DependentAnt

Braddon, Mary Elizabeth

2005-04-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

The daughter of a solicitor in Cornwall and the sister of a prime minister of Tasmania, Braddon received a private education. She produced her first novel, The Trail of the Serpent, in 1861. In the same year appeared Garibaldi and Other

Dietrich Von Bern

2005-04-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

Dietrich's exploits are related in a number of south German songs preserved in Das Heldenbuch (“The Heroes Book”)—including Dietrichs Flucht (“Dietrich's Flight”), Die Rabenschlacht (“The Battle of Ravenna”), Alpharts Tod (“Alphart's Death”), and a number

Cord Moss

2005-03-31T23:17:00.000-08:00

Any of the plants of the genus Funaria (order Bryales), distinguished by the spirally twisted seta (stalk) of the capsule (spore case). More than 100 species of Funaria are found in many habitats throughout the world, especially on limestone or recently burned areas. About nine species are present in North America; the most common is F. hygrometrica, which

Alligator

2005-03-30T16:01:00.000-08:00

(genus Alligator), either of two longsnouted, crocodilian reptiles usually placed with the South American caimans in the family Alligatoridae. Alligators, like other crocodilians, are large, lizardlike animals with powerful tails that are used both in defense and in swimming. Their eyes, ears, and nostrils are placed on top of their long

National Botanic Gardens Of South Africa

2005-03-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

Also called Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens one of the world's largest botanical gardens, occupying a 1,305-acre (528-hectare) site in Kirstenbosch, near Cape Town, Western Cape province, South Africa. The 6,200-species collection consists almost exclusively of Cape plants native to the fynbos (scrubland) and forests of southern Africa. The botanical garden was established in 1913. It includes such beautiful flowering plants as

Baseball

2005-03-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

The Braves led baseball with a

Sohlman, August

2005-03-23T04:41:00.000-08:00

As a journalist, Sohlman wrote for a number of the leading newspapers of Sweden and was editor of the influential Stockholm daily

Lista, Alberto

2005-03-21T22:58:00.000-08:00

At age 20, Lista held the chair of mathematics at a college in Sevilla (Seville); later (1807) he assumed the chair of rhetoric and poetry at the University of Sevilla. After spending

Babak

2005-03-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

Iranian Papak leader of the Iranian Khorram-dinan, a religious sect that arose following the execution of Abu Muslim, who had rebelled against the 'Abbasid caliphate. Denying that Abu Muslim was dead, the sect predicted that he would return to spread justice throughout the world. Babak led a new revolt against the 'Abbasids that was put down in 837.

Duchamp-villon, Raymond

2005-03-19T03:30:00.000-08:00

In 1900 Duchamp-Villon gave up medical school for sculpture, often working closely with his brothers, the artists Gaston (better known by his pseudonym, Jacques Villon) and Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp-Villon's early work was influenced

Cladonia

2005-03-17T14:11:00.000-08:00

Genus of lichens that includes those species commonly known as cup lichen, reindeer moss, and British soldiers (qq.v.).

Ibn Kathir

2005-03-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Ibn Kathir was educated in Damascus and upon completion of his studies obtained his first official appointment in 1341, when he joined an inquisitorial commission formed to determine

La Rioja

2005-03-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

The folds of the Obarenes Mountains

Forsterite-fayalite Series

2005-03-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

These minerals are common

Fry, Maxwell; And Drew, Jane

2005-03-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

One of the earliest British adherents to the modern movement, Fry was trained at the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool. In 1924 he joined

Andrew, John Albion

2005-03-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

Andrew entered political life as a Whig opposed to the Mexican War (1846–48). In 1848 he joined the Free-Soil movement against the spread of slavery. After the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854), which permitted those

Silesia

2005-03-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

Polish Slask , Czech Slezsko , German Schlesien historic region that is now in southwestern Poland. Silesia was originally a Polish province that became a possession of the Bohemian crown in 1335, passed with that crown to the Austrian Habsburgs in 1526, was taken by Prussia in 1742, and was returned to Poland in 1945. Silesia consists largely of the basin of the upper and middle Oder River, which flows from southeast to northwest. The

Cagayan De Oro

2005-03-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

City, northern Mindanao, Philippines. It lies along the Cagayan River near the head of Macajalar Bay. After its establishment as a mission station in the 17th century, it was fortified by the Spaniards. Cagayan de Oro was chartered as a city in 1950 and has become the transportation and commercial hub of northern Mindanao. Its international airport is a major stopover for

