Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ventris, Michael George Francis

(Encyclopedia)Ventris, Michael George Francis, 1922–56, English linguist. Ventris was a student of architecture, but he became interested in the untranslated Mycenaean scripts, particularly Linear B, which was fo...

miniature painting

(Encyclopedia)miniature painting [Ital.,=artwork, especially manuscript initial letters, done with the red lead pigment minium; the word originally had no implication as to size]. In a general sense the term denote...

stupa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Stupa stupa sto͞oˈpə [key] [Sanskrit,=mound], Buddhist monument in tumulus, or mound, form, often containing relics. The words tope and dagoba are synonymous, though the latter properly ref...

carpentry

(Encyclopedia)carpentry, trade concerned with constructing wood buildings, the wooden portions of buildings, or the temporary timberwork used during the construction of buildings. It comprises the larger and more s...

Damascus

(Encyclopedia)Damascus dəmăsˈkəs [key], Arabic Dimashq or ash-Sham, city (1995 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Syria and of its Damascus governorate, SW Syria, on the eastern edge of the Anti-Lebanon Mts. It i...

Seneca, the elder, c.60 b.c.–c.a.d. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer

(Encyclopedia)Seneca, the elder (Lucius, or Marcus, Annaeus Seneca) lo͞oˈshəs, märˈkəs ənēˈəs sĕnˈəkə [key], c.60 b.c.–c.a.d. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spa...

Seneca, the younger, c.3 b.c.–a.d. 65, Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Seneca, the younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) lo͞oˈshəs ənēˈəs sĕnˈəkə [key], c.3 b.c.–a.d. 65, Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spain. He was...

Macau

(Encyclopedia)Macau or Macao məkouˈ [key], Port. Macau, Mandarin Aomen, special administrative region of China, formerly administered by Portugal (2015 est. pop. 601,000), 10.8 sq mi (28.2 sq km), adjoining Guang...

Lombardy

(Encyclopedia)Lombardy lŏmˈbərdē [key], Ital. Lombardia, region (1991 pop. 8,856,069), c.9,200 sq mi (23,830 sq km), N Italy, bordering on Switzerland in the north. Milan is the capital of the region, which is ...

Chihuahua, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Chihuahua, city, capital of Chihuahua state, N Mexico. It lies in a valley almost encircled by hills. Chihuahua is the commercial and processing center ...