Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Essenes ĕsˈēnz [key], members of a small Jewish religious order, originating in the 2d cent. b.c. The chief sources of information about the Essenes are Pliny the Elder, Philo's Quod omnius probus ...

(Encyclopedia) Northumbria, kingdom of nôrthŭmˈbrēˈə [key], one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. It was originally composed of two independent kingdoms divided by the Tees River, Bernicia (including mod...

(Encyclopedia) Balts bôlts [key], peoples of the east coast of the Baltic Sea. They include the Latvians, the Lithuanians, and the now extinct Old Prussians. Their original home was farther east, but from the 6th c...

(Encyclopedia) Harold Bluetooth, d. c.985, king of Denmark. Succeeding (935) his father, Gorm the Old, who had united Denmark, Harold consolidated the kingdom. He tried to assert suzerainty over Norway but was defea...

(Encyclopedia) Veit, Philipp fēˈlĭp fīt [key], 1793–1877, German historical painter; grandson of Moses Mendelssohn. In Rome he joined the Nazarenes and was one of the most interesting members of the group. Wit...

(Encyclopedia) Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēˈstä tyĕˈpōlō [key], 1696–1770, Italian painter, b. Venice. A master of the rococo style, he was the most important Venetian painter and decorat...

(Encyclopedia) Hierapolis hīərăpˈəlĭs [key], ancient city of Phrygia, W Asia Minor, 7 mi (11.3 km) N of Laodicea and on a plateau 500 ft (152 m) above the Lycus valley (in present-day Turkey). Devoted to the w...

(Encyclopedia) Boye, Karin käˈrēn bôˈyĕ [key], 1900–1941, Swedish poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Boye's volumes of poetry, including Moln [clouds] (1922) and Glömda land [forgotten land] (1924), re...

(Encyclopedia) Coltrane, John kōltrānˈ, kōlˈtrān [key], 1926–67, American jazz musician, b. Hamlet, N.C. He began ...

(Encyclopedia) manna mănˈə [key], in the Bible, edible substance provided by God for the people of Israel in the wilderness. In the Book of Exodus it is compared to coriander seed and described as fine, white, an...