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Hadrian's Wall

(Encyclopedia)Hadrian's Wall, ancient Roman wall, 73.5 mi (118.3 km) long, across the narrow part of the island of Great Britain from Wallsend on the Tyne River to Bowness at the head of Solway Firth. It was mainly...

Corpus Juris Civilis

(Encyclopedia)Corpus Juris Civilis kôrˈpəs jo͝oˈrĭs sĭvīˈlĭs [key], most comprehensive code of Roman law and the basic document of all modern civil law. Compiled by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I,...

Ostrogoths

(Encyclopedia)Ostrogoths (East Goths), division of the Goths, one of the most important groups of the Germans. According to their own unproved tradition, the ancestors of the Goths were the Gotar of S Sweden. By th...

Aramaic

(Encyclopedia)Aramaic ârəmāˈĭk [key], language belonging to the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). At some point during the se...

Sassanid

(Encyclopedia)Sassanid, Sasanid săsāˈnyən [key], last dynasty of native rulers to reign in Persia before the Arab conquest. The period of their dominion extended from c.a.d. 224, when the Parthians were overth...

Hecate

(Encyclopedia)Hecate hĕkˈətē, hĕkˈĭt [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of ghosts and witchcraft. Originally she seems to have been an extremely powerful and benevolent goddess, identified with ...

Asgard

(Encyclopedia)Asgard ăsˈgärd [key], in Norse mythology, home of the gods, also known as Aesir. It consisted of luxurious palaces and halls, in which the gods (whose chief was Odin) dwelled, conferred, and banque...

McTaggart, John McTaggart Ellis

(Encyclopedia)McTaggart, John McTaggart Ellis, 1866–1925, British philosopher. A student of G. W. Hegel, by whom he was strongly influenced, he taught at Trinity College, Cambridge (1897–1923). Believing that t...

Misti, El

(Encyclopedia)Misti, El ĕl mēˈstē [key], dormant volcano, c.19,150 ft (5,840 m) high, in the Cordillera Occidental, S Peru, rising over the city of Arequipa. El Misti is flanked by two other volcanos—on the N...

Abulfazl

(Encyclopedia)Abulfazl äˈbo͞olfäˈzəl, əˈbo͞olfŭzˈəl [key], 1551–1602, minister of state and adviser to Akbar, Mughal emperor of India. His most renowned Persian text recounts the history of the Akbar ...
 

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