Kafue National Park

2005-03-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Park, south-central Zambia. Established in 1950 and located about 200 miles (322 km) west of Lusaka, the park covers an area of 8,650 square miles (22,400 square km) and consists of a vast and gently undulating plateau, situated along the middle reaches of the Kafue River and its two tributaries, the Lufupa and the Lunga. The vegetation is lush and green, varying from mixed forest, thicket, woodland,

Marpurg, Friedrich Wilhelm

2005-03-08T15:54:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of his musical education. In 1746 he was secretary to a Prussian general in Paris, where he met Voltaire and the composer Jean Rameau. He later lived in Berlin and Hamburg and from 1763 to 1795 directed the Prussian

Fabales

2005-03-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

The Fabales include trees, herbaceous or woody vines, and perennial or annual herbs. The leaves are usually compound—that is, they are divided into leaflets, and in some the leaflets are secondarily compound. The simple leaves of some are presumably reduced from the compound forms. The most striking of these modified leaf forms are the several hundred species of Australian

Scypha

2005-03-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Sycon, genus of marine sponges of the class Calcispongiae (calcareous sponges), characterized by a fingerlike body shape known as the syconoid type of structure. In the syconoid sponges, each “finger,” known as a radial canal, is perforated by many tiny pores through which water passes into the central cavity. The water exits through an oscule, or larger opening, at the tip. Scypha

Bala

2005-03-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Welsh Y Bala market town, Gwynedd county, historic county of Merioneth (Meirionnydd), Wales, in Snowdonia National Park at the northern end of mountain-girt Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), the largest natural lake in Wales. The town was founded under a charter of 1324. In the 18th century it became famous both for its knitted stockings and for its huge Methodist revival meetings; it was the home of the

Saxon

2005-03-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

Member of a Germanic people who in ancient times lived in the area of modern Schleswig and along the Baltic coast. The period of Roman decline in the West was marked by vigorous Saxon piracy in the North Sea. During the early part of the 5th century AD, the Saxons spread rapidly through north Germany and along the coasts of Gaul and Britain. The coastal stretch from the Elbe

Raymond Terrace

2005-03-03T19:07:00.000-08:00

Town, eastern New South Wales, Australia, on the east bank of the Hunter River (near its junction with the Williams), just north of Newcastle. Founded in the 1830s, the town was named after a member of an exploring expedition in 1812 led by Gov. Lachlan Macquarie. An important wool river port in the 1840s, Raymond Terrace was proclaimed a municipality and in 1937 merged into the Shire of Port

Flegel, Eduard Robert

2005-03-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

In 1879 Flegel travelled about 525 miles (845 kilometres) up the Benue River and in 1880 went by way of the Niger to Sokoto, in northwestern Nigeria, where he obtained permission from the Sultan for an expedition to the Adamawa Plateau. In

Hypolydian Mode

2005-02-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

In music, sixth of the eight medieval church modes. See church mode.

'abd Allah, Khawr

2005-02-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

Estuary (khawr) separating Kuwait and Iraq, probably a drowned river mouth of the Shatt (stream) al-Arab, whose mouth is now farther north and forms the southeastern part of the border between Iraq and Iran. It extends into Iraqi territory in the form of the Khawr az-Zubayr, on which the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr is located and which is linked by canal northwestward to the

Biblical Literature, The translation of William Tyndale

2005-02-27T06:03:00.000-08:00

Because of the influence of printing and a demand for scriptures in the vernacular, William Tyndale began working on a New Testament translation directly from the Greek in 1523. The work could not be continued in England because of political and ecclesiastical pressures, and the printing of his translation began in Cologne (in Germany) in 1525. Again under pressure, this time

Pyryatyn

2005-02-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

Russian Piryatin , also spelled Piriatin city and centre of a rayon (sector), Poltava oblast (province), Ukraine, on the Uday River. Pyryatyn dates at least from 1155, when it is first documented, and was incorporated in 1781. Before the Revolution of 1917 it was an administrative centre and later became a railway junction. Today it has varied industries, including furniture, building materials, and foodstuffs. Pop. (1991 est.) 18,300.

