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Argolis

(Encyclopedia)Argolis ärˈgəlĭs [key], region of ancient Greece in the NE Peloponnesus. It was roughly identical with the Argive plain and was the area dominated by the city of Argos. ...

Greek music

(Encyclopedia)Greek music, the music of the ancient and modern inhabitants of Greece. Dormant for nearly two thousand years, Greek music underwent a musical rebirth in the 19th cent. with the works of the opera c...

Memphis, city, ancient Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Memphis mĕmˈfĭs [key], ancient city of Egypt, capital of the Old Kingdom (c.3100–c.2258 b.c.), at the apex of the Nile delta and 12 mi (18 km) from Cairo. It was reputedly founded by Menes, the f...

Magnesia, ancient cities, Lydia

(Encyclopedia)Magnesia măgnēˈzhə [key], two ancient cities of Lydia, W Asia Minor (now W Turkey). They were colonies of the Magnetes, a tribe of E Thessaly. One city (Magnesia ad Maeandrum), SE of Smyrna (Izmir...

Lydia, ancient country, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Lydia, ancient country, W Asia Minor, N of Caria and S of Mysia (now NW Turkey). The tyrant Gyges was the founder of the Mermnadae dynasty, which lasted from c.700 b.c. to 550 b.c. The little kingdom ...

Mari, ancient city, Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Mari mäˈrē [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia (modern Syria). It is on the middle Euphrates, south of its junction with the Habor (Khabur). The site was discovered by chance in the early 1930s by A...

Kish, ancient city, Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Kish kĭsh [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia, in the Euphrates valley, 8 mi (12.9 km) E of Babylon and 12 mi (19 km) east of the modern city of Hillah, Iraq. It was occupied from very ancient times, ...

Heliopolis, ancient city, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Heliopolis hēlēŏpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=city of the sun], ancient city, N Egypt, in the Nile delta, 6 mi (10 km) below modern Cairo. It was noted as the center of sun worship, and its god Ra or Re wa...

Heliopolis, ancient city, Syria

(Encyclopedia)Heliopolis, Syria: see Baalbek.

Haran, ancient city, Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Haran or Harran both: häränˈ [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia, now in SE Asian Turkey, 24 mi (39 km) SE of Şanlıurfa. It was an important center on the trade route from Nineveh to Carchemish an...