Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Brutus bro͞oˈtəs [key], in ancient Rome, a surname of the Junian gens. Lucius Junius Brutus, fl. 510 b.c., was the founder of the Roman republic. He feigned idiocy to escape death at the hands of L...

(Encyclopedia) Gallic Wars gălˈĭk [key], campaigns in Gaul led by Julius Caesar in his two terms as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, and Illyricum (58 b.c.–51 b.c.). Caesar's first campaign was to...

(Encyclopedia)  Rulers of the Roman Empire(including dates of reign) Emperors in the East(until the fall of Rome; see table entitled Rulers of the Byzantine Empireat Byzantine Empire for later emperors) Empero...

(Encyclopedia) sex, term used to refer both to the two groups distinguished as males and females, and to the anatomical and physiological characteristics associated with maleness and femaleness. Sex relates to the t...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Digestive system digestive system, in the animal kingdom, a group of organs functioning in digestion and assimilation of food and elimination of wastes. Virtually all animals have a digestive ...

(Encyclopedia) Marseilles märsāˈ [key], Fr. Marseille, city (1990 pop. 807,726), capital of Bouches-du-Rhône dept., SE France, on the Gulf of Lions, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the second largest city...

(Encyclopedia) Athanasius, Saint ăthənāˈzhəs [key], c.297–373, patriarch of Alexandria (328–73), Doctor of the Church, great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis of the 4th cent. (see Arianism). In...

(Encyclopedia) Bologna bōlôˈnyä [key], city, capital of Emilia-Romagna and of Bologna prov., N central I...

(Encyclopedia) Cleopatra klēəpăˈtrə, –pāˈ–, –päˈ– [key], 69 b.c.–30 b.c., queen of Egypt, one of the great romantic heroines of all time. Her name was widely used in the Ptolemaic family; she was ...

(Encyclopedia) Aquitaine ăkˈwĭtān, äkētĕnˈ [key], Lat. Aquitania, former duchy and kingdom in SW France. Julius Caesar conquered the Aquitani, an Iberian people of SW Gaul, in 56 b.c. The province that he cr...