Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vesta, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Vesta, in Roman religion and mythology, hearth goddess. She was highly honored in every household from early times to the beginning of Christianity. Her public cult maintained a sacred building in whi...

Iona

(Encyclopedia)Iona īōnˈə [key] [Irish Ioua=island] or Icolmkill [Irish,=island of Columba of the church], island (1985 est. pop. 267), 3.5 mi (5.6 km) long and 1.5 mi (2.4 km) wide, Argyll and Bute, NW Scotland...

angel

(Encyclopedia)angel ānˈjəl [key], [Gr.,=messenger], bodiless, immortal spirit, limited in knowledge and power, accepted in the traditional belief of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and other religions. Angels a...

Sol, in Roman religion

(Encyclopedia)Sol sŏl [key], in Roman religion, sun god. An ancient god of Mesopotamian origin, he was introduced (c.220) into Roman religion as Sol Invictus by emperor Heliogabalus. His worship remained an import...

dwarfism

(Encyclopedia)dwarfism, condition in which an animal or plant is less than normal in size and lacks the capacity for normal growth. Dwarfism is deliberately produced and perpetuated in certain species (e.g., in bre...

Celtic Church

(Encyclopedia)Celtic Church, name given to the Christian Church of the British Isles before the mission (597) of St. Augustine of Canterbury from Rome. Founded in the 2d or 3d cent. by missionaries from Rome or Gau...

Des Périers, Bonaventure

(Encyclopedia)Des Périers, Bonaventure bōnävăNtürˈ dā pārēāˈ [key], c.1510–1544, French humanist and poet; protégé of Margaret of Navarre. His chief work, Cymbalum mundi (1537), a series of four skep...

Páez, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Páez, Pedro pāˈᵺrō päˈāth [key], 1564–1622, Spanish Jesuit missionary. He preached in Goa, India, was enslaved for seven years in Sana, Yemen, and in 1603 arrived in Ethiopia. He rapidly le...

Celsus

(Encyclopedia)Celsus sĕlˈsəs [key], 2d cent., Roman philosopher, an aggressive antagonist of Christianity. His works have been lost, but the substance of his True Discourse is given by Origen in his Against Cels...

Oswy

(Encyclopedia)Oswy or Oswiu both: ŏzˈwē [key], d. 670, king of Northumbria. He succeeded (641) his brother Oswald in Bernicia only, Deira (the other part of Northumbria) having become a dependency of Mercia. How...
 

Browse by Subject