A-Z Browse

  • Saakashvili, Mikhail (president of Georgia)
    Georgian politician who was instrumental in easing Pres. Eduard Shevardnadze from office and who later became president of Georgia (2004–2007, 2008– )....
  • Saale Glacial Stage (geology)
    division of Pleistocene deposits and time in northern Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Saale Glacial Stage followed the Holstein Interglacial Stage and preceded the Eemian Interglacial Stage, both relatively mild climatic periods. The extensive and complex Saale deposits are correlated with the Gipping Glacial Stage of Britain an...
  • Saale River (river, Germany)
    left tributary of the Elbe River, 265 miles (426 km) long and draining 9,165 square miles (23,737 square km). It rises in the Fichtelgebirge, a Bavarian highland area in central Germany, and flows north and northwest past Hof, Saalfeld, Rudolstadt, Jena, Naumburg, Weissenfels, Merseburg, Halle, Bernburg, and Niemberg to join the Elbe south of Magdeburg. Initially passing through...
  • Saalfelden (Austria)
    town, west-central Austria, at the southwest foot of the Steinernes Meer (Sea of Stones) Mountains, near the Saalach River southwest of Salzburg. An old market town, it is also a winter and summer resort and makes textiles, metals, electrical equipment, leather goods, and beer. There are several castles nearby, including the 14th-century Schloss Lichtenberg. The late Gothic Chap...
  • Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer (Austria)
    town, west-central Austria, at the southwest foot of the Steinernes Meer (Sea of Stones) Mountains, near the Saalach River southwest of Salzburg. An old market town, it is also a winter and summer resort and makes textiles, metals, electrical equipment, leather goods, and beer. There are several castles nearby, including the 14th-century Schloss Lichtenberg. The late Gothic Chap...
  • Saalian Glacial Stage (geology)
    division of Pleistocene deposits and time in northern Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Saale Glacial Stage followed the Holstein Interglacial Stage and preceded the Eemian Interglacial Stage, both relatively mild climatic periods. The extensive and complex Saale deposits are correlated with the Gipping Glacial Stage of Britain an...
  • SAAM (museum, Washington, District of Columbia, United States)
    first federal art collection of the United States, housing the world’s largest collection of American art. The Washington, D.C., museum showcases more than 40,000 works of art, representing 7,000 American artists. Featured permanent collections include colonial portraiture, 19th-century landscapes, Impressionism, realism, photography, crafts, folk art, African American art, and Latino art....
  • Saami (people)
    any member of a people speaking the Sami language and inhabiting Lapland and adjacent areas of northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland, as well as the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The three Sami languages, which are mutually unintelligible, are sometimes considered dialects of one language. They belong to the Finno-Ugric branch...
  • Saami language (language)
    any of three members of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, spoken by the Sami (Lapp) people in northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The Sami languages, which are mutually unintelligible, are sometimes considered dialects of one language. The largest language, North Sami, spoken by about two-thirds of all Sami, is distributed...
  • Saan (people)
    an indigenous people of southern Africa, related to the Khoekhoe (Khoikhoi). They live chiefly in Botswana, Namibia, and southeastern Angola. Bushmen is an Anglicization of boesman, the Dutch and Afrikaner name for them; saan (plural) or saa (singular) is the Nama word for “bush dweller(s),...
  • Saanen (breed of goat)
    popular breed of dairy goat originating in the Saanen Valley of Switzerland. The coat of the Saanen is fine and light-coloured, with white being generally preferred. In build it is similar to the Toggenburg, with smallish frame, straight or dished face, and erect ears. As is that of other goats, milk of the Saanen is whiter and more easily digestible than cow’s milk. The ...
  • Saar (state, Germany)
    Land (state) in the southwestern portion of Germany. It is bounded by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the north and east and by the countries of France to the south and southwest and Luxembourg to the northwest. The capital is Saarbrücken. Area 992 square miles (2,569 square km). Pop. (2006 e...
