Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Blues and Greens, political factions in the Byzantine Empire in the 6th cent. They took their names from two of the four colors worn by the circus charioteers. Their clashes were intensified by religi...

(Encyclopedia) Harmodius and Aristogiton härmōˈdēəs, ârˌĭstōjīˈtən [key], d. c.514 b.c., Athenian tyrannicides. Provoked by a personal quarrel, the two friends planned to assassinate Hipparchus and his b...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Polyp and medusa stages in the life cycle of Obelia, representative of the phylum Cnidaria polyp and medusa, names for the two body forms, one nonmotile and one typically free swimming, found ...

(Encyclopedia) Masters and Johnson, pioneering research team in the field of human sexuality, consisting of the gynecologist William Howell Masters, 1915–2001, b. Cleveland, and the psychologist Virginia Eshelman ...

(Encyclopedia) Dutch language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Also called Netherlandish, it is spoken by about 15 milli...

(Encyclopedia) Fourier, Charles shärl fo͞oryāˈ [key], 1772–1837, French social philosopher. From a bourgeois family, he condemned existing institutions and evolved a kind of utopian socialism. In Théorie des ...

(Encyclopedia) Bolshevism and Menshevism bōlˈshəvĭzəm, bŏlˈ–, mĕnˈshəvĭzəm [key], the two main branches of Russian socialism from 1903 until the consolidation of the Bolshevik dictatorship under Lenin ...

(Encyclopedia) Caterham and Warlingham kāˈtərəm, wôrˈlĭng-əm [key], town, Surrey, SE England...

(Encyclopedia) Tristram and Isolde trĭsˈtrəm, ĭsōlˈdə, ĭzōlˈ– [key], medieval romance. The earliest extant version (incomplete) was written (c.1185) by Thomas of Britain in Anglo-Norman French verse. Abo...

(Encyclopedia) executors and administrators. An executor is the person designated in the will of a deceased person to carry out the provisions of the will. An administrator is the person appointed by a probate court...