id
stringlengths
32
32
url
stringlengths
31
1.58k
title
stringlengths
0
1.02k
contents
stringlengths
92
1.17M
f85d64680dfbd506ee4b21eaabbf6809
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-synod
Roman synod
Roman synod At the Roman synod of 1075, Gregory signaled his determination to bring an end to the practice of lay investiture. There could be no doubt that this policy would have its most drastic impact on Germany and northern Italy, where the remains of the Ottonian system constituted…
8d34d9f4e62de7044b99c6cd6def4ce3
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romana
Romana
Romana …extant work is the chronicle De summa temporum vel origine actibusque gentis Romanorum (“The High Point of Time, or the Origin and Deeds of the Roman People”), also completed in 551 and called the Romana. The Getica is by far the more valuable work, because it is the major contemporary…
f28eb18e6e49da1c54df9c4a84a49949
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romance-languages/Classification-methods-and-problems
Classification methods and problems
Classification methods and problems Though it is quite clear which languages can be classified as Romance, on the basis primarily of lexical (vocabulary) and morphological (structural) similarities, the subgrouping of the languages within the family is less straightforward. Most classifications are, overtly or covertly...
45a41ace6fe437202e068b4af5ec1cfe
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romance-languages/Latin-and-the-development-of-the-Romance-languages
Latin and the development of the Romance languages
Latin and the development of the Romance languages Latin is traditionally grouped with Faliscan among the Italic languages, of which the other main member is the Osco-Umbrian group. Oscan was the name given by the Romans to a group of dialects spoken by Samnite tribes to the south of Rome. It is well attested in inscri...
fa4115ad976d0d1ec94b4cfc4bc13bf8
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romance-languages/Syntax
Syntax
Syntax Word order is the means most used by modern Romance languages to show the grammatical relationship between words; statistically the most-frequent order in statements is subject–verb–object. In many of the Romance languages, interrogation can be shown by inversion of the subject and verb, placing the verb, as the...
30b113cb508f1c3acc91d4d886998602
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romance-languages/The-language-of-religion-and-culture
The language of religion and culture
The language of religion and culture With the spread of Christianity, Latin penetrated to new lands, and it was perhaps the cultivation of Latin in a “pure” form in Ireland, whence it was exported to England, that paved the way for an 8th-century reform of the language by Charlemagne. Conscious that current Latin usage...
e3f0d5b5162209eeda2c59ae896f1d49
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romanian-language
Romanian language
Romanian language Romanian language, also spelled (formerly) Rumanian, Romanian limba română, Romance language spoken primarily in Romania and Moldova. Four principal dialects may be distinguished: Dacoromanian, the basis of the standard language, spoken in Romania and Moldova in several regional variants; Aromanian (...
1c8fab62e3a911a1e51986df8707fb88
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romanian-Orthodox-Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church Romanian Orthodox Church, the largest autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, Eastern Orthodox church in the Balkans today. It is the church to which the majority of Romanians belong, and in the late 20th century it had a membership of more than 16 million. Christianity first reached D...
7006b74ace08b222aa3f59846bd426cf
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romanov-dynasty
Romanov dynasty
Romanov dynasty Romanov dynasty, rulers of Russia from 1613 until the Russian Revolution of February 1917. Descendants of Andrey Ivanovich Kobyla (Kambila), a Muscovite boyar who lived during the reign of the grand prince of Moscow Ivan I Kalita (reigned 1328–41), the Romanovs acquired their name from Roman Yurev (die...
48a154b8fe98c9f7fe51eba190a42950
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romany-languages
Romany languages
Romany languages Romany languages, Romany also spelled Romani, also called řomani čhib (“Romany tongue”), řomanes (“in a Rom way”), or Gypsy (Gipsy), group of 60 or more highly divergent dialects that are genetically related to the Indo-Aryan (Indic) languages. The Romany languages are spoken by more than three millio...
df85fb957b40b0517c45fe8b5245e898
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romeo-and-Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet, play by William Shakespeare, written about 1594–96 and first published in an unauthorized quarto in 1597. An authorized quarto appeared in 1599, substantially longer and more reliable. A third quarto, based on the second, was used by the editors of the First Folio of 1623. The charac...
846d40812aa2aa8f9f9c1b7baf4d0fbd
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rongo-rongo
Rongo-rongo
Rongo-rongo …covered with incised signs (called rongo-rongo) placed in boustrophedon (a method of writing in which the lines run alternately from right to left and from left to right) were copied from earlier specimens merely for ritual purposes; their proper reading was forgotten, and—despite many claims—modern attemp...
