Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) incest, sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship. Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group, hence the definitio...

(Encyclopedia) Flaubert, Gustave güstävˈ flōbĕrˈ [key], 1821–80, French novelist, regarded as one of the supreme masters of the realistic novel. He was a scrupulous, slow writer, intent on the exact word (le...

(Encyclopedia) Harrison, Jim (James Thomas Harrison), 1937–2016, American novelist, poet, and essayist, b. Grayling, Mich., grad. Michigan State Univ. (B.A., 1960; M.A., 1965). He began his writing career as a poe...

(Encyclopedia) bibliography. The listing of books is of ancient origin. Lists of clay tablets have been found at Nineveh and elsewhere; the library at Alexandria had subject lists of its books. Modern bibliography b...

(Encyclopedia) Satanism. The cult of Satan, or Satan worship, is in part a survival of the ancient worship of demons and in part a revolt against Christianity or the church. It rose about the 12th cent. in Europe an...

(Encyclopedia) gladiators [Lat.,=swordsmen], in ancient Rome, class of professional fighters, who performed for exhibition. Gladiatorial combats usually took place in amphitheaters. They probably were introduced fro...

(Encyclopedia) hairdressing, arranging of the hair for decorative, ceremonial, or symbolic reasons. Primitive men plastered their hair with clay and tied trophies and badges into it to represent their feats and qual...

(Encyclopedia) Cashel kăˈshəl [key] [Irish,=castle], town, Co. Tipperary, S central Republic of Ireland. ...

(Encyclopedia) Cunningham, Sir Alexander, 1814–93, English archaeologist and army engineer; son of Allan Cunningham. He retired (1861) as a major general after 30 years of service with the Bengal engineers and the...

(Encyclopedia) Frankfort, Henri äNrēˈ [key], 1897–1954, American archaeologist, b. the Netherlands. He directed the excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society (1925–29) and the Iraq expeditions (1929–37) ...