Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) pastoral, literary work in which the shepherd's life is presented in a conventionalized manner. In this convention the purity and simplicity of shepherd life is contrasted with the corruption and arti...

(Encyclopedia) fraternity and sorority, in American colleges, a student society formed for social purposes, into which members are initiated by invitation and occasionally by a period of trial known as hazing. Frate...

(Encyclopedia) Ishtar ĭshˈtär [key], ancient fertility deity, the most widely worshiped goddess in Babylonian and Assyrian religion. She was worshiped under various names and forms. Most important as a mother god...

(Encyclopedia) Septuagint sĕpˈtyo͞oəjĭnt [key] [Lat.,=70], oldest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made by Hellenistic Jews, possibly from Alexandria, c.250 b.c. Legend, according to the fictional l...

(Encyclopedia) Kanaris, Constantine känäˈrĭs [key], 1790–1877, Greek patriot, admiral, and politician. He distinguished himself in the Greek War of Independence, notably at Tenedos, where he destroyed (1822) t...

(Encyclopedia) Corinthian War (395 b.c.–86 b.c.), armed conflict between Corinth, Argos, Thebes, and Athens on one side and Sparta on the other. Angered by Sparta's tyrannical overlordship in Greece after the Pelo...

(Encyclopedia) Charron, Pierre pyĕr shärôNˈ [key], 1541–1603, French Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher. He was an important contributor to 17th-century theological thought, combining an individual form...

(Encyclopedia) Magna Graecia măgˈnə grēˈshə [key] [Lat.,=great Greece], Greek colonies of S Italy. The Greek overseas expansion of the 8th cent. b.c. founded a number of towns that became the centers of a new,...

(Encyclopedia) Zaleucus zəlo͞oˈkəs [key], fl. c.650 b.c., Greek lawgiver of Locris, in Italy. According to tradition, his was the earliest codification of Greek law. References to Zaleucus' code, which was widel...

(Encyclopedia) Kazantzakis, Nikos nēˈkôs käˌzändzäˈkēs [key], 1883?–1957, Greek writer, b. Crete. After obtaining a law degree he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson in Paris and traveled widely in Eur...