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patrician

(Encyclopedia)patrician pətrĭshˈən [key], member of the privileged class of ancient Rome. Two distinct classes appear to have come into being at the beginning of the republic. Only the patricians held public of...

Capri

(Encyclopedia)Capri käˈprē [key], Lat. Capreae, island (1987 est. pop. 7,750), 4 sq mi (10.4 sq km), Campania, S Italy, in the Bay of Naples off the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula. It is an international tourist ...

Maximin, d. 313, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Maximin (Galerius Valerius Maximinus), d. 313, Roman emperor (308–13); kinsman of Galerius. He is called Maximin Daia. He was made caesar in 305 and in 308 proclaimed himself augustus in opposition ...

equites

(Encyclopedia)equites ĕkˈwĭtēz [key] [Lat.,=horsemen], the original cavalry of the Roman army, chosen, according to legend, by Romulus from the three ancient Roman tribes; the equites were selected from the sen...

Coptos

(Encyclopedia)Coptos kŏpˈtəs [key], ancient city of Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, c.27 mi (43 km) N of modern Luxor. Remains of the Temple of Min, patron god of Coptos, have been found there as well as r...

Varro, Marcus Terentius

(Encyclopedia)Varro, Marcus Terentius, 116 b.c.–27? b.c., Roman man of letters. Known as the most erudite man and the most prolific writer of his times, Varro is estimated to have written about 620 volumes. He se...

Vattel, Emerich de

(Encyclopedia)Vattel, Emerich de āˈmərĭkh də vätĕlˈ [key], 1714–67, Swiss philosopher and jurist. He served (1746–58) as Saxon minister at Bern and later in the cabinet of Augustus III at Dresden. He is...

Agrippina the Elder

(Encyclopedia)Agrippina the Elder ăgˌrĭpīˈnə [key], d. a.d. 33, Roman matron; daughter of Agrippa and Julia and granddaughter of Augustus. She was the wife of Germanicus Caesar and accompanied him on his prov...

mark

(Encyclopedia)mark, designation for the free village community that was supposed to have been the unit of primitive German social life. According to a theory formulated in the 19th cent. by Georg Ludwig von Maurer ...

Foot Resolution

(Encyclopedia)Foot Resolution, offered in 1829 by Samuel Augustus Foot in the U.S. Senate. This resolution instructed the committee on public lands to inquire into the limiting of public land sale. The Jacksonian D...