0bb859bb3cfee8dc959f8a468ac638c2
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Room-for-One-Colour
Room for One Colour
Room for One Colour In Room for One Colour (1997), he flooded a room with saturated yellow light, causing all other colours to be perceived as black. Conversely, in 360° Room for All Colours (2002), a circular space changed colours almost imperceptibly.
edd0b8244476659efb052e96349fce14
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rosemarys-Baby-novel
Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary’s Baby …the film rights to the novel Rosemary’s Baby (1967) by Ira Levin, but Paramount studio head Robert Evans refused to allow Castle to direct. Instead, Roman Polanski was handed the reins, and Castle served only as a producer. The horror film (1968) was a box-office smash and became a classic…
fb0881a0ac869c7de7b937e4116b9a0d
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rostrum
Rostrum
Rostrum The English term rostrum derives from this Roman custom. In 258 Duilius was censor (magistrate responsible for the census and for public morality), and in 231 he was empowered (as a magistrate with emergency powers, or a dictator) by the Senate to hold elections.
a73384491544767df28d09a7fc508dfc
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rouge-et-noir
Rouge et noir
Rouge et noir Rouge et noir (1939), set to Dmitry Shostakovich’s First Symphony, had scenery and costumes by Henri Matisse. Nobilissima Visione, St. Francis (1938) had libretto and music by Paul Hindemith and decor by Pavel Tchelichew. Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí designed three major experimental ballets. Because ...
9ebbb50df8c423026d84adbe81b659d4
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rough-Rider-United-States-cavalry
Rough Rider
Rough Rider Rough Rider, member of 1st Volunteer Cavalry, in the Spanish-American War, member of a regiment of U.S. cavalry volunteers recruited by Theodore Roosevelt and composed of cowboys, miners, law-enforcement officials, and college athletes, among others. Their colourful and often unorthodox exploits received e...
42736ea2220b1a052c58c851ebeb0c07
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rougon-Macquart-cycle
Rougon-Macquart cycle
Rougon-Macquart cycle Rougon-Macquart cycle, sequence of 20 novels by Émile Zola, published between 1871 and 1893. The cycle, described in a subtitle as The Natural and Social History of a Family Under the Second Empire, is a documentary of French life as seen through the lives of the violent Rougon family and the pas...
10bf328c1d7c6c5b2a9d133a447842e0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/roulette-gambling-game/House-odds
House odds
House odds When using the American-style wheel with the 0 and 00, the advantage (“vigorish”) for the bank rises to an extra 2 parts in 38, or about 5.26 percent of all bets. The only exception is the 5-number line bet, where the house advantage is about 7.89 percent. Roulette as played in locations other than the Unite...
d48eb75c260a7f3ae1a9c6ee35a93f92
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Round-Table-Arthurian-legend
Round Table
Round Table Round Table, in Arthurian legend, the table of Arthur, Britain’s legendary king, which was first mentioned in Wace of Jersey’s Roman de Brut (1155). This told of King Arthur’s having a round table made so that none of his barons, when seated at it, could claim precedence over the others. The literary impor...
e8300dd67f5a6d4c84758586cb02544f
https://www.britannica.com/topic/round-the-clock
Round the clock
Round the clock …an inner bull’s-eye; and “round the clock,” a singles game for any number of players, which requires that, after a starting double, each player must throw one dart into each of the sectors, in order, from 1 to 20.
9f6898be131877ffd4f1a7a6ac18d942
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rounding
Rounding
Rounding Rounding, also called Labialization, in phonetics, the production of a sound with the lips rounded. Vowels, semivowels, and some consonants may be rounded. In English, examples of rounded vowels are o in “note,” oo in “look,” and the u sound in “rule” and “boot”; w in “well” is an example of a rounded semivow...
73694abf1d3a779d5ba50e7827442b17
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rowley-Mile
Rowley Mile
Rowley Mile …southwest of the town: the Rowley Mile course, used in the spring and autumn, and the July course, used in the summer. The Rowley Mile intersects the Devil’s Ditch, or Devil’s Dyke, an earthwork thought to have been built by the East Anglians as a defense against the Mercians about…
3194fb45377b55bc7d9cfa47b6623d2b
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Academy-of-Dramatic-Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), state-subsidized school of acting in Bloomsbury, London. The oldest school of drama in England, it set the pattern for subsequent schools of acting. It was established in 1904 by actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who soon moved it from Haymarke...
