Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bithynia bĭthĭnˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were given some autonomy a...

(Encyclopedia) Xerxes I (Xerxes the Great) zûrkˈsēz [key], d. 465 b.c., king of ancient Persia (486–465 b.c.). His name in Old Persian is Khshayarsha, in the Bible Ahasuerus. He was the son of Darius I and Atos...

(Encyclopedia) Theodoret thēŏdˈərĕt [key], c.393–c.458, Syrian churchman and theologian. He was a monk of Apamaea and a lifelong friend of Nestorius. In 423 he went unwillingly to be bishop of Cyrus, Syria, w...

(Encyclopedia) chronicle plays, dramas based upon 16th-century chronicles in English, particularly those of Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed. These plays became very popular late in the reign of Elizabeth I, when, ...

(Encyclopedia) Hänsch, Theodor Wolfgang, 1941–, German physicist, Ph.D. Heidelberg, 1969. He was a professor at Stanford from 1975 to 1986 and then became head of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garc...

(Encyclopedia) party, political, organization whose aim is to gain control of the government apparatus, usually through the election of its candidates to public office. Political parties take many forms, but their m...

(Encyclopedia) South Orange, village (1990 pop. 16,390), Essex co., NE N.J., inc. 1869. Mostly residential, it has some small industries. Seton Hall Univ. is in South Orange. ...

(Encyclopedia) Brangwyn, Sir Frank William brăngˈwĭn [key], 1867–1956, British painter, etcher, and designer, b. Belgium (to British parents). In his youth he worked in the studio of William Morris and later tr...

(Encyclopedia) Seven Hills, city (1990 pop. 12,339), Cuyahoga co., N Ohio, a residential suburb of Cleveland, in a hilly area; inc. as a city 1961. Part of its city hall is an old schoolhouse, built in 1861. ...