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Corinthian order

(Encyclopedia)Corinthian order, most ornate of the classic orders of architecture. It was also the latest, not arriving at full development until the middle of the 4th cent. b.c. The oldest known example, however, ...

polytheism

(Encyclopedia)polytheism pŏlˈēthēĭzəm [key], belief in a plurality of gods in which each deity is distinguished by special functions. The gods are particularly synonymous with function in the Vedic religion (...

Trojan War

(Encyclopedia)Trojan War, in Greek mythology, war between the Greeks and the people of Troy. The strife began after the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. When Menelaus demanded her ret...

Greek art

(Encyclopedia)Greek art, works of art produced in the Aegean basin, a center of artistic activity from very early times (see Aegean civilization). This article covers the art of ancient Greece from its beginnings t...

Aeschylus

(Encyclopedia)Aeschylus ĕsˈkĭləs, ēsˈ– [key], 525–456 b.c., Athenian tragic dramatist, b. Eleusis. The first of the three great Greek writers of tragedy, Aeschylus was the predecessor of Sophocles and Eur...

Alexandria, city, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Alexandria, Arabic Al Iskandariyah, city, N Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is at the western extremity of the Nile River delta, situated on a narrow isthmus between the sea and Lake ...

Homer

(Encyclopedia)Homer, principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet. The Odyssey is written in 24 books and begins nearly ten years after the fall of Troy. In the first part, Telemachus, Od...

Damascus

(Encyclopedia)Damascus dəmăsˈkəs [key], Arabic Dimashq or ash-Sham, city (1995 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Syria and of its Damascus governorate, SW Syria, on the eastern edge of the Anti-Lebanon Mts. It i...

Olympic games

(Encyclopedia)CE6 Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The modern revival of the Olympic games is due in a large measure to ...

Athens, city, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Athens ăthˈĭnz [key], Gr. Athínai, city (2021 urban agglomeration pop. 3,153,000), capital of Greece, E central Greece, on the plain of Attica, between the Kifisós an...