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Chersiphron
Chersiphron , fl. 6th cent. BC, Cretan architect. According to tradition he was the builder of the original archaic Ionic temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Asia Minor (550 BC). He and his son Metagenes were said to be coauthors of a treatise on architectural engineering.
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cuneiform
cuneiform [Lat.,=wedge-shaped], system of writing developed before the last centuries of the 4th millennium BC in the lower Tigris and Euphrates valley, probably by the Sumerians. The characters consist of arrangements of wedgelike strokes generally impressed with a stylus on wet clay tablets, wh...
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Babylonia
Babylonia , ancient empire of Mesopotamia. The name is sometimes given to the whole civilization of S Mesopotamia, including the states established by the city rulers of Lagash, Akkad (or Agade), Uruk, and Ur in the 3d millennium BC Historically it is limited to the first dynasty of Babylon establis...
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Paestum
Paestum , ancient city of Lucania, S Italy. It was a colony of the Greek city of Sybaris (c.600 BC) and was first named Posidonia. It flourished with the rest of Magna Graecia through the 6th cent. BC The Romans took the city in 273 BC; they called it Paestum. The ruins, near the present Pesto, in...
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Byblos
Byblos , ancient city, Phoenicia, a port 17 mi (27 km) NNE of modern Beirut, Lebanon. The principal city of Phoenicia during the 2d millennium BC, it long retained importance as an active port under the Persians. Byblos was the chief center of the worship of Adonis. Because of its papyruses, it was ...
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Homeric Hymns
Homeric Hymns , name applied to a body of 34 hexameter poems falsely attributed to Homer by the ancients. Composed probably between 800 and 300 BC, they are complimentary verses addressed to the various gods, such as Aphrodite, Apollo, Demeter, and Hermes. Although sometimes of great beauty, they ...
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Scythia
Scythia , ancient region of Eurasia, extending from the Danube on the west to the borders of China on the east. The Scythians flourished from the 8th to the 4th cent. BC They spoke an Indo-Iranian language but had no system of writing. They were nomadic conquerors and skilled horsemen. They seem t...
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Ashdod
Ashdod [Heb.,=stronghold], city (1994 pop. 120,100), SW Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is Israel's leading port after Haifa. Construction is Ashdod's main industry; its manufactures include synthetic fibers, woolen yarn, and knitted goods. Nearby is the site of ancient Ashdod, which was settl...
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Phrygia
Phrygia , ancient region, central Asia Minor (now central Turkey). The Phrygians, who settled here c.1200 BC, came from the Balkans and apparently spoke an Indo-European language. A kingdom, associated in Greek legend with the names of Midas and Gordius , flourished from the 8th to the 6th cent. ...
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Sardis
Sardis or Sardes , ancient city of Lydia, W Asia Minor, at the foot of Mt. Tmolus, 35 mi (56 km) NE of the modern Izmir, Turkey. As capital of Lydia, it was the political and cultural center of Asia Minor from 650 BC until the death of Croesus (c.547 BC). The first gold and silver coins were m...
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