Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Constitution of Athens

(Encyclopedia)Constitution of Athens, treatise by Aristotle or a member of his school, written in the late 4th cent. b.c. It was lost until discovered on Egyptian papyrus in 1890. It is a history of the Athenian go...

Heracleopolis

(Encyclopedia)Heracleopolis hərăkˌlēŏpˈəlĭs [key], ancient city, N Egypt, just S of El Faiyum. One of the oldest Egyptian cities, it was in existence before 3000 b.c. and was the capital (c.2155–c.2050) o...

Shur

(Encyclopedia)Shur shŭr [key], landmark of the Egyptian border N of the Red Sea, also called the Wilderness of Shur. In the Bible it is associated with the the wandering of Hagar, the journeying of Abraham, the se...

Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders

(Encyclopedia)Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders pēˈtrē [key], 1853–1942, English archaeologist, a noted Egyptologist. He excavated ancient remains in Britain (1875–80), Egypt (1880–1924), and Palestine ...

henna

(Encyclopedia)henna, name for a reddish or black hair dye obtained from the powdered leaves and young shoots of the mignonette tree, or henna shrub (Lawsonia inermis), an Old World shrub of the loosestrife family. ...

Asenath

(Encyclopedia)Asenath ăsˈənăth [key], in the Bible, Poti-phera's daughter, the Egyptian wife of Joseph, mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. Her betrothal to Joseph and conversion to Judaism are the subject of Josep...

Bardiyah

(Encyclopedia)Bardiyah or Bardia both: bärdēˈä, bärˈdēä [key], town, NE Libya, a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near the Egyptian border. During World War II it was the most strongly defended Italian positi...

Olcott, Henry Steel

(Encyclopedia)Olcott, Henry Steel, 1832–1907, American religious leader and author, cofounder of Theosophist movement, b. Orange, N.J. After working as an agricultural scientist and a lawyer, he and Helena Blavat...

pessimism

(Encyclopedia)pessimism, philosophical opinion or doctrine that evil predominates over good; the opposite of optimism. Systematic forms of pessimism may be found in philosophy and religion. In religion Buddhism and...

freethinkers

(Encyclopedia)freethinkers, those who arrive at conclusions, particularly in questions of religion, by employing the rules of reason while rejecting supernatural authority or ecclesiastical tradition. The freethink...