Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Nurmi, Paavo päˈvō no͝orˈmē [key], 1897–1973, Finnish track star. Between 1920 and 1932 he set 20 world running records and won nine Olympic gold medals. His Olympic victories included the 10,...

(Encyclopedia) Kós kŏs, kôs [key], Lat. Cos, island (1991 pop. 26,379), 111 sq mi (287 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; 2d largest of the Dodecanese, near the Bodrum peninsula of Turkey. Although it rises to...

(Encyclopedia) Philip VI, 1968–, king of Spain (2014–). The only son and youngest child of Juan Carlos I, he was created prince of Asturias in 1977. As heir apparent, he traveled widely as a representative of Sp...

(Encyclopedia) Helicon hĕlˈĭkŏn [key], Gr. Elikón, mountain group, c.20 mi (30 km) long, central Greece, in Boeotia; it rises to 5,736 ft (1,748 m). Helicon formed part of the border between ancient Boeotia and...

(Encyclopedia) Ezion-geber –gāˈ– [key] [both: Heb.,=giant's backbone], ancient port, on the Gulf of Aqaba. The site, near Aqaba, is now some distance from the shore, which is advancing. The Bible reveals the e...

(Encyclopedia) city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...

(Encyclopedia) Greek language, member of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European). It is the language of one of the major civilizations of the world and of one of the greatest literatures of all tim...

(Encyclopedia) Sestos sĕsˈtŏs [key], ancient town on the Thracian shore of the Hellespont (now Dardanelles) opposite Abydos (in present-day Turkey). It was the scene of the story of Hero and Leander. It was there...

(Encyclopedia) Epidaurus ĕpĭdôrˈəs [key], ancient city of Greece, on an inlet of the Saronic Gulf, NE Peloponnesus. It was celebrated as the site of the temple of Asclepius, which dates from the 4th cent. b.c. ...

(Encyclopedia) Mitchison, Naomi, 1897–1999, British writer, b. Scotland, educated at Oxford; daughter of the biologist J. S. Haldane. She wrote many types of novels on a variety of subjects. They include historica...