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Heliogabalus

(Encyclopedia)Heliogabalus ĕləgăbˈələs [key], c.205–222, Roman emperor (218–22). He was a priest of the local sun god, Elagabalus, at Emesa and was named Varius Avitus Bassianus. He was a cousin of Caraca...

Karmathians

(Encyclopedia)Karmathians or Carmathians kärmāˈthēənz [key], a Muslim sect of the 9th and 10th cent., similar to the Assassin sect. They were part of a movement for social reform that spread widely through Isl...

Tancred, Crusader

(Encyclopedia)Tancred, 1076–1112, Crusader. He became a Crusader in 1096 with his uncle Bohemond I. After distinguishing himself at Nicaea, he struck out into Cilicia and besieged Tarsus, but was deprived of the ...

Selim I

(Encyclopedia)Selim I (Selim the Grim) sĕlĭmˈ [key], 1467–1520, Ottoman sultan (1512–20). He ascended the throne of the Ottoman Empire by forcing the abdication of his father, Beyazid II, and by killing his ...

Antioch, city, Turkey

(Encyclopedia)Antioch äntäkˈyä [key], city, capital of Hatay prov., S Turkey, on the Orontes (Asi) River, near the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of Mt. Silpius. Antioch is the trad...

Diaspora

(Encyclopedia)Diaspora dīăsˈpərə [key] [Gr.,=dispersion], term used today to denote the Jewish communities living outside the Holy Land. It was originally used to designate the dispersal of the Jews at the tim...

Antiochus IV

(Encyclopedia)Antiochus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes) ēpĭfˈənēz [key], d. 163 b.c., king of Syria (175 b.c.–163 b.c.), son of Antiochus III and successor of his brother Seleucus IV. His nephew (later Demetrius I)...

Great Mother Goddess

(Encyclopedia)Great Mother Goddess, in ancient Middle Eastern religions, mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth's fertility. She was worshiped under many names and attributes. Similar figures have been known...

Gaza

(Encyclopedia)Gaza, Ghazzah gŭzˈə [key], town (2003 est. pop. 380,000), principal city and administrative center of the Gaza Strip, SW Asia, on the Philistia plain between the Mediterranean Sea and W Israel. In...

Necho 609–593 b.c., king of ancient, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Necho nēˈkō [key], 609–593 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, 2d ruler of the XXVI dynasty, the son and successor of Psamtik and grandson of Necho, lord of Saïs. Necho took advantage of the confusion ...