Tannenberg, Battle Of

2005-02-24T17:18:00.000-08:00

Polish and Lithuanian forces proceeding toward

English Literature, Verse romance

2005-02-24T06:17:00.000-08:00

The earliest examples of verse romance, a genre that would remain popular through the Middle Ages, appeared in the 13th century. King Horn and Floris and Blauncheflour both are preserved in a manuscript of around 1250. King Horn, oddly written in short two- and three-stress lines, is a vigorous tale of a kingdom lost and regained, with a subplot concerning Horn's love for Princess

Arts, South Asian, Gupta period: central India

2005-02-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

In addition to the major schools of Sarnath and Mathura, important sculpture of the 5th and 6th centuries is found at several sites in central India. The sculptures here are often in their original locations, surviving not as isolated images torn from their architectural context but in association with the temples of which they formed a part. At Udayagiri, near Vidisa, are

Accipiter

2005-02-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Any bird of the genus Accipiter, largest genus of the birds of prey, consisting of about 50 species of falconiform birds, or “bird” hawks, of the family Accipitridae. Sometimes accipiters are referred to as the “true” hawks. They have broad, short wings and comparatively long legs and tail. They range in size from the little sparrowhawk (A. minullus) of Africa,

Nathdwara

2005-02-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the Banas River. Connected by road with Udaipur and close to the Malvi rail junction, Nathdwara is a place of Hindu pilgrimage; it contains a 17th-century Vaishnavite shrine that is one of the most famous in India. Within the temple is a celebrated image of the god Krishna, popularly said to date to the 12th century

Magdalena

2005-02-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Departamento, northern Colombia, occupying the Caribbean lowlands and bounded by the Magdalena River on the west. Much of its area is swamp, floodplain, or high mountains (including the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the northeast). The major economic activity is banana cultivation, especially in the vicinity of Santa Marta (q.v.), the departmental capital, which has

Nice

2005-02-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Founded by the Phocaeans

Zodiacal Light

2005-02-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

Band of light in the night sky, thought to be sunlight reflected from meteoroids concentrated in the plane of the zodiac, or ecliptic. The light is seen in the west after twilight and in the east before dawn, being easily visible in the tropics where the ecliptic is approximately vertical. In mid-northern latitudes it is best seen in the evening in February and March

Lord's Prayer

2005-02-17T05:42:00.000-08:00

Latin Oratio Dominica, also called Pater Noster (Latin: “Our Father”), prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples, and the principal prayer used by all Christians in common worship. It appears in two forms in the New Testament, the shorter version in Luke 11:2–4 and the longer version, part of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:9–13. In both contexts it is offered as a model of how to pray. Many scholars believe the version in Luke to be closer

Ah Kin

2005-02-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

(Mayan: “He of the Sun”), the regular clergy of the Yucatec Maya in pre-Columbian times. The Ah Kin are best known historically for their performance in the ritual sacrifice of victims, whose hearts were offered to the Mayan gods. The chief priest (Ah Kin Mai) served in the various capacities of administrator, teacher, healer, astronomer, adviser to the chief, and diviner. Priests

Biblical Literature, Form criticism

2005-02-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

Form criticism has become one of the most valuable tools for the reconstruction of the preliterary tradition. This discipline classifies the literary material according to the principal “forms”—such as legal, poetic, and other forms—represented in its contents, and examines these in order to discover how they were handed down and what their successive life settings

Great Karoo

2005-02-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

Karoo also spelled Karroo , Afrikaans Groot Karoo , also called Central Karoo plateau basin in Western Cape province, South Africa, lying between the Great Escarpment (north) and the Swartberg (south). It represents the effect of headwater erosion by rivers flowing southwest and southeast from the escarpment. The Great Karoo is divided into a western basin and a much larger eastern basin. The western, which is the headwater basin for the Doring

Vigo, Jean

2005-02-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

French film director whose blending of lyricism with realism and Surrealism, the whole underlined with a cynical, anarchic approach to life, distinguished him as an original talent. Although he completed only three feature films and one short, Taris (1931), before his early death, his films produced great public reaction. A Jean Vigo Prize is

Tiffany, Charles Lewis

2005-02-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

Tiffany went to New York City in 1837 and with John B. Young opened a stationery and fancy-goods store, which soon expanded to offer jewelry and silverware as well. It became Tiffany, Young, & Ellis in 1841; in 1848 the firm began to manufacture jewelry, and in 1850 they

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

2005-02-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

High Roman Gaul came to an end in an empirewide crisis characterized by foreign invasions and a rapid succession of rulers, as increased pressure on the empire's frontiers exacerbated its internal economic and political weaknesses. Priority was given to holding the Danube and the East; despite sporadic visits by emperors, the West was neglected. In 260 and 276 Gaul suffered

Performing Arts, Nontheatrical Films.