  • Saar, Betye (American artist and educator)
    American artist and educator, renowned for her assemblages that lampoon racist attitudes about blacks and for installations featuring mystical themes....
  • Saar, Betye Irene (American artist and educator)
    American artist and educator, renowned for her assemblages that lampoon racist attitudes about blacks and for installations featuring mystical themes....
  • Saar plebiscite (European history)
    ...took this to mean that he had French support for his plan to conquer that independent African country. Just six days later the strength of German nationalism was resoundingly displayed in the Saar plebiscite. The small, coal-rich Saarland, detached from Germany for 15 years under the Treaty of Versailles, was populated by miners of Catholic or social democratic loyalty. They knew what......
  • Saar River (river, Europe)
    right-bank tributary of the Moselle (German Mosel) River. It flows for 153 mi (246 km) across northeastern France into Germany and drains an area of 2,800 sq mi (7,300 sq km). Rising at the foot of Donon (mountain) in the northern Vosges (mountains), the river flows generally northward to its confluence with the Mosel at Konz, 6 mi southwest of Trier. Within Germany the Saar flows in meanders (whi...
  • Saarbrücken (Germany)
    city, capital (1959) of Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany. A frontier station opposite Forbach, France, it lies on the Saar River at the mouth of the Sulz River. There were Celtic and Roman settlements in the vicinity, but the name is derived from the Frankish royal castle of Sarrabrucca, refe...
  • SAARC (Asian organization)
    organization of South Asian nations, founded in 1985 and dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasizing collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually; meetings of foreign secret...
  • Saare (island, Estonia)
    largest of the islands in the Muhu archipelago that divides the Baltic Sea from the Gulf of Riga. It constitutes the bulk of the Estonian county of Saaremaa (Saare). The island is low-lying and is composed largely of limestones and dolomites. Some of the places with poorer soils are characterized by the alvary—p...
  • Saaremaa (island, Estonia)
    largest of the islands in the Muhu archipelago that divides the Baltic Sea from the Gulf of Riga. It constitutes the bulk of the Estonian county of Saaremaa (Saare). The island is low-lying and is composed largely of limestones and dolomites. Some of the places with poorer soils are characterized by the alvary—p...
  • Saarinen, Eero (American architect)
    Finnish-born American architect who was one of the leaders in a trend toward exploration and experiment in American architectural design during the 1950s....
  • Saarinen, Eliel (Finnish architect)
    architect notable for his influence on modern architecture in the United States, particularly on skyscraper and church design. His son, Eero Saarinen, was also an outstanding American architect....
  • Saarinen, Gottlieb Eliel (Finnish architect)
    architect notable for his influence on modern architecture in the United States, particularly on skyscraper and church design. His son, Eero Saarinen, was also an outstanding American architect....
  • Saarland (state, Germany)
    Land (state) in the southwestern portion of Germany. It is bounded by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the north and east and by the countries of France to the south and southwest and Luxembourg to the northwest. The capital is Saarbrücken. Area 992 square miles (2,569 square km). Pop. (2006 e...
  • Saarlautern (Germany)
    city, Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along both sides of the Saar River, near the French border, northwest of Saarbrücken. Founded and named by Louis XIV of France in 1680 and fortified (1680–86) by the military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, it became the capital of the French Sarre province. The sit...
  • Saarlouis (Germany)
    city, Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along both sides of the Saar River, near the French border, northwest of Saarbrücken. Founded and named by Louis XIV of France in 1680 and fortified (1680–86) by the military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, it became the capital of the French Sarre province. The sit...
  • Saatchi & Saatchi (advertising firm)
    ...Jewish family and was still a preschooler when his family emigrated from Iraq to London. By age 18 he had begun to work as a copywriter in the advertising business. Together with Maurice he founded Saatchi & Saatchi in 1970. By 1986 the company—which is now part of a larger conglomerate—was considered to be the largest advertising firm in the world, with offices throughout ...
