Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) dice [plural of die], small cubes used in games. They are usually made of ivory, bone, wood, plastic, or similar materials. The six sides are numbered by dots from 1 to 6, so placed that the sum of th...

(Encyclopedia) Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint ârēŏpˈəjīt [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Athenian Christian, converted by St. Paul. Acts 17.34. Tradition has made him a martyr and the first bishop of Athens. He ha...

(Encyclopedia) cane, walking stick. Probably used first as a weapon, it gradually took on the symbolism of strength and power and eventually authority and social prestige. Ancient Egyptian rulers carried the symboli...

(Encyclopedia) canonization kănˌənĭzāˈshən [key], in the Roman Catholic Church, process by which a person is classified as a saint. It is now performed at Rome alone, although in the Middle Ages and earlier b...

(Encyclopedia) Khalkís kălˈsĭs [key], city (1991 pop. 51,646), capital of Évvoia (Euboea) prefecture, E Greece, on the island of Évvoia. Connected to the mainland by a bridge, the city is a trade center for lo...

(Encyclopedia) Sorbonne sôrbônˈ [key], first endowed college in the Univ. of Paris, founded by Robert de Sorbon (1201–74), chaplain of Louis IX, and opened in 1253 for the purpose of providing quarters for theo...

(Encyclopedia) Toul to͞ol [key], town (1990 pop. 17,702), Meurthe-et-Moselle dept., NE France, on the Moselle River. It is largely an agricultural center but has clothing and glass industries. A Gallo-Roman city, i...

(Encyclopedia) Santiago de Compostela säntyäˈgō ᵺā kōmpōstāˈlä [key] or Santiago, city (1990 pop. 91,419), capital of Galicia, in A Coruña prov., NW Spain, on the Sar River. The city is one of the chief...

(Encyclopedia) porcelain [Ital. porcellana], white, hard, permanent, nonporous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. Porcelain was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated...

(Encyclopedia) fountain, natural or artificially conveyed flow of water. In ancient Greece columnar shrines were built over springs and dedicated to deities or nymphs. In ancient Rome fountains fed by the great aque...