Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hypsicles of Alexandria hĭpˈsĭklēz [key], astronomer of ancient Greece. Some authorities place Hypsicles in the 2d cent. b.c. and some in the 2d cent. a.d. The 14th and 15th books of Euclid's Elem...

(Encyclopedia) ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. The earliest skates (c.9th cent.), made of bone, were found in Sweden. Wooden skates with iron facings appeared in ...

(Encyclopedia) Aulis ôˈlĭs [key], small port of ancient Greece, in Boeotia, E central Greece. From there the Greek fleet sailed against Troy after the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Its ancient temple of Artemis is in r...

(Encyclopedia) Salamis, island, E Greece, in the Saronic Gulf, W of Athens. It early belonged to Aegina but was later under Athenian control, except for a brief period after it was occupied (c.600 b.c.) by Megara. I...

(Encyclopedia) Hellenism, the culture, ideals, and pattern of life of ancient Greece in classical times. It usually means primarily the culture of Athens and the related cities during the Age of Pericles. The term i...

(Encyclopedia) Ptolemaïs ptôlĭmīsˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 25,195), N Greece, in Macedonia. It was a small market town until 1958, when it began to be developed as an industrial center. Lignite, mined there in v...

(Encyclopedia) Constantine I, 1868–1923, king of the Hellenes, eldest son of George I, whom he succeeded in 1913. Married to Sophia, sister of the German emperor William II, he opposed the pro-Allied policy of the...

(Encyclopedia) Greek literature, ancient, the writings of the ancient Greeks. The Greek Isles are recognized as the birthplace of Western intellectual life. The next period of Greek literature reached its zenith i...

(Encyclopedia) Síros sīˈrŏs [key], island (1991 pop. 19,870), 33 sq mi (85 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea, one of the Cyclades. Ermoupolis, or Síros, is the island's main town and port. Síros is the rich...

(Encyclopedia) Alpheus älfēôsˈ [key], river, c.70 mi (110 km) long, rising in the Taygetus Mts., S Greece. The longest river in the Peloponnesus, it flows northwest through gorges, past Olympia, and onto the Oly...