Resheph

Ancient West Semitic god of the plague and of the underworld, the companion of Anath, and the equivalent of the Babylonian god Nergal. He was also a war god and was thus represented as a bearded man brandishing an ax, holding a shield, and wearing a tall, pointed headdress with a goat's or gazelle's head on his forehead. Resheph was worshiped especially at Ras Shamra, Byblos,

Arabia, History Of, Resistance to the Ottomans

Propagating the doctrines of 'Abd al-Wahhab, Ibn Sa'ud and his son mastered all Najd. Late in the 18th century the Wahhabis began raiding Iraq and then besieged Mecca, which they definitively conquered in 1806. The Ottomans became so alarmed at the Sa'udi-Wahhabi peril that they urged Muhammad 'Ali, viceroy of Egypt, to drive the Wahhabis from the Holy Cities. Egyptian troops invaded Arabia,

Anthony Of Bourbon

Son of Charles of Bourbon, duke of Vendôme, he married (1548) Jeanne d'Albret, daughter of Henry II, king of Navarre; as sole heir, she brought her husband the title of king of Navarre. Anthony was involved with his brother, Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, in the Huguenot conspiracy of Amboise,

Pilaster

In Greco-Roman Classical architecture, shallow rectangular column that projects slightly beyond the wall into which it is built and conforms precisely to the order or style of the adjacent columns. The anta of ancient Greece was the direct ancestor of the Roman pilaster. The anta, however, which served a structural purpose as the terminus of the sidewall of a temple,

Sillanpää, Frans Eemil

The son of a peasant farmer, Sillanpää began studying natural science but in 1913 returned to the country, married, and began to write. His first short stories were published in journals in 1915. From 1924 to 1927 he worked for a publishing company in Porvoo. A new creative

Davidson, Bruce

Davidson studied photography at the Rochester (New York) Institute of Technology (1951–54) and the School of Design of Yale University (1955) in New Haven, Connecticut. He worked for Life magazine for

Motion Picture, History Of The, Germany

Before World War I, the German motion-picture audience was largely uneducated and unemployed or from the working class. Most of the films exhibited were imported from other countries, particularly Denmark. The few German films produced were usually cheaply and crudely made. This impoverished state of the domestic industry became a matter of concern among military

Literature, Canada.

Though the French literary community in Canada viewed itself as a society distinct from the rest of the country, its tastes remained entirely global in 2001. The third installation of Pierre Godin's ongoing biography about the late René Lévesque, the popular provincial politician, attracted attention among

Metamorphosis

In biology, striking change of form or structure in an individual after hatching or birth. Hormones called molting and juvenile hormones, which are not species specific, apparently regulate the changes. These physical changes as well as those involving growth and differentiation are accompanied by alterations of the organism's physiology, biochemistry, and

Ascanius

In Roman legend, son of the hero Aeneas and traditional founder of Alba Longa, probably the site of the modern Castel Gandolfo, near Rome. In different versions, Ascanius is placed variously in time. Those set earlier cite the Trojan Creusa as his mother. After the fall of Troy, Ascanius and Aeneas escaped to Italy, where Aeneas subsequently founded Lavinium, the parent

Koguryo Style

Korean visual-arts style characteristic of the Koguryo kingdom (37 BC–AD 668) of the Three Kingdoms period. The Koguryo were a horse-riding northern people, and their art was powered by the forceful spirit of a hunter-warrior tribe. Their fresco paintings on the walls of tombs are characterized by movement and emotion rather than formal beauty and decorative visual effect. Outlines

Vanbrugh, Sir John

Vanbrugh's grandfather was a Flemish merchant, and his father was a sugar baker in Chester, Cheshire, England, where the young Vanbrugh (by tradition)