Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Biron or Biren, Ernst Johann von ĕrnst yōhänˈ fən bēˈrôn, bēˈrən [key], 1690–1772, duke of Courland (1737–43, 1763–69), favorite of Czarina Anna of Russia. A Baltic nobleman, he rose ...

(Encyclopedia) Miseno, Cape mēzĕˈnō [key], S Italy, at the northwest end of the Bay of Naples. Augustus founded (1st cent. b.c.) a naval station (Misenum) there, which was destroyed by the Arabs (9th cent. a.d.)...

(Encyclopedia) De Morgan, William Frend, 1839–1917, English artist and novelist; son of Augustus De Morgan. A famous potter, he designed glass and tiles and rediscovered an old process of making colored lusterware...

(Encyclopedia) proletariat prōlətârˈēət [key], in Marxian theory, the class of exploited workers and wage earners who depend on the sale of their labor for their means of existence. In ancient Rome, the prolet...

(Encyclopedia) Philippi fĭlĭpˈī [key], ancient city of Macedon and Macedonia, now in Greece, in E Macedonia. Inhabited by Thracians and then Thasians, it was renamed (probably 356 b.c.) by Philip II of Macedon, ...

(Encyclopedia) Charles XII, 1682–1718, king of Sweden (1697–1718), son and successor of Charles XI. The regency under which he succeeded was abolished in 1697 at the request of the Riksdag. At the coronation he ...

(Encyclopedia) Leipzig, University of, at Leipzig, Germany; founded 1409 when German scholars withdrew from Charles Univ. It was reorganized in 1946, and in 1953 its name was changed officially to Karl Marx Univ. Si...

(Encyclopedia) Trier trēr [key], Latin Augusta Treverorum, city (1994 pop. 99,183), Rhineland-Palatinate, SW Germany, a port on the Moselle (Ger. Mosel) River, near the Luxembourg border. It is also known, in Engli...

(Encyclopedia) Phaedrus fēˈdrəs [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Latin writer, a Thracian slave, possibly a freedman of Augustus. He wrote fables in verse based largely on those of Aesop. The prose collections of fable...

(Encyclopedia) American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Au...