Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) sweet potato, trailing perennial plant (Ipomoea batatas) of the family Convolvulaceae (morning glory family), native to the New World tropics. Cultivated from ancient times by the Aztecs for its edibl...

(Encyclopedia) Erbil bīlˌ –bĭlˌ [key], city and capital of Kurdistan Region, N Iraq. A commercial, agr...

(Encyclopedia) Genesis jĕnˈəsĭs [key], 1st book of the Bible, first of the five books of the Law (the Pentateuch or Torah) ascribed by tradition to Moses. Beginning with two accounts of the creation and of human...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Mediterranean Sea [Lat.,=in the midst of lands], the world's largest inland sea, c.965,000 sq mi (2,499,350 sq km), surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some of the most ancient civilizat...

(Encyclopedia) İstanbul ĭsˌtănbo͞olˈ, ĭstanˈbo͞ol [key], city and metropolitan muncipality,...

(Encyclopedia) Ohrid both: ŏˈkrĭdə [key], town (1981 est. pop, 64,200), North Macedonia, on a rock above Lake Ohrid, on the Albanian border. North Macedonia's chief resort, it is a tourist and commercial center,...

(Encyclopedia) olive oil, pale yellow to greenish oil obtained from the pulp of olives by separating the liquids from solids. Olive oil was used in the ancient world for lighting, in the preparation of food, and as ...

(Encyclopedia) Colossus of Rhodes kəlŏsˈəs [key], large statue of Helios, the sun god, destroyed by an earthquake in antiquity. Consider one of the Seven Wonders of the World by the ancients, it was built in par...

(Encyclopedia) Ephesus ĕfˈəsəs [key], ancient Greek city of Asia Minor, near the mouth of the Caÿster River (modern Küçük Menderes), in what is today W Turkey, S of Smyrna (now Izmir). One of the greatest of...

(Encyclopedia) Greek music, the music of the ancient and modern inhabitants of Greece. Dormant for nearly two thousand years, Greek music underwent a musical rebirth in the 19th cent. with the works of the opera c...