Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) firing, process of treating clay or other plastic ceramic materials with heat to produce a hard, durable but brittle material such as pottery. Primitive potters baked their clay in an open fire, but f...

(Encyclopedia) Columella (Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella) kŏlˌyəmĕlˈə [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Latin writer on agriculture, b. Gades (now Cádiz), Spain. Of his work there remains the 12-volume De re rust...

(Encyclopedia) Calpurnia kălpûrˈnēə [key], d. after 44 b.c., Roman matron. The daughter of Lucius Calpurnicus Piso Caesoninus (see under Piso, family), she was married to Julius Caesar in 59 b.c. She was loyal ...

(Encyclopedia) hardpan, condition of the soil or subsoil in which the soil grains become cemented together by such bonding agents as iron oxide and calcium carbonate, forming a hard, impervious mass. It is disadvant...

(Encyclopedia) Cimber (Lucius Tillius Cimber) kĭmˈbər, sĭmˈ– [key], d. after 44 b.c., one of the assassins of Julius Caesar. He presented the petition that was used as a pretext to approach Caesar and held hi...

(Encyclopedia) Cornelius, Saint kôrnēlˈyəs [key], d. 253, pope (251–253); successor of St. Fabian. His rule was marked by the support of St. Cyprian and the opposition of the antipope Novatian, and by the prob...

(Encyclopedia) Fronto (Marcus Cornelius Fronto) frŏnˈtō [key], fl. 2d cent., Roman teacher and rhetorician, b. Numidia, Africa. Antoninus Pius made him consul in 143. A successful teacher and government official,...

(Encyclopedia) pencil, pointed implement used in writing or drawing to apply graphite or a similar colored solid to any surface, especially paper. From prehistoric times lumps of colored earth or chalk were used as ...

(Encyclopedia) Gallio (Junius Annaeus Gallio) gălˈēō [key], d. a.d. 65?, Roman proconsul in Achaea; brother of the philosopher Seneca. His name was originally Lucius Annaeus Novatus. The “Gallio Inscription,�...

(Encyclopedia) Rogers, John, 1829–1904, American sculptor, b. Salem, Mass. Trained as an engineer, he was forced by failing eyesight to work as a machinist. He began modeling in clay as a pastime and studied sculp...