Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Golden Fleece

(Encyclopedia)Golden Fleece, in Greek mythology, the magic fleece of the winged ram that saved Phrixus and Helle, the children of Nephele and Athamas, from the jealousy of Ino, Athamas' second wife. The ram flew to...

Jabir

(Encyclopedia)Jabir jēˈbər [key], fl. 8th cent., Arab alchemist and physician, originally named Jabir ibn Hayyan. He is believed to have lived at Kufa and at Baghdad. A great number of works on alchemy, many of ...

Jewish Autonomous Region

(Encyclopedia)Jewish Autonomous Region or Birobidzhan bērōbējänˈ [key], autonomous region (1995 pop. 211,900), c.13,800 sq mi (35,700 sq km), Khabarovsk Territory, Russian Far East, in the basins of the Biro a...

Mullan, John

(Encyclopedia)Mullan, John, 1830–1909, American army officer and pioneer road builder, b. Norfolk, Va., grad. St John's Colllege, 1847, West Point, 1852. He was one of the chief aides of General I. I. Stevens in ...

Novosibirsk

(Encyclopedia)Novosibirsk nôˌvəsĭbērskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 1,437,000), capital of Novosibirsk region and the administrative center of the Siberian federal district, S Siberian Russia, on the Ob River and ...

New Britain, island, Papua New Guinea

(Encyclopedia)New Britain, volcanic island (1990 pop. 315,649), c.14,600 sq mi (37,810 sq km), SW Pacific, largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago and part of Papua New Guinea, in which it forms two provinces (E...

Ottonian art

(Encyclopedia)Ottonian art ŏtōˈnēən [key], art produced (c.900–1050) in the East Frankish kingdom of Germany known, after the emperors Otto (936–1002), as the Ottonian kingdom. Influenced by Byzantine and ...

Kramnik, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Kramnik, Vladimir, 1975–, Russian chess player, b. Tuapse. Kramnik started to play chess at the age of four, and at eleven began studying with both Mikhail Botvinnik and Garry Kasparov. Deeply verse...

Lewis, Lennox

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Lennox (Lennox Claudis Lewis), 1965–, British-Canadian boxer. Born in London, England, to Jamaican parents, Lewis had a troubled childhood and followed his mother to Canada at the age of 12. ...

Khabarovsk Territory

(Encyclopedia)Khabarovsk Territory, administrative division (1989 est. pop. 1,800,000), 305,000 sq mi (789,950 sq km), Russian Far East. Situated in the eastern and northeastern extremity of Siberia, the territory ...

Browse by Subject