Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Nussbaum, Martha Craven

(Encyclopedia)Nussbaum, Martha C., 1947–, American philosopher, b. New York City, Ph.D. Harvard University, 1975. The Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor o...

Boethius

(Encyclopedia)Boethius bōēsˈ [key] (Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius), c.475–525, Roman philosopher and statesman. An honored figure in the public life of Rome, where he was consul in 510, he became the able...

Strabo

(Encyclopedia)Strabo strāˈbō [key], b. c.63 b.c., d. after a.d. 21, Greek geographer, historian, and philosopher, b. Amasya, Pontus. He studied in Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and Alexandria and traveled in Europe,...

Phoenicia

(Encyclopedia)Phoenicia fĭnēˈshə [key], ancient territory occupied by Phoenicians. The name Phoenicia also appears as Phenice and Phenicia. These people were Canaanites (see Canaan), and in the 9th cent. b.c. t...

Leonidas of Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Leonidas of Rhodes rōdz [key], fl. 2d cent. b.c., ancient Greek athlete. He won three different foot races—the stadion, about 200 m, the diaulos, about 400m, and the hoplitodromos, in which athlete...

Miletus

(Encyclopedia)Miletus mīlēˈtəs [key], ancient seaport of W Asia Minor, in Caria, on the mainland not far from Sámos. It was occupied by Greeks in the settlement of the E Aegean (c.1000 b.c.) and became one of ...

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

(Encyclopedia)Dionysius of Halicarnassus hălˌĭkärnăsˈəs [key], fl. late 1st cent. b.c., Greek rhetorician and historian. He taught at Rome and was one of the most celebrated of ancient critics. Among his ext...

robin's plantain

(Encyclopedia)robin's plantain plănˈtĭn [key], common name of several plants belonging to the family Asteraceae (aster family). Robin's plantain, also known as hawkweed, of the genus Hieracium, is mostly native ...

Samsun

(Encyclopedia)Samsun sämso͞onˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 301,412), capital of Samsun prov., N Turkey, on the Black Sea. The most important Turkish port on the Black Sea, it is also a major tobacco-processing center...

Pylos

(Encyclopedia)Pylos pīˈlŏs [key], ancient harbor, Messenia, SW Greece, on a bay of the Ionian Sea. Excavations have revealed a great Mycenaean palace of the 13th cent. b.c., perhaps the dwelling of King Nestor. ...

Browse by Subject