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Herodotus
Herodotus , 484?-425? BC, Greek historian, called the Father of History, b. Halicarnassus, Asia Minor. Only scant knowledge of his life can be gleaned from his writings and from references to him by later writings, notably the Suda. He traveled along the coast of Asia Minor to the northern islands...
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Darius the Mede
Darius the Mede in the Bible, a king of the Medes who succeeded to the throne of Babylonia after Belshazzar. Otherwise unknown outside biblical tradition, it is likely that this Darius has been confused with Cyrus the Persian, who succeeded Belshazzar and decreed (539 BC) the return of exiled Jews....
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Aesop
Aesop , legendary Greek fabulist. According to Herodotus, he was a slave who lived in Samos in the 6th cent. BC and eventually was freed by his master. Other accounts associate him with many wild adventures and connect him with such rulers as Solon and Croesus. The fables called Aesop's fables were ...
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Arion
Arion , Greek poet, inventor of the dithyramb. He is said to have lived at Periander's court in Corinth in the late 7th cent. BC A legend repeated by Herodotus tells how, having been thrown overboard by pirates, Arion was saved by a dolphin charmed by his music.
Bibliography: See A. W. Pickard...
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Leonidas
Leonidas , d. 480 BC, king of Sparta. He succeeded (c.491 BC) his half brother, Cleomenes I. When the Persians invaded Greece under Xerxes (480 BC), Leonidas with 300 Spartans and 5,000 auxiliaries was given the pass at Thermopylae to hold. There was treachery. Most of the Greeks got away, but the S...
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Marathon
Marathon in ancient Greece, the scene of a victory over the Persians in 490 bc; the modern marathon race (strictly one of 26 miles 38 yards or 42.195 km.) is based on the tradition that a messenger ran from Marathon to Athens (22 miles) with the news, dying with the words ‘Greetings, we win!...
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phoenix
phoenix fabulous bird that periodically regenerated itself, used in literature as a symbol of death and resurrection. According to legend, the phoenix lived in Arabia; when it reached the end of its life (500 years), it burned itself on a pyre of flames, and from the ashes a new phoenix arose. As a...
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prose
prose [Lat. prosa oratio= straightforward, or direct, speech], meaningful and grammatical written or spoken language that does not utilize the metrical structure, word transposition, or rhyme characteristic of poetry or verse; it is, however, raised above the level of lifeless composition or commo...
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Tahpanhes
Tahpanhes , Tahapanes , or Tehaphnehes , ancient city, NE Egypt, on Lake Manzala. The site is now on the Suez Canal. Herodotus states that the city (called by the Greeks Daphnae) had a garrison of Psamtik's troops and, in the early 5th cent. BC, a Persian garrison. It was superseded as a port ...
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Croesus
Croesus , d. c.547 BC, king of Lydia (560-c.547 BC), noted for his great wealth. He was the son of Alyattes. He continued his father's policy of conquering the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, but on the whole he was friendly to the Greeks, and he is supposed to have given refuge to the Athenian statesm...
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