aa9e98d500f6590410365a39c92f9739
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Ballet-British-ballet-company
Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet Royal Ballet, English ballet company and school. It was formed in 1956 under a royal charter of incorporation granted by Queen Elizabeth II to the Sadler’s Wells Ballet and its sister organizations, the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet and the Sadler’s Wells School. The founders of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet ...
e3841e7c997c856b8bfbab28ef350f25
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Canadian-Air-Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), also called Canadian Air Force (1968–2011), Canadian military organization in charge of that nation’s air defense. Since its inception in 1924, the RCAF has served Canadians in peace and war. It played a vital role in the Second World War, becoming the fourth-l...
efbe963507cda4bcc0c6d6a12374f06a
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Collection
Royal Collection
Royal Collection …was established to make the Royal Collection more accessible; approximately three art exhibitions are arranged annually, in addition to exhibitions held at other venues, both in Britain and abroad. …and maintaining and presenting the Royal Collection.
a46316ec176648f8aac8fd8a18584563
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Geographical-Society
Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society Royal Geographical Society (RGS), in full Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), British group founded as the Geographical Society of London in 1830. Its headquarters are in the borough of Westminster, next to Royal Albert Hall. It originated in the Raleigh ...
95f91ec34ec147ff32e52e631e917e50
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Navy
Royal Navy
Royal Navy Royal Navy, naval military organization of the United Kingdom, charged with the national defense at sea, protection of shipping, and fulfillment of international military agreements. Organized sea power was first used in England by Alfred the Great of Wessex, who launched ships to repel a Viking invasion. N...
6e6978555f654d2c02ce326b953007f9
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Niger-Company
Royal Niger Company
Royal Niger Company Royal Niger Company, 19th-century British mercantile company that operated in the lower valley of the Niger River in West Africa. It extended British influence in what later became Nigeria. In 1885 Sir George Goldie’s National African Company, an amalgamation of British companies, signed treaties ...
89094b6c57386b27f046f3c705d9ff09
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-North-Devon-Club
Royal North Devon Club
Royal North Devon Club With the birth of the Royal North Devon Golf Club in 1864, golf took a firm foothold in England. The Devon club was the first course on seaside links outside Scotland. The Royal Liverpool Golf Club was established in 1869 on a rabbit warren at Hoylake. In its infancy players…
a390c881fdeccf556b2398d6dcc6b70c
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Ontario-Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum Royal Ontario Museum, art collection located in Toronto. Established in 1912 and opened to the public in 1914, the museum is especially known for its collections of Chinese and ancient Egyptian art, American ethnology, and Canadian arts and crafts. There are also exhibits on the life and Earth sci...
43ec890c082ef9b0677f42e053d5bcf9
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Opera-House-London
Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House Royal Opera House, opera house that is the home of Britain’s oldest national opera and ballet companies. It is located in Covent Garden, City of Westminster, London. The Covent Garden Theatre, the original theatre on the site, was opened (1732) by John Rich and served for plays, pantomimes, and opera...
d12fb7e7588493d02e8d5bae295f79ca
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Victorian-Order
Royal Victorian Order
Royal Victorian Order Royal Victorian Order, British order of knighthood instituted by Queen Victoria in 1896 to reward personal services rendered the monarch. As it is a family order, conferment of this honour is solely at the discretion of the British sovereign. Unlike other British orders, there is no limit on the ...
a7b6e6e395e9de93858087a0d10e6b5f
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rubbish
Rubbish
Rubbish Refuse includes garbage and rubbish. Garbage is mostly decomposable food waste; rubbish is mostly dry material such as glass, paper, cloth, or wood. Garbage is highly putrescible or decomposable, whereas rubbish is not. Trash is rubbish that includes bulky items such as old refrigerators, couches, or large tree...
313a7bfd1985be3e30665ac66efc5027
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rubiks-Cube
Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube Rubik’s Cube, toy, popular in the 1980s, that was designed by Hungarian inventor Erno Rubik. Rubik’s Cube consists of 26 small cubes that rotate on a central axis; nine coloured cube faces, in three rows of three each, form each side of the cube. When the cube is twisted out of its original arrangement, t...
