Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Manilius, Marcus

(Encyclopedia)Manilius, Marcus mənĭlˈēəs [key], fl. a.d. 10, Roman poet. Of his didactic poem on astrology, the Astronomica, five books remain. These may or may not have constituted the whole work. ...

lemures

(Encyclopedia)lemures lĕmˈərāsˌ, –yərēzˌ [key], in Roman religion, vampirelike ghosts of the dead; also called larvae. To exorcise these malevolent spirits from the home, the Romans held rites, the Lemuri...

Cletus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Cletus or Anacletus, Saint klēˈtəs, ănəklēˈtəs [key], d. a.d. 88?, pope (a.d. 76?–a.d. 88?), martyr, a Roman; successor of St. Linus and predecessor of St. Clement I. Feast: Apr. 26. ...

Heraclea

(Encyclopedia)Heraclea hĕrəklēˈə [key], ancient Greek city, in Lucania, S Italy, not far from the Gulf of Tarentum (Taranto). There Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in 280 b.c. Bronze tablets giving Roman municipal...

Robbers, Herman

(Encyclopedia)Robbers, Herman hĕrˈmän rôˈbərs [key], 1868–1937, Dutch novelist. A representative of descriptive realism, he wrote De Roman van een Gezin (1909–10; tr. The Fortunes of a Household, 1924). ...

Bad Reichenhall

(Encyclopedia)Bad Reichenhall bät rīˈkhənhäl [key] or Reichenhall, town, Bavaria, S central Germany, on ...

Peter's pence

(Encyclopedia)Peter's pence, in the Roman Catholic Church, the annual voluntary laymen's contribution to the support of the pope. Formerly Peter's pence was a yearly tax of a penny levied by the Holy See on every h...

Pax

(Encyclopedia)Pax păks [key], in Roman religion, goddess of peace. Vespasian erected a temple to her at Rome. Her attributes were similar to those of the Greek Irene, the olive branch and the horn of plenty. ...

omphalos

(Encyclopedia)omphalos ōmˈfəlŏs [key], in Greek and Roman religion, navel-shaped stone used in the rites of many cults. The most famous omphalos was at Delphi; it was supposed to mark the center of the earth. ...

Fabian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Fabian, Saint fāˈbēən [key], pope (236–50), a Roman; successor of St. Anterus and predecessor of St. Cornelius. He recast the ecclesiastical organization in Rome. Fabian was martyred under Deciu...
 

Browse by Subject