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Scythia

(Encyclopedia)Scythia sĭthˈēə [key], ancient region of Eurasia, extending from the Danube on the west to the borders of China on the east. The Scythians flourished from the 8th to the 4th cent. b.c. They spoke ...

Ahab

(Encyclopedia)Ahab āˈhăb [key], d. c.853 b.c., king of Israel (c.874–c.853 b.c.), son and successor of Omri (1.) Ahab was one of the greatest kings of the northern kingdom. He consolidated the good foreign rel...

Mason, Lowell

(Encyclopedia)Mason, Lowell, 1792–1872, American composer and music educator, b. Medfield, Mass. While working as a bank clerk in Savannah, Ga., he helped compile an anthology that was published as The Boston Han...

Auchincloss, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Auchincloss, Louis (Louis Stanton Auchincloss) ôˈkĭnklŏs [key], 1917–2010, American novelist and man of letters, b. Lawrence, New York; studied Yale, Univ. of Virginia Law School (LL.B., 1941). ...

Hewitt, Abram Stevens

(Encyclopedia)Hewitt, Abram Stevens hyo͞oˈĭt [key], 1822–1903, American industrialist and political leader, b. Haverstraw, N.Y. He became a lawyer, and friendship with a son and marriage to a daughter of Peter...

Dewey, George

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, George do͞oˈē, dyo͞oˈ– [key], 1837–1917, American admiral, hero of the battle of Manila, b. Montpelier, Vt., grad. Annapolis, 1858. He saw active duty in the Civil War and rose in the ...

Constantinople, Second Council of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Second Council of, 553, regarded generally as the fifth ecumenical council. It was convened by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle the dispute known as the Three Chapters. In an at...

Robinson, Edwin Arlington

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Edwin Arlington, 1869–1935, American poet, b. Head Tide, Maine, attended Harvard (1891–93). At his death, many critics considered Robinson the greatest poet in the United States. He is n...

Beecher, Henry Ward

(Encyclopedia)Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813–87, American Congregational preacher, orator, and lecturer, b. Litchfield, Conn.; son of Lyman Beecher and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He graduated from Amherst in 18...

Breton literature

(Encyclopedia)Breton literature brĕtˈən [key], in the Celtic language of Brittany. Although there are numerous allusions in other literatures of the 12th to 14th cent. to the “matter of Brittany,” which incl...