Sunday, April 03, 2005

Aryabhata I

Also called  Aryabhata the Elder  astronomer and the earliest Indian mathematician whose work and history are available to modern scholars. Known as Aryabhata I or Aryabhata the Elder to distinguish him from a 10th-century Indian mathematician of the same name, he flourished in Kusumapura—near Patalipurta (Patna), then the capital of the Gupta dynasty—where

Biblical Literature, Biblical literature in the liturgy of Judaism

Because the synagogue arose in a land separated from the Jerusalem Temple with its sacrificial

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Chiang Rai

Chiang Rai lies at an elevation of 1,150 feet (350 m) in the basin of the Kok River, near the Khun Tan Range. It has an airport with scheduled flights, and road connections lead south to Lampang and north to Myanmar (Burma) and the Laotian border. It is a trading centre dealing in teak, coffee, and rice. The town was once the walled capital city of an independent principality.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Peter I

Born the third son of the reigning prince Alexander Karadjordjevic (1842–58), Peter became heir to the throne on the death

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Grand Guignol

Short plays popular in Parisian cabarets in the 19th century, especially at the Théâtre du Grand Guignol. The plays emphasized violence, horror, and sadism. Although Grand Guignol was introduced into England about 1908, it remained essentially a Parisian theatrical form.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Kodály, Zoltán

Prominent composer and authority on Hungarian folk music. He was also important as an educator not only of composers but also of teachers and, through his students, contributed heavily to the spread of musical education in Hungary. He was a chorister in his youth at Nagyszombat (now Trnava), Czech., where he wrote his first compositions.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Paraguay, The Guaraní

Indian tribes speaking the Guaraní language occupied the region between the Paraguay and Paraná rivers long before the arrival of Europeans. They were members of the Tupian language stock, which was widespread in South America, and in most respects resembled the other Indian tribes of the tropical forests. The women cultivated corn, manioc, and sweet potatoes,

Yust, Walter

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Yust began his journalism career with the Philadelphia Evening Ledger in 1917 and later worked for newspapers in New Orleans and for other

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Valence

Town, capital of Drôme département, Rhône-Alpes région, southeastern France. Valence lies on the left bank of the Rhône River. Built on a succession of terraces bordering the Rhône, the town is dominated by the ancient Cathedral of Saint-Apollinaire, which was consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1095 and completed early in the 12th century. Damage done to the cathedral during the