Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Chaeronea kĕrənēˈə [key], ancient town of Boeotia, Greece, in the Cephissus (now Kifisós) River valley and NW of Thebes. There the Athenians and Thebans were defeated (338 b.c.) by the Macedonia...

(Encyclopedia) Mycenaean civilization mīsēnēˈən [key], an ancient Aegean civilization known from the excavations at Mycenae and other sites. They were first undertaken by Heinrich Schliemann and others after 18...

(Encyclopedia) Palmyra pălmīˈrə [key], ancient city of central Syria. A small modern village known as Tudmor or Tadmor (the Syrian Arabic name of Palmyra) is nearby; residents were relocated from the ancient sit...

(Encyclopedia) amphictyony ămfĭkˈtēōˌnē, –ŏˌnē, –ənēˌ [key], in ancient Greece, a league connected with maintaining a temple or shrine. There were a number of these, but by far the most important wa...

(Encyclopedia) Leuctra lo͞okˈtrə [key], village of ancient Greece, in Boeotia, 7 mi (11.3 km) SW of Thebes. There the Spartans were defeated (371 b.c.) by the Thebans under Epaminondas. A brilliant tactical succe...

(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) Akhelóos or Achelous äkhĕlôˈôs [key], river, 137 mi (221 km) long, rising in the Pindus Mts., NW Greece, and flowing generally south, traversing many mountain gorges, and emptying into the Ionia...

(Encyclopedia) Aetolia ētōlˈyə [key], region of ancient Greece, N of the Gulf of Corinth and the Gulf of Calydon, E of the Achelous River (separating it from Acarnania). Little is known of the early population o...

(Encyclopedia) choragic monuments kərăjˈĭk, –rājˈ–, kō– [key] [Gr.,=of the choragus, the chorus leader], small decorative structures erected in ancient Greece to commemorate the victory of the leader of...

(Encyclopedia) Great Mother Goddess, in ancient Middle Eastern religions, mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth's fertility. She was worshiped under many names and attributes. Similar figures have been known...