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monsters and imaginary beasts

(Encyclopedia)monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...

writing

(Encyclopedia)writing, the visible recording of language peculiar to the human species. Writing enables the transmission of ideas over vast distances of time and space and is a prerequisite of complex civilization....

roof

(Encyclopedia)roof, overhead covering of a building with its framework support. Various methods of construction, such as are suited to different climates, have diversified exterior and interior architectural effect...

Saladin

(Encyclopedia)Saladin sălˈədĭn [key], Arabic Salah ad-Din, 1137?–1193, Muslim warrior and Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, the great opponent of the Crusaders, b. Mesopotamia, of Kurdish descent. He lived for 10 year...

road

(Encyclopedia)road, strip of land used for transportation. The history of roads has been related to the centralizing of populations in powerful cities, which the roads have served for military purposes and for trad...

goldwork

(Encyclopedia)goldwork, ornaments, jewelry, and vessels created from gold. Such works have figured in almost every stage of civilization as symbols of wealth and power. During the craft revival of the 1960s and 7...

mosaic

(Encyclopedia)mosaic mōzāˈĭk [key], art of arranging colored pieces of marble, glass, tile, wood, or other material to produce a surface ornament. The Gothic revival of the 19th cent. produced some modern ...

ass

(Encyclopedia)ass, hoofed, herbivorous mammal of the genus Equus, closely related to the horse. It is distinguished from the horse by its small size, large head, long ears, and small hooves. There are three living ...

tile

(Encyclopedia)tile, one of the ceramic products used in building, to which group brick and terra-cotta also belong. The term designates the finished baked clay—the material of a wide variety of units used in arch...

Persian Gulf

(Encyclopedia)Persian Gulf, arm of the Arabian Sea, 90,000 sq mi (233,100 sq km), between the Arabian peninsula and Iran, extending c.600 mi (970 km) from the Shatt al Arab delta to the Strait of Hormuz, which link...