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Alaric I
Alaric I , c.370-410, Visigothic king. He headed the Visigothic troops serving Emperor Theodosius I. After the emperor's death (395) the troops rebelled and chose Alaric as their leader (see Visigoths ). Alaric devastated Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. Stopped, but not defeated, by Stilicho , he r...
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Galla Placidia
Galla Placidia , c.388-450, Roman empress of the West, daughter of Theodosius I. Captured by Alaric I in the course of his Italian campaign, she was held by the Visigoths as a hostage and married (414) Alaric's successor Ataulf . After the murder (415) of Ataulf she was at first ill-treated but was...
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Saint Innocent I
Saint Innocent I d. 417, pope (401-17), an Italian; successor of St. Anastasius I. A powerful champion of papal supremacy in the entire Church, he upheld St. John Chrysostom and condemned Pelagius. His 36 surviving decretal letters are an important source for canon law. He vainly tried to prevent...
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Cosenza
Cosenza , city (1991 pop. 86,664), capital of Cosenza prov., Calabria, S Italy, at the confluence of the Busento and Crati rivers. It is an agricultural and secondary industrial center. Manufactures, produced mainly by individual artisans, include textiles and furniture. The chief city of the ancien...
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Visigoths
Visigoths (West Goths), division of the Goths, one of the most important groups of Germans . Having settled in the region W of the Black Sea in the 3d cent. AD, the Goths soon split into two divisions, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths.
In the Roman Empire
By the 4th cent. the Visigoths...
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Clovis I
Clovis I , c.466-511, Frankish king (481-511), son of Childeric I and founder of the Merovingian monarchy. Originally little more than a tribal chieftain, he became sole leader of the Salian Franks by force of perseverance and by murdering a number of relatives. In 486 he defeated the Roman legion...
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spice
spice aromatic vegetable product used as a flavoring or condiment. The term was formerly applied also to pungent or aromatic foods (e.g., gingerbread and currants), to ingredients of incense or perfume (e.g., myrrh), and to embalming agents. Modern usage tends to limit the term to flavorings used i...
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Roman law
Roman law the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 BC to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in AD 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil law . Most authorities, however, disregard the largely static period following the reign of Justinian I (527-65).
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Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire successor state to the Roman Empire (see under Rome ), also called Eastern Empire and East Roman Empire. It was named after Byzantium, which Emperor Constantine I rebuilt (AD 330) as Constantinople and made the capital of the entire Roman Empire. Although not foreseen at the tim...
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Athens
Athens , Gr. Athínai, city (1991 pop. 2,907,179; 1991 urban agglomeration pop. 3,072,922), capital of Greece, E central Greece, on the plain of Attica, between the Kifisós and Ilissus rivers, near the Saronic Gulf. Mt. Aigáleos (1,534 ft/468 m), Mt. Parnis (4,633 ft/1,412 m), ...
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