Scarlatti, Alessandro

Scarlatti was sent to Rome at about the age of 12; there he met Bernardo Pasquini, by whom he was greatly influenced. The first of his 115 operas, Gli equivoci nel sembiante (1679), written

Yemen

Most of Yemen's northern frontier with Saudi Arabia traverses the great desert of the peninsula, the Rub' al-Khali (Empty Quarter), and remains undemarcated, as does the eastern frontier with Oman. In the west and the south, Yemen is bounded by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, respectively. Its territory

García Lorca, Federico

The publication in 1928 of Romancero gitano (written 1921–27; Gypsy Ballads), a poetry sequence inspired by the traditional Spanish romance, or ballad, catapulted Lorca into the national spotlight. A lyrical evocation of the sensual world of the Andalusian Gypsy, the collection enthralled Spanish readers, many of whom mistook Lorca for a Gypsy. The book's first edition sold out

Eleusinian Mysteries

Most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece. According to the myth told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the earth goddess Demeter (q.v.) went to Eleusis in search of her daughter Kore (Persephone), who had been abducted by Hades (Pluto), god of the underworld. Befriended by the royal family of Eleusis, she agreed to rear the queen's son. She was, however, prevented

Ucicky, Gustav

Ucicky began his career as a cameraman with director Michael Curtiz. He moved to Germany in 1928 and became involved in the state-subsidized studio UFA. His early movies, such as Hocuspocus (1929) and Der unsterbliche

Seybouse, Wadi

River of northeastern Algeria, rising as the Wadi Cherf at the eastern edge of the Sétif plains just east of Aïn Beïda. Meandering north to Guelma, the river turns abruptly east and rushes through a narrow gorge in Mount Nador of the Tell Atlas to Bouchegouf and its confluence with the Wadi Mellah. The Seybouse then bends sharply northward and flows through a tree-lined

Agrionia

(from Greek agrios, “wild,” or “savage”), Greek religious festival celebrated annually at Orchomenus in Boeotia and elsewhere in honour of the wine god Dionysus. The tradition is that the daughters of Minyas, king of Orchomenus, having despised the rites of the god, were driven mad by Dionysus and ate the flesh of one of their children; as punishment they were turned into bats

Abelard, Peter

The outline of Abelard's career is well known, largely because he described so much of it in his famous Historia calamitatum (“History of My Troubles”). He was born the son of a knight in Brittany south of the Loire River. He sacrificed his inheritance and the prospect of a military career in order to study philosophy, particularly logic, in France. He provoked bitter quarrels

Gobel, Jean-baptiste-joseph

Educated at the German College, Rome, Gobel became in 1755 vicar-general of the diocese of

Lightship

Marine navigation and warning beacon stationed where lighthouse construction is impractical. The first lightship was the Nore (1732), stationed in the estuary of the River Thames in England. Modern lightships are small, unattended vessels equipped with fog signals, radio beacons, and gimbal devices for keeping the navigational light beam horizontal in rough weather.

Insurance, Business liability insurance

Business liability contracts commonly written include the following: liability of a building owner, landlord, or tenant; liability of an employer for acts of negligence involving employees; liability of contractors or manufacturers; liability to members of the public resulting from faulty products or services; liability as a result of contractual agreements

Vow

In the ancient Middle East, individuals often made vows to a deity to perform certain acts or to live in a certain way in return for a divine favour. Hannah, the mother of the Old Testament judge Samuel,

Haddon, Alfred Cort

Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, he distinguished himself

Gadifer De La Salle

Gadifer won renown in the French campaigns against England during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). While on a crusade against Tunis in 1390, he met Béthencourt, who later pledged his lands to finance their expedition to the Canary Islands. In 1402 they occupied Lanzarote, the northernmost inhabited

La Follette, Robert M(arion)

U.S. leader of the Progressive Movement, who as governor of Wisconsin (1901–06) and U.S. senator (1906–25) was noted for his support of reform legislation. He was the unsuccessful presidential candidate of the League for Progressive Political Action (i.e., the Progressive party) in 1924, winning almost 5,000,000 votes, or about one-sixth of the total cast.

Annelid, Behaviour and associations.

Various polychaetes (for example, Syllis, Chaetopterus, Cirratulus, Terebella) are bioluminescent—that is, capable of producing light. The phenomenon occurs within the cells of Polynoe; the lower surfaces of some scale worms (Halosydna) have special photocells that produce light when stimulated. Odontosyllis light production is related to sexual maturity and

Interior Design

It is important to emphasize that interior design is a specialized branch of architecture or environmental design; it is equally important to keep in mind that no specialized branch in any field would be very meaningful if practiced out of context. The best buildings and the best interiors are those in which there is no obvious disparity between the many elements

Ampicillin

Drug used in the treatment of various infections, including otitis media (middle ear infection), sinusitis, and acute bacterial cystitis. Ampicillin (or alpha-aminobenzylpenicillin) is a semisynthetic penicillin, one of the first such antibiotics developed. Similar in action to penicillin G but more effective against gram-negative bacteria, ampicillin is more

Economic Affairs

Industrywide consolidation, including significant cross-border transactions involving European banks and American securities firms, continued to reshape the global banking and financial services landscape in 2000. At the same time, however, enactment of sweeping financial modernization legislation in the United States did not trigger significant merger

Bone, Sir Muirhead

Bone first studied architecture and then art at the Glasgow School of Art. Attracted to the picturesque aspect of buildings, he began to depict views of his native town of Glasgow, among them Portfolio (1899), a series

Hovd

Founded in 1731 as a trade depot linked commercially with Peking, Hovd is the main trade centre of western Mongolia.

