Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Polanski, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Polanski, Roman, 1933–, Polish-French film director, b. Paris. His family returned to Kraków, Poland, when he was three. His parents were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and his mother died ...

Vishniac, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Vishniac, Roman vĭshˈnēăk [key], 1897–1990, Russian-American biologist, photographer, linguist, art historian, and philosopher, b. Pavlosk, near St. Petersburg. Vishniac took degrees in medicine...

Roman architecture

(Encyclopedia)Roman architecture, structures produced by the ancient Romans. Most important among the structures developed by the Romans themselves were basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, and triumphal arches. U...

Roman art

(Encyclopedia)Roman art, works of art produced in ancient Rome and its far-flung provinces. The continued striving after three-dimensional illusionist effects revealed in the various phases of painting was dup...

Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)Roman Empire: see Rome; Byzantine Empire; Holy Roman Empire. ...

Roman law

(Encyclopedia)Roman law, the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 b.c. to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in a.d. 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil law. Most aut...

Roman literature

(Encyclopedia)Roman literature: see Latin literature. ...

Roman Question

(Encyclopedia)Roman Question: see Lateran Treaty. ...

Roman religion

(Encyclopedia)Roman religion, the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome. The spirits were held in awe and were placated with offerings and prayers. In the earliest period of Roman state r...

Roman roads

(Encyclopedia)Roman roads, ancient system of highways linking Rome with its provinces. Their primary purpose was military, but they also were of great commercial importance and brought the distant provinces in touc...