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Villehardouin

(Encyclopedia)Villehardouin vēlärdwăNˈ [key], French noble family that ruled the Peloponnesus from 1210 to 1278. Geoffroi I de Villehardouin, d. 1218, nephew of the historian and marshal of Champagne and Romani...

Aqaba

(Encyclopedia)Aqaba äˈkäbä [key], town (1996 est. pop. 52,000), SW Jordan, at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the border with Israel. It is the only Jordanian port with direct access to the Red Sea; it remain...

Manasseh

(Encyclopedia)Manasseh mənăsˈē [key] [Heb.,=making to forget], in the Bible. 1 First son of Joseph by his Egyptian wife, Asenath, and eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Manasseh received land...

John the Baptist, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John the Baptist, Saint, d. c.a.d. 28–a.d. 30, Jewish prophet, considered by Christians to be the forerunner of Jesus. He was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who was also a kinswoman of Mary, th...

Golan Heights

(Encyclopedia)Golan Heights, strategic upland region (2003 est. pop. 10,500), c.500 sq mi (1,250 sq km), SW Syria. It borders S Lebanon, NE Israel, and NW Jordan. It takes its name from the ancient city of Golan an...

Canaan

(Encyclopedia)Canaan kāˈnən [key]. 1 According to biblical ethnography, Canaan was the son of Ham and the ancestor for whom the Canaanites were named. 2 Territory, the same as ancient Palestine, lying between th...

Beth-shan

(Encyclopedia)Beth-shan bĕth-shēˈən [key], ancient town, at the meeting of the Vale of Jezreel with the Jordan valley. It was the most strategic point of E ancient Palestine, with the crossing of four roads. Re...

Holland House

(Encyclopedia)Holland House, residence of the Holland family in Kensington, London, made famous in the first 40 years of the 19th cent. by the hospitality of Henry Fox, 3d Baron Holland, and his wife. Built in 1606...

Andretti, Mario

(Encyclopedia)Andretti, Mario ăndrĕtˈē [key], 1940–, American auto racing driver, b. Italy. He is the only driver to have won the Indianapolis 500 (1969), stock racing's Daytona 500 (1967), and the internatio...

Esalen Institute

(Encyclopedia)Esalen Institute, organization est. 1962 by Michael Murphy and Richard Price that was an important center for the so-called human potential movement of the 1960s and 70s. Located in Big Sur, Calif., a...