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Náxos

(Encyclopedia)Náxos näkˈsôs, năkˈsŏs [key], island (1991 pop. 14,838), c.160 sq mi (410 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; largest of the Cyclades. Náxos, the chief town, is on the western shore. The fer...

Xánthi

(Encyclopedia)Xánthi or Xanthe both: ksänˈthē [key], city (1991 pop. 37,463), capital of Xánthi prefecture, NE Greece, in Thrace. Tobacco and wheat are grown. The city has a sizable Muslim minority. ...

cemetery

(Encyclopedia)cemetery, name used by early Christians to designate a place for burying the dead. First applied in Christian burials in the Roman catacombs, the word cemetery came into general usage in the 15th cent...

Actium

(Encyclopedia)Actium ăkˈtēəm, –shē– [key], promontory, NW Acarnania, Greece, at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. There are vestiges of several temples and an ancient town. At Actium was fought the naval ba...

Arethusa, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Arethusa ărĭtho͞oˈsə [key], in Greek mythology, nymph favored by Artemis and loved by the river god Alpheus. While Arethusa was bathing in his stream, Alpheus rose up and tried to abduct her, but...

Parrhasius

(Encyclopedia)Parrhasius pərāˈshēəs [key], fl. c.400 b.c., Greek painter. He was born in Ephesus but settled in Athens and is classed with the Attic painters. One of the greatest painters of Greece, a contempo...

Olympiad

(Encyclopedia)Olympiad, unit of a chronological era of ancient Greece, a four-year period, each one beginning with the Olympic games. Timaeus (c.356–c.260 b.c.) of Sicily was the first to use, as a check on chron...

Epirus

(Encyclopedia)Epirus ĕpīˈrəs [key], ancient country of Greece, on the Ionian Sea and W of Macedon and Thessaly, a region now occupied by NW Greece and S Albania. At the time of Homer, Epirus was known as the ho...

Thermopylae

(Encyclopedia)Thermopylae thərmŏpˈĭlē [key] [Gr.,=hot gates, from hot mineral springs nearby], pass, E central Greece, SE of Lamía, between the cliffs of Mt. Oeta and the Malic Gulf. Silt accumulation has gra...

Pelion

(Encyclopedia)Pelion pēˈlēən [key], Gr. Pílion, mountain, 5,252 ft (1,601 m) high, N Greece, E Thessaly, on the Aegean coast. In ancient legend, the centaur Chiron lived on the mountain and the Aloadae piled P...