deventer, in the Netherlands, the center...

Theodoric I

(Encyclopedia)Theodoric I tērēˈ, tēĕrˈē [key], d. 534, Frankish ruler, son of Clovis I. On his father's death (511) he shared equally with his brothers, Clodomer, Childebert I, and Clotaire I, in the divisio...

book of hours

(Encyclopedia)book of hours, form of prayer book developed in the 14th cent. from the prayers of clerics appended to the main service. The subjects of the miniature illustrations (see miniature painting) were frequ...

Rossellino, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Rossellino, Antonio äntôˈnyō rōs-sĕl-lēˈnō [key], 1427–c.1478, Florentine sculptor, whose name was Antonio di Matteo di Domenico Gambarelli. He was the youngest and most celebrated of four ...

Sarasota

(Encyclopedia)Sarasota sârˌəsōˈtə [key], city (1990 pop. 50,961), seat of Sarasota co., SW Fla., on Sarasota Bay; settled c.1884, inc. 1914. It is a yachting and fishing resort with varied light manufacturing...

Straus

(Encyclopedia)Straus strous [key], family of American merchants, public officials, and philanthropists. Isidor Straus, 1845–1912, b. Rhenish Bavaria, emigrated (1854) with his brothers to the United States in ord...

Alfonso IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso IV, 1291–1357, king of Portugal (1325–57), son and successor of Diniz. Disgruntled by the favoritism his father showed toward Alfonso's illegitimate half-brothers, Alfonso rose in revolt i...

Browse by Subject