Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) court, in law, official body charged with administering justice. The term is also applied to the judge or judges who fill the office and to the courtroom itself. Courts come into existence when legal ...

(Encyclopedia) Milton, John, 1608–74, English poet, b. London, one of the greatest poets of the English language. Milton's theology, although in the Protestant tradition, is extremely unorthodox and individu...

(Encyclopedia) Constantine I or Constantine the Great kŏnˈstəntēn, –tīn [key], 288?–337, Roman emperor, b. Naissus (present-day Niš, Serbia). He was the son of Constantius I and Helena and was named in ful...

(Encyclopedia) pottery, the baked-clay wares of the entire ceramics field. For a description of the nature of the material, see clay. American art pottery flourished in the first half of the 20th cent., with wor...

(Encyclopedia) Dutch art, the art of the region that is now the Netherlands. As a distinct national style, this art dates from about the turn of the 17th cent., when the country emerged as a political entity and dev...

(Encyclopedia) Egyptian religion, the religious beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. Information concerning ancient Egyptian religion is abundant but unsatisfactory. Only certain parts of Egyptian religious ...

(Encyclopedia)  Supreme Court Justices(including dates on bench) Chief Justices Associate Justices ...

(Encyclopedia) children's literature, writing whose primary audience is children. See also children's book illustration. The contributions and innovations of the 19th cent. continued into the 20th cent., achieving...

(Encyclopedia) jazz, the most significant form of musical expression of African-American culture and arguably the most outstanding contribution the United States has made to the art of music. ...

(Encyclopedia) opera, drama set to music. In the early part of the 20th cent. the foremost operatic composer was Richard Strauss. Although influenced by Wagner, he composed operas with even richer and more stunnin...