48a10033acea4b8b8b1bc4385facb22d
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rubrication
Rubrication
Rubrication Rubrication, in calligraphy and typography, the use of handwriting or type of a different colour on a page, derived from the practice of setting off liturgical directions, headings of statutes, and the like in red. Specifically, it applied to the rules prescribed for the conduct of religious services as se...
a3edcd3b238dc2eb65777bf24b3a7141
https://www.britannica.com/topic/ruby
Ruby
Ruby Ruby, gemstone composed of transparent red corundum (q.v.), a mineral form of aluminum oxide, Al2O3. Its colour varies from deep cochineal to pale rose red, in some cases with a tinge of purple; the most valued is a pigeon-blood red. The red colour arises from the replacement of a small number of aluminum atoms ...
ead6843f45fc38361ecdeded097319c6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ruby-Gentry
Ruby Gentry
Ruby Gentry Vidor had more success with Ruby Gentry (1952), a melodrama that starred Jones as a Southern vixen who marries a wealthy man (Karl Malden) but has an eye for a former boyfriend (Charlton Heston). Vidor then waited three years for his next feature film, which turned out to be the…
bee0bbf35766518a886d9e9efc6d884f
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rudin
Rudin
Rudin Rudin, novel by Ivan Turgenev, published as a serial in the journal Sovremennik and as a book in 1856. The novel tells of an eloquent intellectual, Dmitry Rudin, a character modeled partly on the revolutionary agitator Mikhail Bakunin, whom Turgenev had known in Moscow in the 1830s. Rudin’s power of oratory and ...
46ef1f82516535319ed81dc789f450cf
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ruhe-ist-die-erste-Burgerpflicht
Ruhe ist die erste Bürgerpflicht
Ruhe ist die erste Bürgerpflicht In Ruhe ist die erste Bürgerpflicht (1852; “To Remain Calm Is the First Civic Duty”), the activities of criminals are presented as symptomatic of Prussian degeneracy in 1806. The sequel, Isegrimm (1854), foreshadows a rebirth of patriotism.
3adf3176240ca513fa73a8088764ebf5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rule-of-law
Rule of law
Rule of law Rule of law, the mechanism, process, institution, practice, or norm that supports the equality of all citizens before the law, secures a nonarbitrary form of government, and more generally prevents the arbitrary use of power. Arbitrariness is typical of various forms of despotism, absolutism, authoritarian...
8c26c0f2f1b42e097f5a281beb074b33
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rule-of-substitution-of-equivalents
Rule of substitution of equivalents
Rule of substitution of equivalents Because the rule of substitution of equivalents can be shown to hold in LPC, it follows that (∃x) may be replaced anywhere in a wff by ∼(∀x)∼, or (∀x) by ∼(∃x)∼, and the resulting wff will be equivalent to the original. Similarly, because the law of double… …further important princip...
2dd2980a6da8514ddb6d301f125f8492
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rules-of-engagement-military-directives
Rules of engagement
Rules of engagement Rules of engagement (ROE), military directives meant to describe the circumstances under which ground, naval, and air forces will enter into and continue combat with opposing forces. Formally, rules of engagement refer to the orders issued by a competent military authority that delineate when, wher...
1e934dd039a1d1385e74e82b3b01336c
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rules-of-inference
Rules of inference
Rules of inference There is a further reason why the formulation of systems of rules of inference does not exhaust the science of logic. Rule-governed, goal-directed activities are often best understood by means of concepts borrowed from the study of games. The “game” of logic is… …certain syntactic concepts arise—name...
68e72b2cf6f64c434fa598df04223fca
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rum-liquor
Rum
Rum Rum, distilled liquor made from sugarcane products, usually produced as a by-product of sugar manufacture. It includes both the light-bodied rums, typified by those of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the heavier and fuller-flavoured rums of Jamaica. Rums originated in the West Indies and are first mentioned in records ...
11d42becc5135419ddba4f2434fd04ad
https://www.britannica.com/topic/RUR
R.U.R.
R.U.R. R.U.R., in full R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots, drama in three acts by Karel Čapek, published in 1920 and performed in 1921. This cautionary play, for which Čapek invented the word robot (derived from the Czech word for forced labour), involves a scientist named Rossum who discovers the secret of creating hu...
1fc3ca798537d0b73a508fd37efb1726
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rural-Electrification-Administration
Rural Electrification Administration
Rural Electrification Administration …creation in 1935 of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which did more to bring farmers into the 20th century than any other single act. Thanks to the REA, nine out of 10 farms were electrified by 1950, compared to one out of 10 in 1935. …the 20th century by the Rural E...
98793a140200e0446fc43098e1b2f5d3
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rural-Free-Delivery
Rural Free Delivery
Rural Free Delivery Rural Free Delivery (RFD), service begun in the United States in 1896 to deliver mail directly to farm families. Before RFD, rural inhabitants had to pick up mail themselves at sometimes distant post offices or pay private express companies for delivery. Free mail delivery began in cities in 1863, ...
e59ea576e92db95befc60399d2e36ac3
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rural-society
Rural society
Rural society Rural society, society in which there is a low ratio of inhabitants to open land and in which the most important economic activities are the production of foodstuffs, fibres, and raw materials. Such areas are difficult to define with greater precision, for, although in nonindustrialized nations the tran...
