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Christopher, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Christopher, Saint krĭsˈtəfər [key] [Gr.,=Christ bearer], 3d cent.?, martyr of Asia Minor. His characteristic legend is that one day when he was carrying a little child over a river, he felt the c...

Alyattes

(Encyclopedia)Alyattes ălēăˈtēz [key], d. 560 b.c., king of Lydia. During his reign, Alyattes expanded his kingdom. He made peace (585 b.c.) with Cyaxares of Media, continued the Lydian conquest of the Ionian ...

apatite

(Encyclopedia)apatite ăpˈətīt [key], mineral, a phosphate of calcium containing chlorine or fluorine, or both, that is transparent to opaque in shades of green, brown, yellow, white, red, and purple. Apatite is...

molybdenite

(Encyclopedia)molybdenite məlĭbˈdənīt, mō– [key], a mineral, molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, blue-gray in color, with a metallic luster and greasy feel. It occurs in crystals of the hexagonal system but more co...

Bruce, James

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, James, 1730–94, Scottish explorer in Africa. He explored Roman ruins in N Africa (1755) from Tunis to Tripoli and visited Crete, Rhodes, and Asia Minor. In 1768 he traveled down the Red Sea a...

Viotti, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Viotti, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä vyôtˈtē [key], 1755–1824, Italian violinist, considered the greatest of his day. He made public appearances until 1783, and the next year he ...

Xanthus

(Encyclopedia)Xanthus zănˈthəs [key], ancient city of Lycia, W Asia Minor, in present Turkey. On the Xanthus River, it was besieged and taken by the Persians (c.546 b.c.) and centuries later (c.42 b.c.) by the R...

Rogation Days

(Encyclopedia)Rogation Days, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are Apr. 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St. Mark's D...

Sivas

(Encyclopedia)Sivas sĭväsˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 219,122), capital of Sivas prov., central Turkey, on the Kizil Irmak. An important trade and manufacturing center, it has cement, textile, and rug factories. Iro...

Hudson River school

(Encyclopedia)Hudson River school, group of American landscape painters, working from 1825 to 1875. The 19th-century romantic movements of England, Germany, and France were introduced to the United States by such w...