Selene

Latin  Luna,   in Greek and Roman religion, the personification of the moon as a goddess. She was worshiped at the new and full moons. Her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia; her brother was Helios, the sun god (sometimes called her father); her sister Eos (Dawn); and her husband Zeus. She is most identified with Endymion, whom she loved and whom Zeus cast into eternal sleep in a cave

Bacchylides

Greek lyric poet of the Aegean island of Ceos, nephew of the poet Simonides and a younger contemporary of the Boeotian poet Pindar, whom he rivaled in the composition of epinician poems (odes commissioned by victors at the major athletic festivals). Little was known of Bacchylides' work until the discovery in Egypt of papyrus fragments that reached the

O'brien, Fitz-james

O'Brien was the son of a lawyer. He ran through his inheritance in two years in London, where he began to work in journalism. In 1852 he moved

Beethoven, Ludwig, Van, Wider recognition

In 1810 E.T.A. Hoffmann in Berlin produced an appreciation of the Fifth Symphony, which undoubtedly did much to launch that work on its triumphant career throughout the world and, above all, to interest the Romantics in its composer. The same year, Beethoven made the acquaintance of the writer Bettina Brentano, the sister of the German poet and novelist Clemens Brentano

Architecture, African, Nomads and pastoralists

A hunting and gathering economy obliges the San of the Kalahari to move camp frequently. Some San scherms (shelters) may be little more than depressions in the ground, but groups such as the !Kung build light-framed shelters of sticks and saplings covered with grass. Other hunter-gatherers, such as the Hadza of Tanzania, live amid relative plenty; their dry savanna territory

Agung

In the early years of Sultan Agung's reign, he consolidated the sultanate by subduing the autonomous trade-based coastal states of Padang and Tuban in 1619; Banjermasin, Kalimantan, and Sukadana in 1622; Madura in 1624; and Surabaya in 1625. Because the country's economy

Beethoven, Ludwig, Van, Wider recognition

Formerly (1912–2001)  International Amateur Athletic Federation  track-and-field organization of national associations of more than 160 countries. It was founded as the International Amateur Athletic Association at Stockholm in 1912. In 1936 the IAAF took over regulation of women's international track-and-field competition from the Fédération Sportive Féminine International, which had been founded in 1921. The major aims of the IAAF are to

Frederick Iv

Frederick's father died in October 1583, when the young elector came under the guardianship of his uncle John Casimir, an ardent Calvinist. In January 1592, on the death of John Casimir, Frederick undertook the government of the Palatinate and continued his uncle's

Alkmaar

The English missionaries Willibrord and Adalbert preached Christianity in the district in the 8th century. A fishing village in the 10th century, Alkmaar (meaning “all marsh,” or “all sea”) was chartered in 1254 and was the capital of Kennemerland,

Arabian Sea

To medieval Arabs the Arabian Sea was known as the Sea of India or as part of the “Great Sea,” from which smaller gulfs such as the Sea of Faris (Persian Gulf) or Sea of Kolzum (Red Sea) were distinguished. From about the 8th or 9th century onward, Arab and Persian seafarers learned to use the surface currents propelled by the summer and winter monsoon winds. Detailed navigational

Kresge, S.s.

Kresge worked as a traveling salesman before going into business with one of his customers, John G. McCrory, the owner of several department and five-and-ten-cent stores. They became partners in 1897 in two new five-and-dime

Vairocana

Some Buddhists regard Vairocana, or Mahavairocana, as a being separate from the five “self-born” Dhyani-Buddhas, one of whom is known as Vairocana (see Dhyani-Buddha). Among the Shingon sect of Japan, he is the chief object of reverence and is regarded as the source

Bujalance

City, Córdoba provincia, in Andalusia comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), southern Spain, located 24 miles (39 km) east of Córdoba city. There is evidence in Bujalance of early Roman occupation. The ancient city was also the site of a seven-towered castle built in 935 by 'Abd ar-Rahman III, the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad (Arab Muslim) dynasty of Spain; the castle's

Epistemology, George Berkeley

Locke is part of a philosophical tradition called empiricism, that is, the view that the sole or at least the major source of human knowledge is sensory experience. George Berkeley (1685–1753) was the next great adherent of empiricism. In his major work, Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710), he divides ideas into three types: Ideas that come from sense correspond

Alexander Romance

The chief source of all Alexander romance literature was a folk epic written in Greek by a Hellenized Egyptian in Alexandria during the 2nd century AD. Surviving translations and copies make its reconstruction possible.

