Dome

In architecture, hemispherical structure evolved from the arch, usually forming a ceiling or roof. Domes first appeared as solid mounds and in techniques adaptable only to the smallest buildings, such as round huts and tombs in the ancient Middle East, India, and the Mediterranean. The Romans introduced the large-scale masonry hemisphere. The dome exerts thrusts

Albanian League

In full� League For The Defense Of The Rights Of The Albanian Nation, �also called �League Of Prizren, � first Albanian nationalist organization. Formed at Prizren, Serbia, on July 1, 1878, the league, initially supported by the Turks, tried to influence the Congress of Berlin, which was formulating a peace settlement following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 - 78 and which threatened to partition Albania (then part of the Ottoman Empire) and transfer some of its districts to Montenegro,

Epiphyte

Any plant that grows upon or is in some manner attached to another plant or object merely for physical support. Epiphytes are primarily tropical in distribution and are often known as air plants because they have no attachment to the ground or other obvious nutrient source. They obtain water and minerals from rain

R.e.m.

Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), provides provocative discussions of R.E.M.'s albums from Chronic Town (�every so often a chaotic undertow suggests there's more to their romanticism than Spanish moss�) to Green. Christgau struggles with the lack of literary specificity in the band's lyrics, promotes some understanding of their Southern origins, slightly underrates Fables of the Reconstruction while noting that the album �clinches it: their formal frame of reference is folk-rock,� and uses the crucial word to explain R.E.M.'s appeal for a certain sort of rock-based fan and commentator: �reassuring.� Patricia Romanowski, Holly George-Warren, and Jon Pareles (eds.), The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock

Actium, Battle Of

(September 2, 31 BC), naval battle off a promontory in the north of Acarnania, on the western coast of Greece, where Octavian (known as the emperor Augustus after 27 BC), by his decisive victory over Mark Antony, became the undisputed master of the Roman world. Antony, with 500 ships and 70,000 infantry, made his camp at Actium, which lies on the southern side of a strait leading from the Ionian Sea

Suceava

Judet (county), northeastern Romania, and bounded on the north by Ukraine. The Eastern Carpathian Mountains and the sub-Carpathians occupy the western two-thirds of the county, and the Suceava Plateau lies in the east. The Siret River flows southeastward, marking the county's eastern border, and the Suceava and Bistrita rivers also drain southeastward. Suceava (q.v.) city

Lynchburg

City, administratively independent of, but located in, Campbell and Bedford counties, south-central Virginia, U.S. It is situated on the James River, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The city grew from a ferry landing settled in 1757 by Quakers; it was named for John Lynch, the ferry operator who owned the original town site. During the American Revolution, John's

Gauthey, Emiland-marie

Gauthey studied at the �cole des Ponts et Chauss�es (School of Bridges and Highways) in Paris, then taught there while making

Allingham, Margery (louise)

Campion's career was begun with a group of ingenious, popular thrillers: The Crime at Black Dudley (1928; U.S. title, The Black Dudley

North Africa, History Of, Carthaginian supremacy

By the 5th century BC, active military participation by Tyre in the west had doubtlessly ceased; from the latter half of the 6th century Tyre was under Persian rule. Carthage thus became the leader of the western Phoenicians and in the 5th century formed an empire of its own, centred on North Africa, which included existing Phoenician settlements, new ones founded by Carthage

Bhanavara

At first, different

Bhanavara

At first, different

Shamanism

The shaman attains the ecstasy necessary for communicating with the spirits through the performance of the shaman rite, which requires certain appurtenances.

Constant, Benjamin

The son of a Swiss officer in the Dutch service, whose family was of French origin, he studied at Erlangen, Ger., briefly at the University of Oxford, and at Edinburgh. In 1787 he formed, in Paris, his first liaison, with Madame de

Cabasilas, Nicholas

In the Byzantine

Sarandon, Susan

Original name� Susan Abigail Tomalin� American film actress who transcended the early roles of her career, when she often played characters who were highly sensual but little else, to become a performer of considerable versatility and emotional depth. In 1995 she won an Academy Award for her unglamorous yet engaging performance as a nun counseling death-row prisoners in Dead Man

Kirk, Norman Eric

A cabinetmaker's son, Kirk ended his formal education in primary school and held such jobs as apprentice fitter and turner and as foreman with the Railways Department. He joined the New Zealand Labour Party in 1943, was mayor of Kaiapoi (1953 - 57), and entered parliament in 1957. He became leader

Rachmaninoff, Sergey

In full �Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff�, Rachmaninoff also spelled �Rakhmaninov�, or �Rachmaninov� composer who was the last great figure of the tradition of Russian Romanticism and a leading piano virtuoso of his time. He is especially known for his piano concerti and the piece for piano and orchestra entitled Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1954). (Click here for an

Drummond (of Hawthornden), William

Drummond studied at Edinburgh and spent a few years in France, ostensibly studying law at Bourges and Paris. On the death of his father, first laird

Ninigi

Amaterasu delegated Ninigi to assume ownership and rule of the central land of the reed plains (Japan) and gave him three signs

Arabia, History Of, Al-Hirah

Al-Hirah was similarly a Bedouin tribal kingdom, the kings of which are commonly designated the Lakhmids. According to tradition, the founder of the dynasty was 'Amr, whose son Imru' al-Qays died in AD 328 and was entombed at Al-Nimarah in the Syrian desert. His funerary inscription is written in an extremely difficult type of script. Recently there has been a revival of interest

Setting

The makeup and behaviour of fictional characters often depend on their environment quite as much as on their personal characteristics. Setting is of great importance in �mile Zola's novels, for example, because he believed that environment determines character. In some cases

Indochina

After gradually establishing suzerainty over Indochina between 1858 and 1893, the French created the first Indochinese Union

Yun Po Sun

Yun received an M.A. (1930) from the University of Edinburgh and managed his family's business affairs. When Japanese rule of Korea ended in 1945, Yun entered politics; his mentor, Korean president Syngman Rhee, appointed him mayor

Nags Head

Resort town, Dare county, eastern North Carolina, U.S. It is situated on Bodie Island (one of the Outer Banks barrier islands) between Roanoke Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Kitty Hawk. It was so named, according to legend, because unscrupulous shipwreckers tied lanterns to the necks of ponies (�nags�) and marched them along the high dunes to simulate the lights

Gammexane

Trade name for an insecticide composed of the most toxic of the isomeric forms of benzene hexachloride (q.v.).

Carloman

Second son of Louis II and king of France or the West Franks (882 - 884). On Louis II's death (879) Carloman was associated with his brother Louis III as king of the West Franks, but both, as the children of a first marriage that had been unacceptable to their grandfather Charles the Bald, had difficulty in obtaining recognition. On Louis's death (882) Carloman became sole ruler. He died while

John

John began his public career in 1505 as a member of the Diet of R�kos; it was upon his motion that the Diet voted that no foreign prince would ever again be elected king of Hungary after the death of King Ul�szl� II, who also

Aerospace Industry, Civil aircraft

Builders of civil aircraft comprise two categories: producers of general aviation aircraft and producers of heavy aircraft. General aviation is defined as all aircraft activities not related to military, major airline, or air-cargo flying. It includes light planes and helicopters used for private pleasure flying, personal transportation, corporate travel,