  • Saatchi, Charles (British advertising executive and art collector)
    Iraq-born British advertising executive who is perhaps best known as a collector of contemporary art. His brother Maurice (b. June 21, 1946Baghdad) was a full partner in his advertising concerns....
  • Saatchi, Maurice (British advertising executive)
    Iraq-born British advertising executive who is perhaps best known as a collector of contemporary art. His brother Maurice (b. June 21, 1946Baghdad) was a full partner in his advertising concerns....
  • “Saatleri ayarlama enstitüsü” (novel by Tanpınar)
    ...the founder of modernist fiction in Turkey largely on the basis of his novels. Saatleri ayarlama enstitüsü (serialized 1954, published in book form 1961; The Time Regulation Institute), the most complex novel written in Turkish until the 1980s and ’90s, is his most important. It is the autobiography of Hayri Irdal, a poorly educated pet...
  • Saavedra Fajardo, Diego de (Spanish diplomat)
    Spanish diplomat and man of letters, best known for his anti-Machiavellian emblem book, the Idea de un príncipe político cristiano (1640; The Royal Politician), which urged a return to traditional virtues as the remedy for national decadence....
  • Saavedra, José Daniel Ortega (president of Nicaragua)
    Nicaraguan guerrilla leader, member of the Sandinista junta that took power in 1979, and the elected president of Nicaragua from November 1984 to April 1990 and again from January 2007....
  • Saavedra, Juan de (Spanish conquistador)
    Valparaíso was founded in 1536 by a conquistador, Juan de Saavedra, who named it for his birthplace in Spain. Colonial buildings have survived a succession of pirate raids, severe storms, fires, and earthquakes. Much of the city was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake in 1906; many buildings were again heavily damaged in the 1971 and 1985 earthquakes. After Chilean independence in......
  • Saavedra Lamas, Carlos (Argentine jurist)
    Argentine jurist who in 1936 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his part in ending the Chaco War (1932–35), fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over the northern part of the Gran Chaco region and especially its oil fields....
  • Saavedra Ramírez de Baquendano, Ángel de, duque de Rivas (Spanish author)
    Spanish poet, dramatist, and politician, whose fame rests principally on his play Don Álvaro, o la fuerza del sino (“Don Álvaro, or the Power of Fate”), which marked the triumph of Romantic drama in Spain....
  • Saaz, Johannes von (Bohemian author)
    Bohemian author of the remarkable dialogue Der Ackermann aus Böhmen (c. 1400; Death and the Ploughman), the first important prose work in the German language....
  • Sab (Somalian clan family)
    ...subclans, combine at a higher level to form clan families. The clan families inhabiting the interfluvial area of southern Somalia are the Rahanwayn and the Digil, which together are known as the Sab. Mainly farmers and agropastoralists, the Sab include both original inhabitants and numerous Somali groups that have immigrated into this climatically favourable area. Other clan families are the......
  • Sab: An Autobiography (work by Gómez de Avellaneda)
    ...Alfonso Munio (1844; rev. ed., Munio Alfonso, 1869), based on the life of Alfonso X, and Saúl (1849), a biblical drama, achieved popular success. Her novels, such as Sab (1841), an anti-slavery work, are now almost completely forgotten. Twice widowed and with many lovers, she has been the subject of several biographies....
  • Sabaʾ (ancient kingdom, Arabia)
    kingdom in pre-Islamic southwestern Arabia, frequently mentioned in the Bible (notably in the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba) and variously cited by ancient Assyrian, Greek, and Roman writers from about the 8th century bc to about the 5th century ad. Its capital, at least in the middle period, was Maʾrib, which lies 75 miles (120 ...
