Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Constantine IV, c.652–685, Byzantine emperor (668–85), son and successor of Constans II. He defended Constantinople against the annual naval attacks of the Muslims, who finally withdrew in 678; Gr...

(Encyclopedia) Apollodorus of Damascus, Roman architect and engineer, fl. late 1st to early 2d cent. a.d., b. Syria. Apollodorus was responsible for nearly all buildings designed under the emperor Trajan, for whom h...

(Encyclopedia) Antoninus, Wall of, ancient Roman wall extending across N Britain from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. It was built by the Roman governor Lollius Urbicus in the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pi...

(Encyclopedia) Mars, in Roman religion and mythology, god of war. In early Roman times he was a god of agriculture, but in later religion (when he was identified with the Greek Ares) he was primarily associated with...

(Encyclopedia) Constantine, Donation of, Lat. Constitutum Constantini, forged document, probably drafted in the 8th cent. It purported to be a grant by Roman Emperor Constantine I of great temporal power in Italy an...

(Encyclopedia) Vitellius, Aulus ôˈləs vĭtĕlˈēəs [key], a.d. 15–a.d. 69, Roman emperor (a.d. 69). He was made commander of the legions on the lower Rhine by Galba in a.d. 68. On Galba's death he was proclai...

(Encyclopedia) Eusebius of Nicomedia nĭkōmēˈdēə [key], d. 342, Christian churchman and theologian, leader of the heresy of Arianism. He was bishop of Nicomedia (330–39) and patriarch of Constantinople (339�...

(Encyclopedia) Philip V, 238–179 b.c., king of Macedon (221–179), son of Demetrius II, successor of Antigonus III. He won fame in a war in Greece (220–217), in which he sided with the Achaean League against th...

(Encyclopedia) Romulus Augustulus ôgŭsˈtyo͝oləs [key], d. after 476, last Roman emperor of the West (475–76). His father, the general Orestes, deposed Julius Nepos and proclaimed Romulus Augustulus emperor. O...

(Encyclopedia) Gerontius jərŏnˈshəs [key], d. 411, Roman general, b. Britain. He at first supported the usurper Constantine (d. 411), and was left in charge of Spain. He set up (409) his own candidate, Maximus, ...