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Breton Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Breton Succession, War of the, 1341–65, an important episode of the Hundred Years War. Duke John III of Brittany died in 1341 without heirs. The succession was contested by his half-brother, John de...

Thersites

(Encyclopedia)Thersites thərsīˈtēz [key], in Greek legend, member of the Greek army in the Trojan War. He was famous for his ugliness, his unpleasant temper, and his love of argument. When he mocked Achilles fo...

Calchas

(Encyclopedia)Calchas kălˈkăs [key], in Greek legend, seer whose prophecies aided the Greeks in the Trojan War. In medieval romances, he is the father of Cressida. ...

Aegina, sculptures

(Encyclopedia)Aegina, c.500–480 b.c., marble sculptures from the temple of Aphaia discovered in 1811 and erroneously restored by Thorvaldsen. They originally decorated the pediments of the temple and represent sc...

Nestor, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Nestor nĕsˈtər [key], in Greek mythology, wise king of Pylos; son of Neleus and father of Antilochus. In the Iliad, Nestor went with the Greeks to the Trojan War, and although he had lived three ge...

Priam

(Encyclopedia)Priam prīˈəm [key], in Greek mythology, king of Troy during the Trojan War, son of Laomedon. Priam had several wives and was the father of 50 sons and many daughters. His chief wife, Hecuba, bore h...

civil war, in Roman history

(Encyclopedia)civil war, in Roman history: see Marius and Sulla; Pompey and Julius Caesar. ...

Spanish Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Spanish Succession, War of the, 1701–14, last of the general European wars caused by the efforts of King Louis XIV to extend French power. The conflict in America corresponding to the period of the ...

Clytemnestra

(Encyclopedia)Clytemnestra klīˌtəmnĕsˈtrə [key], in Greek mythology, the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus. Homer described her as the noble-minded wife of Agamemnon, persuaded to infidelity by the tyrant Aegist...

Neoptolemus

(Encyclopedia)Neoptolemus nēˌŏptŏlˈĭməs [key], in Greek legend, son of Achilles. In the Trojan War he proved himself brave but cruel. He killed Priam at the altar of Zeus and threw Astyanax, son of Hector, f...