Hopak

Also spelled  gopak  Ukrainian folk dance, once for men only but later danced by couples, male soloists, and mixed groups of dancers. In the western Ukraine, as the hopak-kolo, it is danced in a closed circle. The hopak has no fixed pattern of steps. Men competitively improvise steps, high leaps, squatting kicks, and turns; women dance simple steps, sway, clap, or circle. Changes of step do not

Moses

Hebrew  Moshe  Hebrew prophet, teacher, and leader who, in the 13th century BCE (before the Common Era, or BC), delivered his people from Egyptian slavery. In the Covenant ceremony at Mt. Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were promulgated, he founded the religious community known as Israel. As the interpreter of these Covenant stipulations, he was the organizer of the community's

Kheda

Also called  Kaira,   city, east-central Gujarat state, west-central India. It is situated in the lowlands between the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers. The city existed as early as the 5th century AD. Early in the 18th century it passed to the Babi family but was taken by the Marathas in 1763 and handed over to the British in 1803. Kheda is now a trading centre for agricultural produce and has some light manufacturing industries.

Biblical Literature, The Essenes

Though the Essenes of the Dead Sea Scrolls are not mentioned in the New Testament, they are described by Philo, Josephus, and Eusebius, a 4th-century Christian historian. With publication of the Essenes' own sectarian writings since the 1950s, however, they have become well known. They did not have any really new ideas, but their founder, the Teacher of Righteousness, believed

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,

Sakha

Also called  Yakutia  or  Yakut-Sakha   republic in far northeastern Russia, in northeastern Siberia. The republic occupies the basins of the great rivers flowing to the Arctic Ocean—the Lena, Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma—and includes the New Siberian Islands between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Sakha was created an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union in 1922; it is now the second largest republic in

Nyaya

Like the other systems, Nyaya is both a philosophy and a religion; its ultimate concern is to bring an

Aerospace Industry, Prototype testing and certification

In the prototype construction phase, emphasis shifts to testing. A customary procedure is to build several test airplanes solely to verify the design. The structural integrity of the aircraft is determined in static and dynamic tests. Ground testing requires an array of facilities, including ovens for applying high temperatures to materials, acoustic chambers

Alexander

The second son of King Constantine (ruled 1913–17 and 1920–22) and Queen Sophia, Alexander became king (June 12, 1917) when his father was forced by the Allies of World War I to abdicate and thereby allow his country to join them in the war. Shortly after Alexander's accession to the throne, Eleuthérios Venizélos became premier of

Kuwait

Prior to the terrorist attacks in New York City and near Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001, strength in oil prices had led economic analysts to predict another year of prosperity for Kuwait. The strong oil market had boosted gross domestic product growth in the country for a second year in a row. Following September 11, however, slumping demand in Kuwait's principal markets, Asia

Biblical Literature, Nature and significance

The title New Testament Apocrypha may suggest that the books thus classified have or had a status comparable to that of the Old Testament Apocrypha and have been recognized as canonical. In a few instances such has been the case, but generally these books were accepted only by individual Christian writers or by minority heretical groups. The word apocryphal (secret)

Strachey, (evelyn) John (st. Loe)

Son of John St. Loe Strachey, publisher and editor of The Spectator, Strachey broke with his family's Conservative allegiances and in 1923, while a student at Oxford, joined

Kharijah, Al-

Town, capital of the muhafazah (governorate) of Al-Wadi al-Jadid (Arabic: “New Valley”) and chief town of Al-Kharijah (Kharga) oasis, Egypt. The town's history dates back to the 25th dynasty (c. 750–656 BC), though inscriptions record that the oasis was a place for political exiles from Thebes in the 21st dynasty (c. 1075–c. 945 BC). The town flourished under Persian and Roman rule, and there are extensive ruins of those

Esterhazy, Ferdinand Walsin

Having fallen deeply into debt, Esterhazy apparently sold French military secrets

Levi Ben Gershom

In 1321 Levi wrote his first work, Sefer ha-mispar (“Book of the Number”), dealing with arithmetical operations, including extraction of roots. In De sinibus, chordis et arcubus (1342; “On Sines, Chords, and Arcs”) he presented an original derivation of the sine theorem for plane triangles

Moréas, Jean

Early inspired by a French governess who instilled in him a passion for French poetry, Moréas moved to Paris in 1879, becoming a familiar figure in the literary circles frequenting the cafés and in the literary pages of newspapers and reviews. He published

Great Britain

First Atlantic ocean liner that was built of iron and had screw propulsion. It was the world's largest ship at the time of its launching (1843) and was 322 feet (98 m) long with a tonnage of 3,270. Designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel originally as a paddle steamer and built at Bristol, it was equipped with screw machinery that was supplemented by sails on six (later five)