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Scottish Gaelic language and literature

(Encyclopedia)Scottish Gaelic language and literature: see Celtic languages; Gaelic literature. ...

saga, in Old Norse Literature

(Encyclopedia)saga, in Old Norse literature, especially Icelandic and Norwegian, narrative in prose or verse, centering on a legendary or historical figure or family. Sagas may be divided into sagas of the kings, m...

Athenaeus

(Encyclopedia)Athenaeus ăthˌənēˈəs [key], fl. c.200, Greek writer, b. Naucratis, Egypt. His anthological work, the Deipnosophistae (Banquet of the Sophists), is a collection of anecdotes and excerpts from anc...

Heraclea

(Encyclopedia)Heraclea hĕrəklēˈə [key], ancient Greek city, in Lucania, S Italy, not far from the Gulf of Tarentum (Taranto). There Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in 280 b.c. Bronze tablets giving Roman municipal...

Theagenes of Thasos

(Encyclopedia)Theagenes of Thasos, fl. 5th cent. b.c., ancient Greek athlete. He excelled in boxing and the pankration, which combined wrestling and boxing, and won 10 victories at the Isthmian Games, nine at the N...

Whitehead, William

(Encyclopedia)Whitehead, William, 1715–85, English poet and playwright. He wrote several plays based on ancient Greek models, including Creusa, Queen of Athens (1754). Whitehead was appointed poet laureate in 175...

Cumae

(Encyclopedia)Cumae kyo͞oˈmē [key], ancient city of Campania, Italy, near Naples. According to Strabo, it was the earliest Greek colony in Italy or Sicily, and it seems to have been founded c.750 b.c. by Chalcis...

Apollonia

(Encyclopedia)Apollonia ăpəlōˈnēə [key] [Gr.,=of Apollo], name of several ancient Greek towns. The most important was a port in Illyria on the Adriatic. It was founded by Corinthians and was later a Greek and...

Elytis, Odysseus

(Encyclopedia)Elytis, Odysseus älˌāpo͞oˈdĕlēs [key], 1911–96, Greek poet, b. Iraklion, Crete. Strongly influenced by surrealism, especially the works of Paul Éluard, in the 1930s he began publishing indiv...

Silvanus

(Encyclopedia)Silvanus, in Roman religion, ancient pastoral deity, protector of uncultivated lands. It was also said that he was the guardian of field boundaries, flocks, and herds. Like the Greek Pan, with whom he...