Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Thutmose III

(Encyclopedia)Thutmose III thŏthˈmēz, tōtˈmĕs [key], d. 1436 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the XVIII dynasty; the successor of Thutmose II. After the death of Thutmose II, his wife Hatshepsut became regent ...

Grenville, Sir Richard

(Encyclopedia)Grenville, Sir Richard, 1542?–1591, English naval hero. His cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh, gave him command of the fleet of seven vessels carrying the first colonists to Roanoke Island in 1585. In 1591...

Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de

(Encyclopedia)Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de gäspärˈ mĕlchôrˈ dā hōvĕlyäˈnōs [key], 1744–1811, Spanish statesman and writer. Very influential as an advocate of economic and social reform during the enl...

Charles William Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Charles William Ferdinand, 1735–1806, duke of Brunswick (1780–1806), Prussian field marshal. He had great success in the Seven Years War (1756–63) and was commander in chief (1792–94) of the A...

Chamberlain, Wilt

(Encyclopedia)Chamberlain, Wilt (Wilton Norman Chamberlain), 1936–99, American basketball player, b. Philadelphia. At the Univ. of Kansas he was a two-time All-American center. During 14 seasons in the National B...

Tukhachevsky, Mikhail Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Tukhachevsky or Toukhachevski, Mikhail Nikolayevich both: mēkhəyēlˈ nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch to͞okhəchĕfˈskē [key], 1893–1937, Soviet marshal. An officer in the czarist army from 1914, he joined...

Plataea

(Encyclopedia)Plataea plətēˈə [key], ancient city of Greece, in S Boeotia (now Voiotía), on the slope of Mt. Cithaeron (Kithairón). Plataea had voluntarily passed from Theban to Athenian protection before the...

phalanx

(Encyclopedia)phalanx, ancient Greek formation of infantry. The soldiers were arrayed in rows (8 or 16), with arms at the ready, making a solid block that could sweep bristling through the more dispersed ranks of t...

Pausanias, Spartan general

(Encyclopedia)Pausanias pôsāˈnēəs [key], d. c.470 b.c., Spartan general; nephew of King Leonidas. He was the victorious commander at Plataea (479) near Thebes in the Persian Wars and followed up the battle wit...

Pleiad

(Encyclopedia)Pleiad plēˈăd [key] [from Pleiades], group of seven tragic poets of Alexandria who flourished c.280 b.c. under Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Of the works of the men usually given in lists of the Pleiad ...