2005-02-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

Austrian filmmaker Kurt Mundl (Power of the Earth Productions) in 1998 created an amazing film about butterflies and moths, The Messengers of the Gods--Butterflies. The 49-minute gem was made from 18,000 minutes of film patiently photographed using special lenses. New findings about behaviour were brought to life. It won many awards, including Best of Festival at Chicago's U.S. International

Middlesex

2005-02-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

County, east-central New Jersey, U.S., bounded by the Millstone River to the southwest, the Raritan River to the northwest, the Rahway River to the northeast, and Raritan Bay to the east. It consists largely of a coastal lowland. Other bodies of water include Carnegie and Farrington lakes and the South River. Forested areas contain oak and hickory. Among the recreational

Argentina, Domestic politics

2005-02-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

The new governor saw clearly the ambiguities and dangers of such widespread support, and, although he was identified as a federalist, he ruled as a centralist, with Buenos Aires as his main power base. Rosas manipulated factions of labourers, gauchos, and elites from the estancias and set himself up as the arbiter of a delicate and constantly threatened balance between

Brehon Laws

2005-02-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Analysis

Force Acts

2005-02-05T07:11:00.000-08:00

The major provisions of the acts authorized federal authorities to enforce penalties upon anyone interfering with the registration,

Kirkcaldy

2005-02-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

First developed by Dunfermline Abbey nearby, Kirkcaldy was a flourishing port during the later Middle Ages. It was designated a royal burgh in 1450, and the royal charter was confirmed by King Charles II in 1662. In the course of the 16th century it became an important

Venetic Language

2005-02-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

A language spoken in northeastern Italy before the Christian era. Known to modern scholars from some 200 short inscriptions dating from the 5th through the 1st century BC, it is written either in Latin characters or in a native alphabet derived from Etruscan, the Etruscans having established settlements in the Po Valley in the 6th century BC. Authorities are undecided as to

Wellingborough

2005-02-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

Town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Northamptonshire, England, situated east of Northampton along the River Nene. Wellingborough grew as a market town in the Middle Ages. After a fire in 1738, it was rebuilt on its present hill site. Wellingborough School, founded in 1595, was endowed with revenues from a suppressed medieval guild. Wellingborough's

Tzara, Tristan

2005-02-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Dadaist movement originated in Zürich during World War I, with the participation of the artists Jean Arp, Francis Picabia, and

Sacred Kingship, The king as judge

2005-02-01T01:03:00.000-08:00

From earliest times, in addition to other functions, the chief was the judge of his tribe; he personified the protection that the community provided for the individual. Providing for a balance of power in the community, mediating quarrels, and protecting individual rights, the chief or king was the lawgiver and the highest administrator for all community affairs.

South Ayrshire

2005-01-31T07:29:00.000-08:00

Cattle are raised on the Kyle plain in the north, and cattle and sheep on the Carrick uplands

Proclus

2005-01-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

Proclus was reared at Xanthus in Lycia, and he studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria. At Athens he studied under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus,

Bacchanalia

2005-01-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Dionysia, in GrecoRoman religion, any of the several festivals of Bacchus (Dionysus), the wine god. They probably originated as rites of fertility gods. The most famous of the Greek Dionysia were in Attica and included the Little, or Rustic, Dionysia, characterized by simple, oldfashioned rites; the Lenaea, which included a festal procession and dramatic performances; the Anthesteria,

Struve, Pyotr Berngardovich

2005-01-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

While studying economic theory and history at the University of St. Petersburg, Struve became a Marxist. The Marxist analysis of Russian capitalism that he presented in 1894 in his Kriticheskiye zametki k voprocy ob ekonomicheskom razviti rossi (“Critical Remarks on

Grazzini, Anton Francesco

2005-01-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

Apparently educated in vernacular literature, Grazzini in 1540 took part in the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi (“Academy of the Humid”), the first literary society of the time. He was a contentious individual and became

Hesychius Of Alexandria

2005-01-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

Although nothing is known of his life, Hesychius indicated the comprehensive design of his lexicon in a letter prefacing the work. Entitled Synagoge pason

