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Saraswati
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Saraswati

Saraswati (also Sarasvati) is the Hindu goddess of learning, wisdom, music, and aesthetics. She is also known as Bharati (eloquence), Shatarupa (existence), Vedamata ('mother of the Vedas'), Brahmi, Sarada, Vagisvari, and Putkari. As Vac...
Hagia Sophia
Definition by Thomas Cohen

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, constructed 532-537, continues to be revered as one of the most important structures in the world. Hagia Sophia (Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, for 'Holy Wisdom') was designed to be the major basilica of the Byzantine Empire...
The Pentecontaetia
Definition by Christopher Planeaux

The Pentecontaetia

The Pentecontaetia (Pentekontætia, πεντηκονταετία) or “the account of the fifty years” is a term first used by Thucydides to describe, in Book 1, Sections 89 to 117 (1.89-117) of his History of the Peloponnesian War, the period between the...
The Thirty Tyrants
Definition by Christopher Planeaux

The Thirty Tyrants

The Thirty Tyrants (οἱ τριάκοντα τύραννοι) is a term first used by Polycrates in a speech praising Thrasybulus (Arist. Rhet. 1401a) to describe the brief 8-month oligarchy which governed Athens after the Peloponnesian War – roughly late-summer...
Sumerian Language
Definition by Jason Moser

Sumerian Language

The Sumerian language was spoken in southern Mesopotamia before the 2nd millennium BCE and was the first language to be written in the cuneiform script. It is an isolate language meaning we know of no other languages that relate to it ancestrally...
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
Definition by Elaine Sanderson

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39-65 CE), grandson of Seneca the Elder and nephew of Seneca the Younger, was a Roman statesman and Latin poet. Born in Corduba, he came to Rome as an infant and later held the positions of quaestor and augur. Lucan's...
Amarna Letters
Definition by Priscila Scoville

Amarna Letters

The Amarna Letters are a body of 14th-century BCE correspondence exchanged between the rulers of the Ancient Near East and Egypt. They are perhaps the earliest examples of international diplomacy while their most common subjects are negotiations...
Tel Kabri
Definition by Henry Curtis Pelgrift

Tel Kabri

Tel Kabri is an archaeological site in the Western Galilee in northwestern Israel and the location of one of the largest palaces in Canaan in the Middle Bronze Age or "MB" (c. 2,000–1,500 BCE), the period in which Tel Kabri was at the height...
Gupta Empire
Definition by Dola RC

Gupta Empire

The Gupta Empire stretched across northern, central and parts of southern India between c. 320 and 550 CE. The period is noted for its achievements in the arts, architecture, sciences, religion, and philosophy. Chandragupta I (320 – 335 CE...
Euclid
Definition by N.S. Palmer

Euclid

Euclid of Alexandria (lived c. 300 BCE) systematized ancient Greek and Near Eastern mathematics and geometry. He wrote The Elements, the most widely used mathematics and geometry textbook in history. Older books sometimes confuse him with...
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