Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Macrobius məkrōˈbēəs [key], fl. c.430, Latin writer and philosopher. His Saturnalia, a dialogue in seven books chiefly concerned with a literary evaluation of Vergil, incorporates valuable quotat...

(Encyclopedia) Astarte ăstärˈtē [key], Semitic goddess of fertility and love. She was the most important goddess of the Phoenicians and corresponds to the Babylonian Ishtar and the Greek Aphrodite. She took a do...

(Encyclopedia) Al Hillah äl hĭlˈlä [key], city (1987 pop. 268,834), provincial capital, central Iraq, on a branch of the Euphrates River. It was built (c.1100) largely of material taken from the nearby ruins of ...

(Encyclopedia) Iglesias ēglāˈzyäs [key], town, SW Sardinia, Italy. The zinc and lead mines of the region ...

(Encyclopedia) Slagelse släˈyəlsə [key], city (1992 pop. 29,583), Vestsjælland co., S central Denmark. It is an industrial center and a rail junction, and is the site of a mint. The city has an 11th-century chu...

(Encyclopedia) Wupper vo͝opˈər [key], river, c.65 mi (100 km) long, W central Germany. It is formed by several headstreams and winds in a tortuous course N and SW past Wuppertal, Remscheid, and Solingen into the ...

(Encyclopedia) Tyrwhitt, Thomas tĭrˈĭt [key], 1730–86, English scholar. He was noted for his studies of Shakespeare (1766) and for his edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (5 vol., 1775–78). Tyrwhitt reveale...

(Encyclopedia) retrograde motion, in astronomy, real or apparent movement of a planet, dwarf planet, moon, asteroid, or comet from east to west relative to the fixed stars. The most common direction of motion in the...

(Encyclopedia) Ferrara-Florence, Council of, 1438–45, second part of the 17th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church; the first part was the Council of Basel, canonically convened but after 1437 schismati...

(Encyclopedia) Osborne House, a favorite residence of Queen Victoria, near East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, S England. The queen died there in 1901. The state apartments are open to the public. ...