Malay Language

2005-01-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

Member of the Western, or Indonesian, branch of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family, spoken as a native language by more than 33,000,000 persons distributed over the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and the numerous smaller islands of the area, and widely used in Malaysia and Indonesia as a second language. Malay shows the closest relationship to most of the

Tardigrade

2005-01-24T02:58:00.000-08:00

Also called water bear any of about 350 species of free-living, cosmopolitan invertebrates belonging to the phylum Tardigrada. In evolutionary development they are considered to lie between annelid worms and arthropods (e.g., insects, crustaceans). Tardigrades are mostly about 1 mm or less in size. They live in varying habitats: in damp moss, on flowering plants, in sand, in freshwater, and in the

Kublai Khan

2005-01-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

Kublai also spelled Khubilai , or Kubla Mongolian general and statesman, grandson of Genghis Khan. He conquered China and became the first emperor of its Yüan, or Mongol, dynasty. He was thus at one and the same time the overlord of all the Mongol dominions—which included areas as diverse as that of the Golden Horde in southern Russia, the Il-Khanate of Persia, and the steppe heartlands where Mongol princes

Bayinnaung

2005-01-22T07:27:00.000-08:00

In 1550 a revolt broke out among the Mons of southern Myanmar, and Bayinnaung's brother-in-law, Tabinshwehti, was assassinated at Pegu in 1551 by a Mon prince. Bayinnaung

Setthathirat I

2005-01-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

As the son of King Photisarath, Setthathirat was placed on the throne of the principality of Chiang Mai (now in northern Thailand) in 1546. When Photisarath died in the following

Kerry

2005-01-20T02:09:00.000-08:00

Irish Ciarraí county in the province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. With an area of 1,815 square miles (4,701 square km), it is bounded by Counties Limerick and Cork to the east and by the Atlantic Ocean or its inlets to the south, west, and north. Tralee is the county seat. The principal highlands of Kerry, among which are the highest mountains in Ireland, are of sandstone. Three, and part of a fourth,

China, Literature

2005-01-19T06:47:00.000-08:00

Chinese literature also shows conservative tendencies. Poetry composition remained a favourite pastime of the educated class, including the Sinicized scholars of Mongol, Central Asian, and western Asian origins, but no great works or stylistic innovations were created. During the last chaotic decades of the Yüan, some notable poets emerged, such as the versatile

Fisk, Wilbur

2005-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

Fisk studied at Peacham Academy and the University of Vermont and graduated from Brown University in 1815 (he received an M.A. in 1818). Licensed as a local preacher at Lyndon, Vt., in 1818, he was received into the New England

Houghton (of Great Houghton), Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron

2005-01-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

At Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his M.A. degree in 1831, Houghton joined the socially and artistically progressive Apostles Club, which included among its members the poets Alfred Tennyson and Arthur

Electronic Music, Tape music

2005-01-16T04:30:00.000-08:00

With tape music the history of electronic music in the narrower sense begins. This history seems split into three main periods: an early (by now classical) period lasting from the commercial introduction of the tape recorder immediately following World War II until about 1960; a second period that featured the introduction of electronic music synthesizers and the

Graf, Oskar Maria

2005-01-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

Graf had only a limited

Priest

2005-01-13T02:15:00.000-08:00

A priesthood developed gradually in the early Christian church as first bishops and then elders, or “presbyters,” began to exercise certain priestly functions, mainly in connection with celebration of the Eucharist. By the end of the

Newfoundland And Labrador, The west coast

2005-01-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

The west coast region stretches southward from Bonne Bay, at the base of the Great Northern Peninsula, to Cape Ray on the Cabot Strait. The northern section is well forested, while from St. George's Bay to the Codroy Valley is the province's best agricultural land. The principal population centres are Corner Brook, a city based on a large pulp and paper complex, and Stephenville,

Ma'adi, Al-

2005-01-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Predynastic Egyptian site located just south of modern Cairo in Al-Qahirah muhafazah (governorate) in Lower Egypt. The settlement at Al-Ma'adi was approximately contemporary with the widespread Gerzean culture (c. 3400–c. 3100 BC) of Upper Egypt. Al-Ma'adi was apparently a peasant village with a separate cemetery; the settlement was characterized by rectangular huts, splay-footed vases,

