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Alexius I

(Encyclopedia)Alexius I (Alexius Comnenus) əlĕkˈsēəs, kəmnēˈnəs [key], 1048–1118, Byzantine emperor (1081–1118). Under the successors of his uncle, Isaac I, the empire had fallen prey to anarchy and fo...

Saracens

(Encyclopedia)Saracens sârˈəsənz [key], term commonly used by medieval Europeans to designate the Arabs and, by extension, the Muslims in general, whether they were Arabs, Moors, or Seljuk Turks. ...

Nizam al-Mulk

(Encyclopedia)Nizam al-Mulk nĭzˈəm äl mûlk [key], c.1018–92, vizier (1063–92) under two Seljuk (see Turks) sultans. Of Persian descent, he was early educated in administration, serving the Ghaznavids sulta...

Szentgotthárd

(Encyclopedia)Szentgotthárd sĕntˈgôtˈhärd [key], town (1991 est. pop. 8,680), W Hungary, on the Rába River near the Austrian border. In 1664, Montecucculi defeated the Turks at Szentgotthárd. The town is al...

Kumanovo

(Encyclopedia)Kumanovo ko͞oˈmänôvô [key], town (1994 pop. 94,589), North Macedonia. Located in the center of a tobacco-growing region, its major industries are tobacco processing and canning. The Serbs won a d...

Shipka

(Encyclopedia)Shipka shĭpˈkä [key], pass through the Balkans, alt. c.4,370 ft (1,330 m), central Bulgaria. It is crossed by a highway. Gabrovo, north of the pass, was the scene of a Russo-Bulgarian victory over ...

Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)Nicaea nīsēˈə [key], city of Bithnyia, N Asia Minor, built in the 4th cent. b.c. by Antigonus I as Antigonia and renamed Nicaea by Lysimachus for his wife. It flourished under the Romans. It was t...

Azov

(Encyclopedia)Azov əzôfˈ [key], city (1990 est. pop. 82,000), SE European Russia, a port on the Don River delta near the Sea of Azov. It is a rail junction, a light industrial center, and a fishing center. Touri...

crescent

(Encyclopedia)crescent, emblematic representation of the quarter moon. The crescent and star, ancient Byzantine symbols that became the emblems of Constantinople, were also assumed as the standard of the Ottoman Tu...

Tokat

(Encyclopedia)Tokat tōkätˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 83,174), capital of Tokat prov., N central Turkey. It is an agricultural market with copper manufactures. An important town in Roman times, it declined under the...