Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Rienzi or Rienzo, Cola di kôˈlä dē rēĕnˈtsē, rēĕnˈtsō [key], 1313?–1354, Roman popular leader. In 1343 on a mission to Pope Clement VI at Avignon, he won the papal confidence. While ther...

(Encyclopedia) Rostovtzeff, Michael Ivanovich rŏstŏvˈtsĕf [key], 1870–1952, American historian, b. Kiev, Ukraine. He studied at the Univ. of St. Petersburg where he was professor of Latin and of Roman history ...

(Encyclopedia) Gaiseric gĕnˈsərĭk, jĕnˈ– [key], c.390–477, king of the Vandals and Alani (428–77), one of the ablest of the barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire. He led (429) his people from Spain into...

(Encyclopedia) Lateran Treaty, concordat between the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Cardinal Gasparri for Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini for Victor Emmanuel III. On...

(Encyclopedia) Eucharist yo͞oˈkərĭst [key] [Gr.,=thanksgiving], Christian sacrament that repeats the action of Jesus at his last supper with his disciples, when he gave them bread, saying, “This is my body,”...

(Encyclopedia) Boleslaus III, 1085–1138, duke of Poland (1102–38). The kingdom had been divided by his father, Ladislaus Herman, between Boleslaus and his elder brother Zbigniew, whose legitimacy was disputed. Z...

(Encyclopedia) Naevius, Gnaeus nīˈəs nēˈvəs [key], c.264–195 b.c., Roman poet and dramatist. Born in Campania, he served in the first Punic War (264–241 b.c.), which he evoked in De Bello Punico. Now only ...

(Encyclopedia) Peutinger, Konrad kônˈrät poiˈtĭng–ər [key], 1465–1547, German antiquarian, diplomat, politician, and economist. One of the earliest writers in Germany on Roman inscriptions, he introduced t...

(Encyclopedia) Cannae kănˈē [key], ancient village, Apulia, SE Italy, scene in 216 b.c. of Hannibal's crushing defeat of the Romans. Hannibal's troops assumed a crescent-shaped formation to meet the Roman troops,...

(Encyclopedia) Flavian flāˈvēən [key], ancient Roman gens. The name was applied especially to three Roman emperors, Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian. ...