Bahrain

2005-01-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

Bahrain has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and several thousand burial mounds in the northern part of the main island probably date from the Sumerian period of the 3rd millennium BC. It was the seat of ancient

Egypt, Ancient, Ramses IV

2005-01-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

Ramses III was succeeded by his son Ramses IV (ruled 1156–50 BC). In an act of piety that also reinforced his legitimacy, Ramses IV saw to the compilation of a long papyrus in which the deceased Ramses III confirmed the temple holdings throughout Egypt; Ramses III had provided the largest benefactions to the Theban temples, in terms of donations of both land and personnel. Most

Brum, Baltasar

2005-01-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Statesman noted for his reform of the educational and welfare systems in Uruguay and for his proposal of an American league of nations. His dedication to democracy was so firm that he committed suicide to protest the suspension of the Uruguayan constitution and assumption of dictatorial powers by President Gabriel

Media And Publishing, Amateur Radio.

2005-01-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

In 1998 the amateur radio (ham) community in the U.S. was grappling with the most sweeping restructuring of amateur radio licensing since 1989. In July the American Radio Relay League proposed reducing the number of classes of licenses from six to four and streamlining the examinations needed to obtain the licenses. Instead of six license classes, there would be four: technician,

Ariadne

2005-01-06T01:54:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, daughter of Pasiphae and the Cretan king Minos. She fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur, a beast half bull and half man that Minos kept in the Labyrinth. Here the legends diverge: she was abandoned by Theseus and hanged herself; Theseus carried

Grub Street

2005-01-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

The world of literary hacks, or mediocre, needy writers who write for hire. The term originated in the 18th century. According to Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, Grub Street was “originally the name of a street in Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called grubstreet.” The street

Scandinavian Literature, The sagas

2005-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

The word saga is used in Icelandic for any kind of story or history, whether written or oral. In English it is used to refer to the biographies of a hero or group of heroes written in Iceland between the 12th and 15th centuries. These heroes were most often kings of Norway, early founders of Iceland, or legendary Germanic figures of the 4th to the 8th century. The oldest saga is the

Van Kleeck, Mary Abby

2005-01-03T05:29:00.000-08:00

Van Kleeck, the daughter of a minister, received her bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1904 and joined the College Settlements Association, where she began her

Lock Haven

2004-12-31T16:49:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1839) of Clinton county, north-central Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along the West Branch Susquehanna River (a major tributary of the Susquehanna), on the southern slope of Bald Eagle Mountain, 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Williamsport. Founded in 1834 by Jeremiah Church, a land speculator, it was laid out on the site of the frontier post, Fort Reed, and developed as a lumbering centre.

Sotheby's

2004-12-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

The founder, Samuel Baker (died 1778), a London bookseller, held his first auction (under his own name) early in 1744, selling an estate library of 457 books. Establishing the firm in York Street and handling

Epic Simile

2004-12-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Homeric simile an extended simile often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration. An example from the Iliad follows: As when the shudder of the west wind suddenly rising scatters across the water, and the water darkens beneath it, so darkening were settled the ranks of Achaians and Trojans in

Uhf

2004-12-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

UHF waves are very weakly reflected by the ionized layers of the upper

Monastery

2004-12-28T02:23:00.000-08:00

Local community or residence of a religious order, particularly an order of monks. See abbey; monasticism.

China, Waterways

2004-12-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

The high cost of construction prevents railways from being built extensively, and rail transport conditions are often congested. Freight volume carried by highways is limited, and highways are not suitable for moving bulky goods. China's water transport potential is great, but it is still far from being fully developed. Nonetheless, there are more than 68,000 miles of

Sotheby's

2004-12-26T05:03:00.000-08:00

Siraj-ud-dawlah

2004-12-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

Siraj-ud-Dawlah became nawab of Bengal on the death

World War I, The Western Front, 1915

2004-12-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

Repeated French attacks in February–March 1915 on the Germans' trench barrier in Champagne won only 500 yards (460 metres) of ground at a cost of 50,000 men. For the British, Sir Douglas Haig's 1st Army, between Armentières and Lens, tried a new experiment at Neuve-Chapelle on March 10, when its artillery opened an intense bombardment on a 2,000-yard front and then, after 35 minutes, lengthened its range,