  • Saba (island, Netherlands Antilles)
    island of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It lies 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Sint Eustatius, with which it forms the northwestern termination of the inner volcanic arc of the Lesser Antilles. Saba is actually the peak of an extinct volcano, Mount Scenery (2,910 feet [887 metres]), surrounded by sea cliffs. It is windward with respect to the northeastern trade w...
  • Saba, Umberto (Italian author)
    Italian poet noted for his simple, lyrical autobiographical poems....
  • Sabacon (king of Egypt)
    Kushite king who conquered Egypt and founded its 25th (Kushite) dynasty (see ancient Egypt: The 24th and 25th dynasties). He ruled Egypt from about 719/718 to 703 bce....
  • Sabadell (Spain)
    city, Barcelona provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. The city, just north of Barcelona, originated as an Iberian and Roman settlement known as Arragona and became a medieval fief of the Ca...
  • Sabae (Japan)
    city, Fukui ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the northern end of the Takefu basin. The city first formed around the Buddhist Jōshō temple and became a post town after 1720. An administrative centre in the late 19th century, it gained importance as a centre for the production of silk and synthetic fibres. Specialized industries, such as the manufacture of ...
  • Sabaean (language)
    Minaean, Sabaean, Qatabanian, and Ḥaḍramawtian are the four known South Arabic dialects of ancient times. The earliest South Arabic inscriptions, dating from the 8th century bce, are in the Minaean dialect. Sabaean is the dialect of the majority of South Arabic inscriptions; the latest inscriptions are from the 6th century ce. The......
  • Sabaean (people)
    member of a people of South Arabia in pre-Islāmic times, founders of the kingdom of Sabaʾ, the biblical Sheba....
  • Sabaean alphabet
    any of a group of minor scripts originating in the Arabian Peninsula in about 1000 bc, possibly related to the writing system used in the Sinaitic inscriptions. These scripts, most of which were used only in the Arabian Peninsula, are of note because of their great age and because of the lack of any clear link between them and the North Semitic alphabet, which dat...
  • Sabaean kingdom (ancient kingdom, Arabia)
    kingdom in pre-Islamic southwestern Arabia, frequently mentioned in the Bible (notably in the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba) and variously cited by ancient Assyrian, Greek, and Roman writers from about the 8th century bc to about the 5th century ad. Its capital, at least in the middle period, was Maʾrib, which lies 75 miles (120 ...
  • Sabah (state, Malaysia)
    state of East Malaysia, forming the northern part of the great island of Borneo, and bordered by Sarawak (southwest) and Kalimantan, or Indonesian Borneo (south). Sabah has an 800–900-mile- (1,290–1,450-km-) long, heavily indented coastline that is washed by the South China, Sulu, and Celebes seas. It was known as North Borneo during the British colonial period (un...
  • Ṣabāḥ, Āl (ruling family of Kuwait)
    ...of the Arabian Peninsula, migrated to the area that is now Kuwait. The foundation of the autonomous sheikhdom of Kuwait dates from 1756, when the settlers decided to appoint a sheikh from the Ṣabāḥ family (Āl Ṣabāḥ). During the 19th century, Kuwait developed as a thriving, independent trading community. Toward the end of the century, one......
  • Ṣabāḥ dynasty (ruling family of Kuwait)
    ...of the Arabian Peninsula, migrated to the area that is now Kuwait. The foundation of the autonomous sheikhdom of Kuwait dates from 1756, when the settlers decided to appoint a sheikh from the Ṣabāḥ family (Āl Ṣabāḥ). During the 19th century, Kuwait developed as a thriving, independent trading community. Toward the end of the century, one......
  • Ṣabāḥ family (ruling family of Kuwait)
    ...of the Arabian Peninsula, migrated to the area that is now Kuwait. The foundation of the autonomous sheikhdom of Kuwait dates from 1756, when the settlers decided to appoint a sheikh from the Ṣabāḥ family (Āl Ṣabāḥ). During the 19th century, Kuwait developed as a thriving, independent trading community. Toward the end of the century, one......
