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Pertinax

(Encyclopedia)Pertinax (Publius Helvius Pertinax) pûrˈtĭnăks [key], 126–193, Roman emperor (193), b. Liguria. Formerly a general, he reluctantly succeeded Commodus on the throne. Attempting to curb license in...

Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di

(Encyclopedia)Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di fārdēnänˈdō fränchāsˈkō däväˈlōs märkāˈzā ᵺē pāskäˈrä [key], 1490?–1525, Spanish-Neapolitan general in the Italian Wars. H...

Strumica

(Encyclopedia)Strumica stro͞oˈmĭtsä [key], town (1994 pop. 43,868), SE North Macedonia. It is an agricultural center reliant on tobacco, livestock, and cotton production. Strumica, an ancient town, was long und...

Vibo Valentia

(Encyclopedia)Vibo Valentia vēˈbō välānˈtyä [key], town (1991 pop. 34,836), Calabria, S Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is an agricultural and commercial center. A flourishing Roman town, Vibo was destroy...

Victorinus

(Encyclopedia)Victorinus (Caius Marius Victorinus Afer) vĭktərīˈnəs [key], fl. 361, Roman grammarian, b. Africa. He became renowned as a teacher of rhetoric in Rome and as an advocate of Neoplatonism. Becoming...

Livia Drusilla

(Encyclopedia)Livia Drusilla lĭvˈēə dro͞osĭlˈə [key], c.55 b.c.–a.d. 29, Roman matron; mother of the Roman emperor Tiberius. She first married Tiberius Claudius Nero. Tiberius was his son. In 38 b.c., Aug...

Vitruvius

(Encyclopedia)Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio) vĭtro͞oˈvēəs [key], fl. late 1st cent. b.c. and early 1st cent. a.d., Roman writer, engineer, and architect for the Emperor Augustus. In his one extant work, D...

Anna Comnena

(Encyclopedia)Anna Comnena kŏmnēˈnə [key], b. 1083, d. after 1148, Byzantine princess and historian; daughter of Emperor Alexius I. She plotted, during and after her father's reign, against her brother, John II...

Canopus, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Canopus, in astronomy, 2d brightest star in the sky, located in the constellation Carina, which is part of the ancient constellation Argo Navis; Bayer designation α Carinae; 1992 position R.A. 6h23.8...

William I, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia

(Encyclopedia)William I, 1797–1888, emperor of Germany (1871–88) and king of Prussia (1861–88), second son of the future King Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg. Essentially conservati...