Uitlander

2004-12-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

(Afrikaans: “outlander”), any British or other non-Afrikaner immigrant in the Transvaal region in the 1880s and '90s. The prospect of gold lured large numbers of newcomers to Johannesburg, where they became a majority of the citizenry and were led by an aristocracy of wealthy mine owners. The Transvaal's long-established rural population of Boers (Afrikaners), afraid of being

Colburn, Irving Wightman

2004-12-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

American inventor and manufacturer whose process for fabricating continuous sheets of flat glass formed the basis of the Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company. After an unsuccessful manufacturing venture, Colburn sold his patents to financial interests in Toledo, Ohio, in 1912. He continued to work under their auspices, finally perfecting his

Field Archery

2004-12-21T16:43:00.000-08:00

Also called roving form of archery in which targets of different sizes or shapes are placed at varying distances in uneven, often wooded, terrain in an attempt to simulate hunting conditions. As an organized sport it dates from the formation in 1939 of the National Field Archery Association of the United States. In 1969 a field event was included for the first time in the world archery championships

Ta'liq Script

2004-12-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

In Arabic calligraphy, cursive style of lettering developed in Iran in the 10th century. It is thought to have been the creation of Hasan ibn Husayn 'Ali of Fars, but, because Khwajah 'Abd al-Malik Buk made such vast improvements, the invention is often attributed to him. The rounded forms and exaggerated horizontal strokes that characterize the ta'liq letters were derived primarily

Torelli, Salinguerra

2004-12-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

Torelli was born into a noble family of Bolognese origin whose members were rivals of the Este in Ferrara from the end of the 12th century. He carried on an indecisive struggle with

Jordan

2004-12-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

The World Economic Forum (WEF) convened its extraordinary meeting, held June 21–23, 2003, on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea. Klaus Schwab, president of the WEF, justified the meeting place by stating that “the world and, above all, the [Middle Eastern] region were in urgent need of healing processes.” Policy makers, political leaders, academicians, intellectuals, and religious

Philip

2004-12-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

Byname Philip The Magnanimous, German Philipp Der Grossmütige landgrave (Landgraf) of Hesse (1509–67), one of the great figures of German Protestantism, who championed the independence of German princes against the Holy Roman emperor Charles V.

Kidnapping

2004-12-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kidnaping, criminal offense consisting of the unlawful taking and carrying away of a person by force or fraud or the unlawful seizure and detention of a person against his will. The principal motives for kidnapping are to subject the victim to some form of involuntary servitude, to expose him to the commission of some further criminal act against his person, or to obtain ransom

DependentAnt

Braddon, Mary Elizabeth

Dietrich Von Bern

Cord Moss

Alligator

National Botanic Gardens Of South Africa

Baseball

Sohlman, August

Lista, Alberto

Babak

Duchamp-villon, Raymond

Cladonia

Ibn Kathir

La Rioja

Forsterite-fayalite Series

Fry, Maxwell; And Drew, Jane

Andrew, John Albion

Silesia

Cagayan De Oro

Kafue National Park

Marpurg, Friedrich Wilhelm

Fabales

Scypha

Bala

Saxon

Raymond Terrace

Flegel, Eduard Robert

Hypolydian Mode

'abd Allah, Khawr

Biblical Literature, The translation of William Tyndale

Pyryatyn

Tannenberg, Battle Of

English Literature, Verse romance

Arts, South Asian, Gupta period: central India

Accipiter

Nathdwara

Magdalena

Nice

Zodiacal Light

Lord's Prayer

Ah Kin

Biblical Literature, Form criticism

Great Karoo

Vigo, Jean

Tiffany, Charles Lewis

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

Performing Arts, Nontheatrical Films.

Middlesex

Argentina, Domestic politics

Brehon Laws

Force Acts

Kirkcaldy

Venetic Language

Wellingborough

Tzara, Tristan

Sacred Kingship, The king as judge

South Ayrshire

Proclus

Bacchanalia

Struve, Pyotr Berngardovich

Grazzini, Anton Francesco

Hesychius Of Alexandria

Malay Language

Tardigrade

Kublai Khan

Bayinnaung

Setthathirat I

Kerry

China, Literature

Fisk, Wilbur

Houghton (of Great Houghton), Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron

Electronic Music, Tape music

Graf, Oskar Maria

Priest

Newfoundland And Labrador, The west coast

Ma'adi, Al-

Bahrain

Egypt, Ancient, Ramses IV

Brum, Baltasar

Media And Publishing, Amateur Radio.

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)