  • Sạbāḥ, Sheikh Jābir al-Aḥmad Āl (emir of Kuwait)
    member of the ruling Sạbāḥ family of Kuwait and emir (1977–2006)....
  • Sạbāḥ, Sheikh Jābir al-Aḥmad al-Jābir al- (emir of Kuwait)
    member of the ruling Sạbāḥ family of Kuwait and emir (1977–2006)....
  • Sabah, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Salim al- (emir of Kuwait)
    Kuwaiti royal who as a member of the ruling Sabah family, held a variety of government posts, including minister of the interior (1961–77), minister of defense (1965–77), and prime minister (1978–2003). As prime minister he headed a government-in-exile in Saudi Arabia during the 1990–91 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. When Emir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah died on ...
  • Ṣabāḥ, Suʿād al- (Kuwaiti poet)
    The Kuwaiti poet Suʿād al-Ṣabāḥ expresses her frustration with the continued echoes of the earlier tradition:I’m bored by ghazal of the dead… Sitting down for dinner each night…With Jamīl Buthaynah…Please try to deviate from the text just a......
  • Sabahattin Ali (Turkish writer)
    Sabahattin Ali was probably the most powerful and effective of the 20th-century short-story writers in Turkey who addressed social themes. He was born into a military family in northern Greece, and he studied and taught in Germany, where his controversial writing caused him to lose his teaching position and to be imprisoned for libel in 1948. A year later, after his release, he was assassinated......
  • Sabaheddin (Ottoman prince)
    ...where they helped prepare the ground for revolution by developing a comprehensive critique of the Hamidian system. The most noteworthy among these were Murad Bey, Ahmed Rıza, and Prince Sabaheddin. As editor of Mizan (“Balance”), published first in Istanbul (1886) and later in Cairo and Geneva, Murad Bey preached liberal ideas combined with a strong Islāmic......
  • Sabaheddin Ali (Turkish writer)
    Sabahattin Ali was probably the most powerful and effective of the 20th-century short-story writers in Turkey who addressed social themes. He was born into a military family in northern Greece, and he studied and taught in Germany, where his controversial writing caused him to lose his teaching position and to be imprisoned for libel in 1948. A year later, after his release, he was assassinated......
  • Sabal (plant genus)
    ...Queensland, Australia, the cassowary ingests fruits and disperses seeds of several rainforest palms (Calamus and Linospadix). The black bear (Ursus americanus) disperses Sabal, Rhapidophyllum hystrix, and Serenoa repens in Florida, U.S. Fruits of Euterpe in northern South America are sought by fish and by the electric eel (Electrophorus......
  • Sabal magothiensis (plant species)
    The earliest fossils of palms are leaves of Sabal magothiensis and stems of Palmoxylon cliffwoodensis from the Late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago. By the middle of the Maastrichtian, some 69 million years ago, pollen supposedly representative of Nypa fruticans and Acrocomia is present. These records place palms among the earliest recognizable modern families......
  • Sabal palmetto (palm tree)
    ...Syrphus flies apparently pollinate Asterogyne martiana in Costa Rica, and drosophila flies are thought to pollinate the nipa palm in New Guinea. Bees pollinate several species (Sabal palmetto and Iriartea deltoidea). Studies of pollination are difficult because of the large number of insects that are associated in some way with most palms. Few modern studies have......
  • Sabalān, Mount (mountain, Iran)
    town, northwestern Iran, 38 miles (61 km) from the Caspian Sea. It stands on an open plain 4,500 feet (1,400 metres) above sea level, just east of Mount Sabalān (15,784 feet [4,811 metres]), where cold spells occur until late spring. Persian historians have ascribed a founding date to the town in the Sāsānian period, but its known history does not begin until the Islāmi...
