Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Phaedrus fēˈdrəs [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Latin writer, a Thracian slave, possibly a freedman of Augustus. He wrote fables in verse based largely on those of Aesop. The prose collections of fable...

(Encyclopedia) West Siberian Plain, an extensive region of continuous flatland, N Asia, comprising the western third of Siberia, Russia. It is bounded on the east by the Yenisei River, on the north by the Arctic Oce...

(Encyclopedia) Aliákmon älēäkˈmôn [key], longest river of Greece, c.200 mi (320 km) long, rising in the mountains near Lake Préspa, N Greece, and flowing SE then NE into the Thermaic Gulf. The river waters an...

(Encyclopedia) Bois de Boulogne bwä də bo͞olôˈnyə [key], park in Paris, France, bordering on the western suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. A favorite pleasure ground since the 17th cent., the park contains the race...

(Encyclopedia) Agulhas, Cape əgŭˈləs [key] [Port.,=needles], Western Cape province, South Africa; the southernmost point of Africa. Its name refers to the saw-edged reefs and sunken rocks that run out to sea and...

(Encyclopedia) Coorg ko͝org [key], former state, 1,593 sq mi (4,126 sq km), Karnataka state, SW India. Mercara was the capital. Situated mainly in the hilly Western Ghats, the Coorg region produces coffee, tea, car...

(Encyclopedia) Joachim, Saint jōˈəkĭm [key], in tradition, the father of the Virgin and husband of St. Anne; there is no mention of him in the Bible. His cult is ancient in the East, but modern in the western Ch...

(Encyclopedia) Justin I, c.450–527, Byzantine emperor (518–27); successor of Anastasius I. He was chief of the imperial guard and became emperor when Anastasius died. Justin persecuted the Monophysites and maint...

(Encyclopedia) Kurgan ko͞orgänˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 356,000), capital of Kurgan region, W Siberian Russia, on the Tobol River. Kurgan is the important junction of the western branches of the Trans-Siberian RR....

(Encyclopedia) Sondershausen zônˌdərs-houˈzən [key], commune (1994 pop. 22,370), Thuringia, central Germany, near the western foot of Kyffhäuser Mt. It is an industrial city and a potash-mining center. Manufac...