Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Babylon băbˈəlŏn [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia. One of the most important cities of the ancient Middle East, it was on the Euphrates River and was north of the cities that flourished in S Mes...

(Encyclopedia) sports, athletic games or tests of skill undertaken primarily for the diversion of those who take part or those who observe them. The range is great; usually, however, the term is restricted to any pl...

(Encyclopedia) Navarino, battle of nävärēˈnō [key], 1827, naval battle resulting from the intervention of the European powers in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). England, France, ...

(Encyclopedia) stele stēˈlē [key], slab of stone or terra-cotta, usually oblong, set up in a vertical position, for votive or memorial purposes. Upon the slabs were carved inscriptions accompanied by ornamental d...

(Encyclopedia) Orchomenus ôrkŏmˈĭnəs [key], ancient city of Boeotia, central Greece, NW of Lake Copaïs. After 1600 b.c. it was an important center of the Mycenaean civilization. In later times the city was ecl...

(Encyclopedia) Renault, Mary, pseud. of Mary Challens, 1905–83, English novelist, b. London. After receiving her nursing degree in 1936, she emigrated to South Africa. She was best-known for her historical novels ...

(Encyclopedia) Edinburgh, Prince Philip Mountbatten, duke of ĕdˈĭnbərə [key], 1921–2021, consort ...

(Encyclopedia) chariot, earliest and simplest type of carriage and the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. The chariot was known among the Babylonians before the introduction of horses c.2000 b.c. and was first d...

(Encyclopedia) Crotona both: krōˈtən [key], ancient city, S Italy, on the east coast of Bruttium (now Calabria), a colony of Magna Graecia founded c.708 b.c. There Pythagoras established his school, which exerted...

(Encyclopedia) Brindisi brēnˈdēzē [key], Latin Brundisium, city, capital of Brindisi prov., in Apulia, S...