02cfea85a7fc83ed65797aa3ac652643
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rush-Hour
Rush Hour
Rush Hour …American comedian Chris Tucker in Rush Hour (1998), which enjoyed a great deal of success and launched two sequels (2001 and 2007).
86dbf363feb732bccc5ad96f133fc07c
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ruslan-and-Lyudmila
Ruslan and Lyudmila
Ruslan and Lyudmila Ruslan and Lyudmila, romantic narrative poem by Aleksandr Pushkin, published in Russian in 1820 as Ruslan i Lyudmila. The mock-heroic folk epic was influenced by the style of Ludovico Ariosto and Voltaire. The hero of the poem, Ruslan, is modeled on the traditional Russian epic hero. He faces many ...
4725a928d4732111ae169d6d3322eccc
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russell-Majors-and-Waddell
Russell, Majors and Waddell
Russell, Majors and Waddell Russell, Majors and Waddell, business partnership formed by William Hepburn Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Bradford Waddell that operated the most prominent freight, mail, and passenger transportation company in the United States in the mid-19th century and, most famously, establish...
346317c3f596da99a56b870664777c98
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russells-Magazine
Russell’s Magazine
Russell’s Magazine …was coeditor of the influential Russell’s Magazine, launched under the leadership of William Gilmore Simms, during its three years of publication (1857–60). During the Civil War he contributed verse supporting the Southern cause—notably “The Battle of Charleston Harbor”—to the Southern Illustrated N...
8861b8dcce193b50817e04524a47dc62
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russian-Orthodox-Church
Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church Russian Orthodox Church, one of the largest autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. Its membership is estimated at more than 90 million. For more on Orthodox beliefs and practices, see Eastern Orthodoxy. Christianity was apparently introduced ...
8a8e7627ba457a3bf0d5373b4b511a36
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russian-Social-Democratic-Workers-Party
Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party
Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party, Russian Rossiyskaya Sotsial-demokraticheskaya Rabochaya Partiya, Marxist revolutionary party ancestral to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Founded in 1898 in Minsk, the Social-Democratic Party held that Russia could achieve soci...
959890ecf4252ff070297b8701e1b755
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russian-State-Museum
Russian State Museum
Russian State Museum Russian State Museum, Russian Gosudarstvenny Russky Muzey, museum opened in St. Petersburg in 1898 as the central museum of Russian art and life. It is housed in the buildings of the former Mikhailovsky Palace, designed by Karl Ivanovich Rossi and built in 1819–25. The buildings were converted to ...
06f095a205ed36fdf28d992a98cd9183
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russo-Turkish-wars
Russo-Turkish wars
Russo-Turkish wars Russo-Turkish wars, series of wars between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 17th–19th century. The wars reflected the decline of the Ottoman Empire and resulted in the gradual southward extension of Russia’s frontier and influence into Ottoman territory. The wars took place in 1676–81, 1687, 168...
45b9bdb0dbe67b0cff025cddf7697b11
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rwanda-people
Rwanda
Rwanda Rwanda, also spelled Ruanda, the peoples of the Republic of Rwanda who speak an Interlacustrine Bantu language known as Rwanda (also known as Kinyarwanda). The Rwanda are divided into two main groups: the Hutu, traditionally farmers; and the Tutsi, traditionally cattle-owning pastoralists. A small third group, ...
eca7d105d9a4e8995e62b213805753d5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saatchi-and-Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi Together with Maurice, he founded Saatchi & Saatchi in 1970. By 1986 the company—which became part of a larger conglomerate—was considered to be the largest advertising firm in the world, with offices throughout the world. Remarkably creative and efficient, Saatchi & Saatchi was an early proponent of ...
d29c595411d82e292b48ca2921d252e0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sabaean-people
Sabaean
Sabaean Sabaean, member of a people of South Arabia in pre-Islāmic times, founders of the kingdom of Sabaʾ (q.v.), the biblical Sheba.
