Roman emperor from 425 to 455. At no time in his long reign were the affairs of state personally managed by Valentinian. He was the son of the patrician Flavius Constantius (who ruled as Constantius III in 421) and Galla ...
Egyptian religious philosopher, founder of Roman and Alexandrian schools of Gnosticism, a system of religious dualism (belief in rival deities of good and evil) with a doctrine of salvation by gnosis, or esoteric knowledge. Valentinian communities, founded by his disciples, ...
city, central Trujillo state, northwestern Venezuela, on the Rio Motatan, on a northern spur of the Cordillera de Merida. The state's largest city, Valera overshadows the state capital, Trujillo, 12 mi (19 km) to the east-northeast. It is the leading ...
important Spanish 19th-century novelist and stylist, also a diplomat and politician. Valera travelled to Europe and America in the diplomatic corps and served as deputy, senator and under-secretary of state in Madrid.
the valerian family of the teasel order (Dipsacales), containing about 10 genera and more than 400 species of annual and perennial herbs, a few outstanding as ornamentals, salad or pot herbs, and as sources of medicines and perfumes. Greek valerian ...
epic poet, author of an Argonautica, an epic which, though indebted to other sources, is written with vivid characterizations and descriptions and style unmarred by the excesses of other Latin poetry of the Silver Age.
French poet, essayist, and critic. His greatest poem is considered La Jeune Parque (1917; "The Young Fate"), which was followed by Album de vers anciens 1890-1900 (1920) and Charmes ou poemes (1922), containing "Le Cimetiere marin" ("The Graveyard by the ...
in Norse mythology, the hall of slain warriors, who live there blissfully under the leadership of the god Odin. Valhalla is depicted as a splendid palace, roofed with shields, where the warriors feast on the flesh of a boar slaughtered ...
site of a uranium enrichment pilot plant in Gauteng province, South Africa, on the western outskirts of Pretoria. Built by the Uranium Enrichment Corporation of South Africa (Ucor), it became operational in 1975. Valindaba uses a process, developed in the ...
an amino acid obtained by hydrolysis of proteins and first isolated by the German chemist Emil Fischer (1901) from casein. It is one of several so-called essential amino acids for fowl and mammals; i.e., they cannot synthesize it and require ...
trade name of a tranquilizer drug introduced by the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche in 1963. Safer and more effective than earlier sedative-hypnotic drugs, Valium quickly became a standard drug for the treatment of anxiety and one of the most commonly ...
in Norse mythology, any of a group of maidens who served the god Odin and were sent by him to the battlefields to choose the slain who were worthy of a place in Valhalla. These foreboders of war rode to ...
also called Vallabhacarya Hindu philosopher and founder of the important devotional sect the Vallabhacaryas, also known as the pustimarga ("the way of prosperity, or well-being").
school of Hinduism prominent among the merchant class of North and West India; its members are worshipers of Lord Krishna (Krsna) and followers of the pustimarga ("way of prosperity, or well-being"), founded by the 16th-century teacher Vallabha.
city, capital of Valladolid province, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Castile-Leon, northwestern Spain. The city lies along the Pisuerga River at its confluence with the Esgueva, southwest of Burgos.
province, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Castile-Leon, northwestern Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Leon and Palencia (north), by Burgos and Segovia (east), by Segovia, Avila, and Salamanca (south), and by Zamora (west). It is a ...
coeducational state institution of higher learning at Valladolid, in northwestern Spain. Established in the 13th century as an outgrowth of an old episcopal school of Valladolid, the university was recognized by Pope Clement VI in 1346 and was endowed and ...
politician during the American Civil War (1861-65) whose Southern sympathies and determined vendetta against the Federal government and its war policy resulted in his court-martial and exile to the Confederacy.
highland valley in central Costa Rica, containing most of the country's large cities and about 60 percent of the total population. The area of 3,500 square miles (9,000 square km) is actually formed by two basins separated by low volcanic ...
region, northwestern Italy, containing the upper basin of the Dora Baltea River, from its source near Mount Blanc to just above Ivrea. The region is enclosed on the north, west, and south by the Alps and has an area of ...
city, northeastern Guarico state, central Venezuela. Lying in the Llanos (plains), it is an important regional centre for a large cattle-raising area. Its main commodities are livestock products; the dairy industry is also prominent. The city lies on the highway ...
department, western Colombia, rising from the Pacific lowlands across the Andean Cordillera Occidental to encompass the valley of the upper Cauca River. It covers an area of 8,548 square miles (22,140 square km). The department is a leading producer of ...
capital of Cesar department, northern Colombia. It is situated on a plain between two mountain ranges, the Sierra de Perija and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Founded in 1550, the settlement prospered during the colonial era but suffered much ...
city, Solano county, western California, U.S. It lies along San Pablo Bay at the mouth of the Napa River, just north of Berkeley and Oakland. In 1850 military officer Mariano Guadeloupe Vallejo offered land for the new state capital of ...
city, eastern San Luis Potosi state, northeastern Mexico. It lies along the Tampaon (or Valles) River, west-southwest of Tampico. Sugarcane, citrus fruits, avocados, coffee, tobacco, and cattle are processed there, and lumbering (principally pine) is also important. The city is ...
vast system of interconnected canyons on the planet Mars. The system was discovered during, and named for, the Mariner 9 mission in 1971. The canyons extend in an east-west direction for roughly 4,000 km (2,500 miles) just south of the ...
seaport and capital of Malta, on the northeast coast of the island. The nucleus of the city is built on the promontory of Mount Sceberras that runs like a tongue into the middle of a bay, which it thus divides ...
elongate depression of the Earth's surface. Valleys are most commonly drained by rivers and may occur in a relatively flat plain or between ranges of hills or mountains. Those valleys produced by tectonic action are called rift valleys. Very narrow, ...
city, seat (1879) of Barnes county, southeastern North Dakota, U.S. It lies in the Sheyenne River valley, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Fargo. Before settlement, Cheyenne, Sioux, Cree, and Ojibwa Indians hunted in the area. The community was ...
in the American Revolution, Pennsylvania encampment grounds of the Continental Army under General George Washington from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778, a period that marked the triumph of morale and military discipline over severe hardship. Following the American ...
Italian actor who appeared in leading stage roles and won many awards for his work in motion pictures. He was also well known as a theatre manager and founded the Compagnia dei Giovani with his friend Giorgio de Lullo in ...
village, Firenze province, Toscana (Tuscany) region, north central Italy, in a valley on the northern slope of the Monti (mountains) Pratomagno, 21 mi (33 km) southeast of Florence (Firenze). Surrounded by a magnificent forest, it was originally the site of ...
historic region of France that gave its name to the second line of the Capetian dynasty; it corresponds to the southeastern quarter of the modern departement of Oise, with an adjacent portion of Aisne. Under the Merovingian kings (c. 500-751) ...
the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589, ruling the nation from the end of the feudal period into the early modern age. The Valois kings continued the work of unifying France and centralizing royal power begun under their ...
city, seat of Porter county, northwestern Indiana, U.S. It lies just east-southeast of Gary. Laid out in 1836 as the county seat, it was first called Portersville but was renamed the following year for Valparaiso, Chile. It was originally a ...
city and capital of Valparaiso provincia and region, central Chile. It lies on the south side of a broad, open bay of the Pacific Ocean, 84 miles (140 km) northwest of the national capital of Santiago. The city stands on ...
