Greek architect who prospered under Alexander the Great. He tried to captivate the ambitious fancy of that king with a design for carving Mount Athos into a gigantic seated statue. The plan was not carried out, but Dinocrates designed for ...
any of numerous one-celled, aquatic organisms bearing two dissimilar flagellae and having characteristics of both plants and animals. Most are microscopic and marine. Botanists place them in the algal class Dinophyceae of the division Pyrrophyta, and zoologists claim them as ...
extinct genus of giant piglike mammals found as fossils in deposits of early Miocene age in North America (the Miocene Epoch occurred 23.7 to 5.3 million years ago). Dinohyus is the last and largest of a group of mammals called ...
the common name given to a group of reptiles, often very large, that first appeared in the Late Triassic Period about 215 million years ago and thrived worldwide for some 150 million years. Most died out by the end of ...
desert area in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah, U.S., set aside in 1915 to preserve rich fossil beds that include dinosaur remains. The monument was enlarged from its original 80 acres (32 hectares) to 326 square miles (844 square km) ...
public park located in the badlands of southeastern Alberta, Canada. The nearly 29-square-mile (75-square-km) park is best known for its extensive fossil beds, within which have been identified some 35 different species of dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Epoch (97.5 ...
city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies in the Ruhr region, about 22 miles (35 km) north of Dusseldorf. First mentioned in 1163 and chartered in 1273 by the count of Cleves (Kleve), it developed around a castle, ...
Roman administrator and historian, the author of Romaika, a history of Rome, written in Greek, that is a most important authority for the last years of the republic and the early empire.
in some Christian churches, a territorial area administered by a bishop. The word originally referred to a governmental area in the Roman Empire, governed by an imperial vicar. The secular diocese was subdivided into provinces, each with its own governor; ...
Roman emperor (284-305), who restored efficient government to the empire after the near anarchy of the 3rd century. His reorganization of the fiscal, administrative, and military machinery of the empire laid the foundation for the Byzantine Empire in the East ...
window with a somewhat rounded top, or head, and bronze-framed panes of glass, named after those in the palace of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Diocletian at Spalato (Split, Croatia) and in the Baths of Diocletian, Rome (now the church of ...
ancient Roman palace built between AD 295 and 305 at Split (Spalato), Croatia, by the emperor Diocletian as his place of retirement (he renounced the imperial crown in 305 and then lived at Split until his death in 316). The ...
evacuated glass or metal electron tube containing two electrodes-a negatively charged cathode and a positively charged anode. It is used as a rectifier and as a detector in electronic circuits such as radio and television receivers. When a positive voltage ...
philosopher of the Megarian school, remembered for his innovations in logic. His surname Cronus, of uncertain meaning, was applied both to him and to his teacher, the philosopher Apollonius of Cyrene. Through Apollonius he is linked with Eubulides of Miletus, ...
archetype of the Cynics, a Greek philosophical sect that stressed stoic self-sufficiency and the rejection of luxury. He is credited by some with originating the Cynic way of life, but he himself acknowledges an indebtedness to Antisthenes, by whose numerous ...
Greek author noted for his history of Greek philosophy, the most important existing secondary source of knowledge in the field. One of its traditional titles, Peri bion dogmaton kai apophthegmaton ton en philosophia eudokimesanton ("Lives, Teachings, and Sayings of Famous ...
(b. Seleucia, Mesopotamia; fl. 2nd century BC), Greek Stoic philosopher remembered chiefly for his visit to Rome in 156-155 Bc, which served to arouse interest in the Stoic creed among the Romans. Diogenes studied in Athens under Chrysippus, the principal ...
an early Christian apologetic work probably dating from the 2nd or 3rd century AD. It is often included with the works of the Apostolic Fathers, Greek Christian writers of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries, but it more accurately ...
two small islands in the Bering Strait, lying about 2 12 mi (4 km) apart and separated by the U.S.-Russian boundary, which coincides with the International Date Line. The larger island, Big Diomede (Russian Ostrov Ratmanova [Ratmanov Island]), has an ...
in Greek legend, commander of 80 Argive ships and one of the most respected leaders in the Trojan War. His famous exploits include the wounding of Aphrodite, the slaughter of Rhesus and his Thracians, and seizure of the Trojan Palladium, ...
American rock-and-roll singing group popular in the late 1950s whose lead singer was a successful soloist in the '60s. The original members were Dion DiMucci (b. July 18, 1939, New York, N.Y., U.S., ), Angelo D'Aleo (b. Feb. 3, 1940, ...
Canadian singer who achieved international superstardom and was considered one of the top pop vocalists of the 1990s. Working in the pop ballad tradition, she recorded numerous albums in both French and English and was the recipient of several prestigious ...
fourth nearest of the major regular moons of Saturn. It was discovered by the Italian-born French astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1684 and named for a daughter of the Titan Oceanus in Greek mythology.
in Greek mythology, a consort and, in one remote region, cult partner of Zeus, the king of the gods. Since the partner and wife of Zeus was normally the goddess Hera, it has been conjectured that Dione is an older ...
the five daughters-Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile, Marie, and Annette-born prematurely on May 28, 1934, near Callander, Ontario, Canada, to Oliva and Elzire Dionne. The parents had 14 children, 9 by single births. The quintuplets became international celebrities during their early years-making ...
characteristic of the god Dionysus or the cult of worship of Dionysus; specifically, of a sensuous, frenzied, or orgiastic character. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used the terms Dionysian and Apollonian to analyze and explain the character of Greek tragedy in ...
in the Julian calendar, a period of 532 years covering a complete cycle of New Moons (19 years between occurrences on the same date) and of dominical letters-i.e., correspondences between days of the week and of the month, which recur ...
English Denis The Little celebrated 6th-century canonist who is considered the inventor of the Christian calendar, the use of which spread through the employment of his new Easter tables.
Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric whose history of Rome, from its origins to the First Punic War, written from a pro-Roman standpoint but carefully researched, is, with Livy's, the most valuable source for early Roman history.
patriarch of the Syrian Jacobite church and author of an important source document on Eastern Christianity between the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Mauricius (582-602) and Theophilus (829-842).
biblical figure, converted by St. Paul at Athens (Acts 17:34), who acquired a notable posthumous reputation primarily through confusion with later Christians similarly named. In the 2nd century he was held to have been the first bishop of Athens, and ...
Flemish Denys Van Leeuwen, or De Leeuwis, also called Denys Ryckel, or Van Rijkel theologian and mystic, one of the important contributors to, and propagators of, the influential school of Rhenish spirituality originating in the 14th century.
tyrant of Syracuse from 405 who, by his conquests in Sicily and southern Italy, made Syracuse the most powerful Greek city west of mainland Greece. Although he saved Greek Sicily from conquest by Carthage, his brutal military despotism harmed the ...
in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. Though introduced from Thrace and Phrygia, the strange legends of his birth and death and his marriage to Ariadne, in origin ...
prototype of Greek theatres, situated on the south side of the Acropolis in Athens, in which all extant classical Greek plays were first presented. Development on the site began with the creation of the orchestra, a circular floor of earth ...
a New World genus of ornamental cycads (plants of the family Cycadaceae). It is the most primitive American genus in the family and includes four or more species. The spiny-leaved, slow-growing giant dioon (D. spinulosum) may attain a height of ...