  • sabalo real (fish)
    The Atlantic tarpon (Tarpon atlanticus, alternate name Megalops atlanticus) is found inshore in warm parts of the Atlantic, on the Pacific side of Central America, and sometimes in rivers. Also called silver king, grand écaille, and sabalo real, it habitually breaks water and gulps air. It regularly grows to 1.8 m (6 feet) and 45.4 kg (100 pounds) or larger and is a......
  • sabana (basin)
    ...of the Sumapaz Upland the range divides into two, enclosing a large plain 125 miles wide and 200 miles long, often interrupted by small transverse chains that form several upland basins called sabanas that contain about a third of Colombia’s population. The city of Bogotá is on the largest and most populated of these sabanas; other important cities on sabanas ...
  • Sabana de Mesas (region, South America)
    ...platforms between rivers and are some 100 to 200 feet above the valley floors. Away from the mountains they are increasingly fragmented, as in the dissected tableland of the central and eastern Llanos (the Sabana de Mesas) and the hill country (serranía) south of the Meta River in Colombia. The Low Plains (Llanos Bajos) are defined by two rivers, the Apure in the north and the......
  • Sabanci, Sakip (Turkish businessman and philanthropist)
    Turkish businessman and philanthropist (b. April 7, 1933, Akcakaya, Kayseri, Turkey—d. April 10, 2004, Istanbul, Turkey), was regarded as the wealthiest man in Turkey. Known affectionately as “Sakip Aga” (a title of respect), he had the appeal of a populist despite heading one of the top 100 family-owned businesses in the world. Sabanci’s conglomerate, Sabanci Holding, ...
  • Sabaneta (Dominican Republic)
    city, northwestern Dominican Republic, on the northern slopes of the Cordillera Central. The city serves as a commercial centre for the region, dealing principally in tobacco, beeswax, timber, and hides. It can be reached by secondary highway from Mao and Dajabón. Pop. (2002) urban area, 16,270....
  • Sabang (Indonesia)
    kotamadya (city) and free port, Aceh semiautonomous province, Indonesia. It is situated on the northeastern coast of We Island, off the northern tip of Sumatra. Sabang lies at the northern entrance to the Strait of Malacca and is the first port of call in the Malay Archipelago for vessels coming from the west. The harbour, built in 1887, is sheltered from the strong winds...
  • sabar (musical instrument)
    ...including tree crops. Cattle, sheep, and goats are tended, and trade, conducted in regular markets, is well-developed. Like the Wolof, the Serer are noted for playing the sabar, a traditional drum usually played in ensemble for virtually every occasion....
  • Sabará (Brazil)
    city, east-central Minas Gerais estado (state), southern Brazil. It is located on the Velhas River, east of Belo Horizonte, the state capital, at an elevation of 2,313 feet (705 metres) above sea level. Made a seat of a municipality in 1711, it was elevated to city status in 1838. Cobblestone streets, colonial buildings, and a gold-mini...
  • Śabara (Indian philosopher)
    ...of benefits for oneself. According to Jaimini, Vedic injunctions do not merely prescribe actions but also recommend these actions as means to the attainment of desirable goals. For both Jaimini and Śabara (3rd century), his chief commentator, performance of the Vedic sacrifices is conducive to the attainment of heaven; both emphasize that nothing is a duty unless it is instrumental to......
  • Sābarmati ashram (dwelling, Ahmadābād, India)
    ...outskirts of Ahmadābād (Ahmedabad), the former capital, largest city in the state, and one of the greatest cotton-textile centres in India. It was there that Mahatma Gandhi built his Sābarmati ashram (āśrama; “retreat,” or “hermitage”) as a headquarters for his campaigns....
  • Sabas, Saint (Palestinian monk)
    Christian Palestinian monk, champion of orthodoxy in the 5th-century controversies over the nature of Christ. He founded the monastery known as the Great Laura of Mar Saba, a renowned community of contemplative monks in the Judaean desert near Jerusalem. This community became a prototype for the subsequent development of Eastern Orthodox monasticism....