6c8e2a81196bed667955abc9747d7695
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saccopastore-skulls
Saccopastore skulls
Saccopastore skulls Saccopastore skulls, two Neanderthal fossils found in 1929 and 1935 in a river deposit on the bank of a small tributary of the Tiber River outside Rome. The skulls, which represent an early phase in the development of western European Neanderthals, are between 70,000 and 100,000 years old. The stro...
e3dab5d3647f8458ceed9975b0760006
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sack-clothing
Sack
Sack …worn over this was the sack (sacque), which had been derived from the informal house dress of the early years of the century. In France this style was often called the robe volante. From a low, wide neckline the gown flared out freely over the hoop petticoat. By 1720–25 the…
f4330fccf212451bd8925bd93ac75c6d
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sackcloth
Sackcloth
Sackcloth …of their penitence, they wore sackcloth and were sprinkled with ashes (Tertullian, De paenitentia 11; compare the biblical precedents Jeremiah 6:26, Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:21). This form of public penance began to die out in the 9th century. At the same time, it became customary for all the faithful to…
0a5e7ec4d4e263b2d313bd8994549f86
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacrament
Sacrament
Sacrament Sacrament, religious sign or symbol, especially associated with Christian churches, in which a sacred or spiritual power is believed to be transmitted through material elements viewed as channels of divine grace. The Latin word sacramentum, which etymologically is an ambiguous theological term, was used in R...
131a8aba6a2233f257da4fb75c31bbeb
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacrament/Sacramental-ideas-and-practices-in-the-Greco-Roman-world
Sacramental ideas and practices in the Greco-Roman world
Sacramental ideas and practices in the Greco-Roman world In the Greco-Oriental mystery cults the sacramental ritual based on the fertility motif was less prominent than in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions. It did, nevertheless, occur in the Eleusinia, a Greek agricultural festival celebrated in honour of the god...
5ccbb518fb74600ef96c8d003e3b1c39
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacramental-order
Sacramental order
Sacramental order …were ranked in terms of sacramental orders, minor and major. When a boy or young man entered the clergy, he received the tonsure, symbolizing his new status. He might then move in stages through the minor orders: acolyte, exorcist, lector, and doorkeeper. At the highest of minor orders the candidate…...
d8ad08125124b156589b543597570345
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sacramento-Kings
Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings Sacramento Kings, American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, that plays in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise won an NBA championship in 1951 when it was known as the Rochester Royals of New York. The Royals franchise was foun...
57d353815c5476962f79179d09f6d657
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sacred-College-of-Cardinals
Sacred College of Cardinals
Sacred College of Cardinals He was interviewed by the Sacred College of Cardinals, who, less interested in his mission than in his theological tenets, asked him to recite the Nestorian creed. Reluctant to do so, as Nestorianism was considered a heresy in the West, he left Rome and traveled to Paris, staying a month… Du...
e1348496933f47081d658befa0566eb6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred-dance
Sacred dance
Sacred dance The sacred dance combines rectilineal and circular movements and may also include hopping, jumping, and hand movements. Hand and finger movements in temple dances in Indian and other Asian cultures are strictly regulated and have a precise symbolic meaning. The liturgical dance in a rudimentary form… Dance...
792992cb12dc1102a71e30eda2130df7
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred-kingship/The-king-as-priest-and-seer
The king as priest and seer
The king as priest and seer Religious duties quite often are connected with the office of chieftain, who is also priest or seer and rainmaker—all in one. Correspondingly, in nontribal societies, cultic functions belong to the office of the king. In the 3rd dynasty of Uruk, Lugalzaggisi is described as king of the count...
590716fb04e93b89cb6fda53355eec8e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred-music
Sacred music
Sacred music …certain ancient Israelite prophetic groups, music was used to achieve the ecstatic state, in which the participants, in their accompanying dancing, were believed to have been seized by the hand of Yahweh, the God of Israel, as in the case of Saul, the 11th-century-bce king of Israel. The Pythia (priestess...
fa7ec2a2ea4bc2a3bb127afb5d2e42b2
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sacred-Well-of-Chichen-Itza
Sacred Well of Chichén Itzá
Sacred Well of Chichén Itzá …and underwater exploration of the Sacred Well of Chichén Itzá. Actually a small lake, it had been traditionally regarded as the grave of girls and captive warriors sacrificed alive to propitiate the rain god, who was supposed to reside at the bottom of the well. Thompson traveled to Boston ...
