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Ragnarok

(Encyclopedia)Ragnarok rägˈnərŏkˌ [key], in Norse mythology, the doom of the gods. According to prophecy the end of the world would follow a severe ice age, in which human civilization would be destroyed. Then...

Khmer Empire

(Encyclopedia)Khmer Empire kəmĕrˈ [key], ancient kingdom of SE Asia. In the 6th cent. the Cambodians, or Khmers, established an empire roughly corresponding to modern Cambodia and Laos. Divided during the 8th ce...

Childe, Vere Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Childe, Vere Gordon, 1892–1957, British archaeologist, b. Australia. An Oxford graduate, he taught at the Univ. of Edinburgh (1927–46) and the Univ. of London (1946–56). He gained renown for his...

Mycenae

(Encyclopedia)Mycenae mīsēˈnē [key], ancient city of Greece, in Argolis. In historical times it had little importance and was usually dependent on Argos. Its significance is in its remote past as a center of My...

Mori Ogai

(Encyclopedia)Mori Ogai mōˈrē ōˈgäē [key], 1862–1922, Japanese army physician, medical researcher, literary critic, novelist, translator, scholar, and playwright, he is now primarily remembered for his fic...

Mácha, Karel Hynek

(Encyclopedia)Mácha, Karel Hynek käˈrel hēˈnĕk mäˈkhä [key], 1810–36, Czech romantic poet. After studying law at the Univ. of Prague he became a civil servant. He published a number of promising poems an...

Warren, Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Warren, Josiah, 1798–1874, American reformer and anarchist, b. Boston. An early follower of Robert Owen, he soon rejected Owen's political socialism, advocating instead anarchy based on “the sover...

Seignobos, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Seignobos, Charles shärlˈ sānyōbōˈ [key], 1854–1942, French historian. He taught at the Univ. of Paris and wrote many works on French and European history and civilization, some being contribu...

Sargon, king of Akkad

(Encyclopedia)Sargon särˈgŏn [key], king of Akkad in Mesopotamia (reigned c.2340–c.2305 b.c.). By conquest he established a great empire that included the whole of Mesopotamia and extended over Syria and Elam,...

Orchomenus

(Encyclopedia)Orchomenus ôrkŏmˈĭnəs [key], ancient city of Boeotia, central Greece, NW of Lake Copaïs. After 1600 b.c. it was an important center of the Mycenaean civilization. In later times the city was ecl...