  • Sabas, Saint (Serbian monk)
    monk, founder, and first archbishop of the independent Serbian Orthodox church. His policy of recognizing the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople (now Istanbul) ensured the adherence of Serbian Christianity to Eastern Orthodoxy....
  • Sabasṭiyah (Israel)
    ancient town in central Palestine. It is located on a hill northwest of Nāblus in the West Bank territory under Israeli administration since 1967. Excavations (1908–10; 1931–33; 1935) revealed that the site had been occupied occasionally during the late 4th millennium bc. The city was not founded until about 880/879 bc, when Omri ...
  • Sabʿatayn Desert, Al- (desert, Arabia)
    ...interior valley cleaving through the jawl, with its lower course reaching the sea under the name Wadi Al-Masīlah. In the interior the sand desert of Ramlat As-Sabʿatayn lies on the slope descending from Al-Kawr to the Rubʿ al-Khali, which is gentle both here and going down from the jawl....
  • Sabʿatayn Dunes, Al- (desert, Arabia)
    ...interior valley cleaving through the jawl, with its lower course reaching the sea under the name Wadi Al-Masīlah. In the interior the sand desert of Ramlat As-Sabʿatayn lies on the slope descending from Al-Kawr to the Rubʿ al-Khali, which is gentle both here and going down from the jawl....
  • Sabʿatayn, Ramlat Al- (desert, Arabia)
    ...interior valley cleaving through the jawl, with its lower course reaching the sea under the name Wadi Al-Masīlah. In the interior the sand desert of Ramlat As-Sabʿatayn lies on the slope descending from Al-Kawr to the Rubʿ al-Khali, which is gentle both here and going down from the jawl....
  • Sabathia, CC (American baseball player)
    ...in the 20th century to change leagues. The team began playing in a new stadium, Miller Park, in 2001. In 2008 the Brewers—led by sluggers Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun and dominant pitchers CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets—won 90 games and qualified for the postseason as the NL Wild Card (as owner of the best record for a team that did not win its division title), the team’s firs...
  • Sabatier, Apollonie (French courtesan)
    Between 1852 and 1854 Baudelaire addressed a number of poems to Apollonie Sabatier, celebrating her, despite her reputation as a high-class courtesan, as his madonna and muse, and in 1854 he had a brief liaison with the actress Marie Daubrun. In the meantime Baudelaire’s growing reputation as Poe’s translator and as an art critic at last enabled him to publish some of his poems. In J...
  • Sabatier, Auguste (French biblical scholar)
    French Protestant theologian and educator who helped popularize biblical interpretation by applying methods of historical criticism. He also promoted the development of liberal Protestant theology and the Roman Catholic Modernist movement by his interpretation of Christian doctrine as the symbolism of religious feelings. Among his principal writings that have been translated into English are Th...
  • Sabatier, Louis-Auguste (French biblical scholar)
    French Protestant theologian and educator who helped popularize biblical interpretation by applying methods of historical criticism. He also promoted the development of liberal Protestant theology and the Roman Catholic Modernist movement by his interpretation of Christian doctrine as the symbolism of religious feelings. Among his principal writings that have been translated into English are Th...
  • Sabatier, Paul (French historian)
    French historian and educator who is chiefly remembered for his biography of St. Francis of Assisi....
  • Sabatier, Paul (French chemist)
    French organic chemist and corecipient, with Victor Grignard, of the 1912 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for researches in catalytic organic synthesis, in particular for discovering the use of nickel as a catalyst in hydrogenation (the addition of hydrogen to molecules of carbon compounds)....
  • Sabatinus, Lacus (lake, Italy)
    circular lake in Roma provincia, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies in the Sabatini Mountains, just northwest of Rome. Mineral hot springs along its shores recall its earlier geologic formation from a group of volcanic craters. The surface lies 538 feet (164 m) above sea level, with an area of 22 square miles (58 square km). The maximum depth is 525 feet (160 m) and the d...