70d5195323535297d5919395b5156b73
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacristy
Sacristy
Sacristy Sacristy, also called vestry, in architecture, room in a Christian church in which vestments and sacred objects used in the services are stored and in which the clergy and sometimes the altar boys and the choir members put on their robes. In the early Christian church, two rooms beside the apse, the diaconico...
aaadbc802720284f225deab631718384
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sacrorum-antistitum
Sacrorum antistitum
Sacrorum antistitum 1, 1910, he issued Sacrorum antistitum, which prescribed that all teachers in seminaries and clerics before their ordination take an oath denouncing Modernism and supporting Lamentabili and Pascendi.
aa35bdb82e226e46eb9da56ca197d755
https://www.britannica.com/topic/saddle-horsemanship
Saddle
Saddle Saddle, seat for a rider on the back of an animal, most commonly a horse or pony. Horses were long ridden bareback or with simple cloths or blankets, but the development of the leather saddle in the period from the 3rd century bc to the 1st century ad greatly improved the horse’s potential, especially for war,...
410ec19beeb0b66f2cbc3cf6299b8193
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sadism
Sadism
Sadism Sadism, psychosexual disorder in which sexual urges are gratified by the infliction of pain on another person. The term was coined by the late 19th-century German psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in reference to the Marquis de Sade, an 18th-century French nobleman who chronicled his own such practices. Sa...
a53bfdef1d269331caa40e3b647e4b9a
https://www.britannica.com/topic/safflower-oil
Safflower oil
Safflower oil Safflower oil does not yellow with age, making it useful in preparing varnish and paint. Most of the oil, however, is consumed in the form of soft margarines, salad oil, and cooking oil. It is highly valued for dietary reasons because of its high proportion…
bbcc3a395d788cbb0056b917f12e9c98
https://www.britannica.com/topic/saffron-bread
Saffron bread
Saffron bread … and baked goods, such as saffron bread (lussekatter) and ginger biscuits, to the other members of the family. These traditional foods are also given to visitors during the day.
396e0aef3213a435ae27887d062a4842
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sago
Sago
Sago Sago, food starch prepared from carbohydrate material stored in the trunks of several palms, the main sources being Metroxylon rumphii and M. sagu, sago palms native to the Indonesian archipelago. Sago palms grow in low marshy areas, usually reaching a height of nearly 9 m (30 feet) and developing thick trunks. ...
8613540f7c4c73cc3e02654f9126cc94
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Edwards-Crown
Saint Edward's Crown
Saint Edward's Crown Saint Edward’s Crown, coronation crown of the kings and queens of England that consists of a gold- and jewel-encrusted base surmounted by a cross. The crown’s appellation was first used in the 13th century, after Henry III had transferred the body of Edward the Confessor to its present shrine in W...
cfa41c8ac520bf9f3047e21b2b78be0e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Francis-College
Saint Francis College
Saint Francis College Saint Francis College, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Loretto, Pennsylvania, U.S. It is sponsored by the Franciscans of the Third Order Regular of the Roman Catholic church. This liberal arts college offers a range of bachelor’s degree programs in such areas as business,...
c3ea703c36f19beea5654d81062531e8
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Georges-Chapel
Saint George's Chapel
Saint George's Chapel Saint George’s Chapel, part of Windsor Castle in the district of Windsor and Maidenhead, Berkshire, Eng. This chapel was designed for the Order of the Garter and was begun by Edward IV. It is one of the finest examples of the Perpendicular style of Gothic architecture in England. The chapel was ...
f1983e2f03038b20b899609f196fdaaf
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Louis-Post-Dispatch
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, morning daily newspaper published in St. Louis, Mo., one of the most prestigious newspapers in the United States and a dominant voice of the Lower Midwest. It was founded in 1878 when Joseph Pulitzer purchased the 15-year-old, bankrupt St. Louis Dispatch and merged ...
9e619fd674ae64d80837225b9eaacaaa
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Nicholas-Day
St. Nicholas Day
St. Nicholas Day St. Nicholas Day, feast day (December 6) of St. Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia and Greece, of a number of cities, and of sailors and children, among many other groups, and was noted for his generosity. Some countries celebrate St. Nicholas Day on D...
db55e18d556307e232775d2d37a84fa5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick’s Day, feast day (March 17) of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain in the late 4th century, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but returned about 432 to convert the Irish to Christianity. By the time of his death on Ma...
619718559c80c5bb754dcd1c2581b7c6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Petersburg-State-University
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University, formerly (1924–91) Leningrad State University, Russian Sankt Peterburgsky Gosudarstvenny Universitet, orLeningradsky Gosudarstvenny Universitet, coeducational state institution of higher learning in St. Petersburg, founded in 1819 as the University o...
d8a1f7571ec82b09afab1715539da762
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saka-language
Saka language
Saka language Saka language, also called Khotanese, Middle Iranian language spoken in Xinjiang, in northwestern China, by the Saka tribes. Two dialectal varieties are distinguished. Khotanese, from the kingdom of Khotan, is richly attested by Buddhist and other texts dating from the 7th to the 10th century. Most of th...
