Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Phanar or Fanar both: fănˈər, fənärˈ [key], Greek quarter of Constantinople (now İstanbul). Under the Ottoman Empire, Phanar was the residence of the privileged Greek families, called Phanariot...

(Encyclopedia) city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...

(Encyclopedia) X, 24th letter of the alphabet. In English it has no peculiar sound, but stands for the combination ks as in fox, or gz as in exempt, or, initially, for the sound of z as in xenia. In words from Greek...

(Encyclopedia) schism, in religion: see heresy; Schism, Great. ...

(Encyclopedia) Migne, Jacques Paul zhäk pôl mēˈnyə [key], 1800–1875, French publisher of theological works, a Roman Catholic priest (ordained 1824). He set up a printing press in Paris and printed many religi...

(Encyclopedia) Chrysoloras, Manuel krĭsəlôrˈəs [key], c.1350–1415, Greek teacher and writer, b. Constantinople. Traveling to Italy on a diplomatic mission, he became celebrated for his teaching and introduced...

(Encyclopedia) Mesolóngion mĭsəlôngˈgē [key], town (1991 pop. 12,103), capital of Aetolia and Acarnania prefecture, W central Greece, a port on the Gulf of Pátrai. It trades in fish, wine, and tobacco. Mesol�...

(Encyclopedia) Sikhism sĭkˈĭzəm [key], religion centered in the Indian state of Punjab, numbering worldwide some 19 million. Some 300,000 Sikhs live in Britain, and there are smaller communities in North America...

(Encyclopedia) Mitsotakis, Kyriakos, 1968–, Greek political leader. Son of Constantine Mitsotakis, he studied in the United States, worked as an economist in London (1990–91, 1995–97), then returned to Greece ...

(Encyclopedia) Byzantine music, the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Long thought to be only a further development of ancient Greek music, Byzantine mus...