379043afe3ff94841c2f4f8f07e14afa
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakaibara-Shigematsu
Sakaibara Shigematsu
Sakaibara Shigematsu Sakaibara Shigematsu, interpreted one such attack, in October 1943, as an invasion attempt, prompting him to order the execution of the remaining civilians on the island. On September 4, 1945, two days after Japan formally surrendered, the surviving Japanese troops on Wake Island lowered their…
d813a8e50cf51fa54b4b0bd9205a2808
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakaida-family
Sakaida family
Sakaida family Sakaida family, also called Kakiemon family, celebrated family of Japanese potters whose founder, Sakaida Kizaemon (1596–1666), was awarded the name Kakiemon in recognition of his capturing the delicate red colour and texture of the persimmon (kaki) in porcelain. See Kakiemon ware.
3d0f6233f62f28fe31cc41e9e5283500
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sake
Sake
Sake Sake, also spelled saké, Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. Sake is light in colour, is noncarbonated, has a sweet flavour, and contains about 14 to 16 percent alcohol. Sake is often mistakenly called a wine because of its appearance and alcoholic content; however, it is made in a process known...
4ae8350ff75b7d8c40520dcefb6eeae5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakha-people
Sakha
Sakha Sakha, also called Yakut, one of the major peoples of eastern Siberia, numbering some 380,000 in the late 20th century. In the 17th century they inhabited a limited area on the middle Lena River, but in modern times they expanded throughout Sakha republic (Yakutia) in far northeastern Russia. They speak a Turkic...
a797e1528116963d21159eb51899b51c
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Salesians
Salesian
Salesian Salesian, member of either of two Roman Catholic religious congregations, one of men and one of women, devoted to the Christian education of youth, especially the less privileged. The founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco (formally, the Society of St. Francis de Sales; S.D.B.) was St. John Bosco (Don Bosco), ...
9930274ad35a17c6c4f54228ca3abcd3
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Salesians-of-Don-Bosco
Salesians of Don Bosco
Salesians of Don Bosco The founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco (formally, the Society of St. Francis de Sales; S.D.B.) was St. John Bosco (Don Bosco), a young priest who focused his concern on the orphaned and homeless child labourers he encountered in Turin, Italy. In 1859, inspired by the example of… …Sales (also k...
8f2e083ce217b676c8960dd35977b6f8
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sally-Bowles
Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles Sally Bowles, fictional character, the eccentric heroine of Christopher Isherwood’s novella Sally Bowles (1937) and of his collected stories Goodbye to Berlin (1939). Bowles is a young iconoclastic, minimally talented English nightclub singer in the Berlin of the Weimar Republic period (1919–33). She pain...
abd7b70b21f9e96fc9eeb3d27f1e4283
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Salt-by-Lovelace
Salt
Salt …The Wine of Astonishment (1982); Salt (1996), which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (later called Commonwealth Book Prize); and Is Just a Movie (2011). Lovelace also published the short-story collection A Brief Conversion and Other Stories (1988), as well as the plays The New Hardware Store and My Name Is…
86f72b59a5cfda3c28cd6cc1f23d1102
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Salus
Salus
Salus Salus, in Roman religion, the goddess of safety and welfare, later identified with the Greek Hygieia (q.v.). Her temple on the Quirinal at Rome, dedicated in 302 bc, was the scene of an annual sacrifice on August 5. The augurium salutis, not involving a personification and possibly antedating the deification of...
60267f363bbfcdcf228c770aaee15035
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Salvador-film-by-Stone
Salvador
Salvador He returned to directing with Salvador (1986), which he also wrote. In the film, a journalist (played by James Woods) documents the atrocities committed during the El Salvador uprisings of 1980–81. Stone again drew on the trauma of the Vietnam War in Platoon (1986), for which he won another Academy…
e58a21ab2c8d78f36382c6759bb460d1
https://www.britannica.com/topic/samadhi-Indian-philosophy
Samadhi
Samadhi Samadhi, (Sanskrit: “total self-collectedness”) in Indian religion, and particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism, the highest state of mental concentration that a person can achieve while still bound to the body and which unites him with the highest reality. Samadhi is a state of profound and utterly absorptive c...
d4085358464996e537992e54b0d1e1e0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/samanera
Sāmaṇera
Sāmaṇera …a novice (Pāli sāmaṇera; Sanskrit śrāmaṇera). The ceremony is also the preliminary part of higher ordination, raising a novice to a monk (see upasaṃpadā).