  • Sábato, Ernesto (Argentine writer)
    Argentine novelist, journalist, and essayist whose novels are notable for their concern with philosophical and psychological issues and whose political and social studies were highly influential in Argentina in the latter half of the 20th century....
  • Sabazius (Greek religion)
    ...Particular parts of the body and symbolical objects may also be sculpturally represented. They may be the male and female sexual organs (e.g., the liṅga-yoni in Hinduism); the hand of Sabazius, a Greek god sometimes identified with Dionysus (the god of wine), whose hand is portrayed as raised in blessing and encircled by a number of rather bizarre appendages; and human limbs used....
  • Sabbas, Saint (Palestinian monk)
    Christian Palestinian monk, champion of orthodoxy in the 5th-century controversies over the nature of Christ. He founded the monastery known as the Great Laura of Mar Saba, a renowned community of contemplative monks in the Judaean desert near Jerusalem. This community became a prototype for the subsequent development of Eastern Orthodox monasticism....
  • sabbat (assembly)
    ...accomplish magical deeds, and to desecrate the crucifix and the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist (Holy Communion). It was also believed that they rode through the air at night to “sabbats” (secret meetings), where they engaged in sexual orgies and even had sex with Satan; that they changed shapes (from human to animal or from one human form to another); that they often....
  • Sabbatai Zebi (Jewish heretic)
    a false messiah who developed a mass following and threatened rabbinical authority in Europe and the Middle East....
  • Sabbatai Zevi (Jewish heretic)
    a false messiah who developed a mass following and threatened rabbinical authority in Europe and the Middle East....
  • Sabbatarianism (religion)
    doctrine of those Christians who believe that Sunday (the Christian Sabbath) should be observed in accordance with the Fourth Commandment, which forbids work on the Sabbath because it is a holy day. Some other Christians have contended that the Fourth (or Third in some systems) Commandment was a part of the Hebrew ceremonial, not moral, law. They believe that ...
  • Sabbath (Judaism)
    (from shavat, “cease,” or “desist”), day of holiness and rest observed by Jews from sunset on Friday to nightfall of the following day. The time division follows the biblical story of creation: “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5)....
  • Sabbath River (legendary river)
    legendary “Sabbath River” beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled in 721 bc by Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria. Legends describe it as a roaring torrent (often not of water but of stones), the turbulence of which ceases only on the Sabbath, when Jews are not allowed to travel....
  • sabbatical cycle (time measurement)
    ...cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). But since the seasonal pattern is not dependable, the need for order evoked a system of cycles, notably the sabbatical, or seven-year, cycle. The sabbatical year was the seventh year, and the jubilee year followed seven sabbatical cycles. This was a pervasive system in the ancient Middle East. A Ugaritic......
  • sabbatical leave
    Leaves of absence are also more frequent than in other occupations. The sabbatical leave is a widespread practice among universities and is even available in some school systems. Formerly a fully paid leave for study or research every seventh year, it is now often reduced to a fully paid leave for a half year or half-salary for a full year. Maternity leave is generally available to women......
  • sabbatical millennium (religion)
    To delay the End and reap the benefits of nonapocalyptic millennialism, theologians placed great weight on the idea of a “sabbatical” millennium. Combining Genesis 1 (six days of travail, then one of sabbath, or rest) with Psalm 90 (1,000 years equals a day in the sight of the Lord), this concept promised the advent of the 1,000-year kingdom after 6,000 years. About ad ...
  • Sabbatini, Nicola (Italian architect)
    Italian architect and engineer who pioneered in theatrical perspective techniques. He worked in Pesaro, where he designed the Teatro del Sole, and possibly in Ravenna and Modena....
  • Sabbatius, Petrus (Byzantine emperor)
    Byzantine emperor (527–565), noted for his administrative reorganization of the imperial government and for his sponsorship of a codification of laws known as the Codex Justinianus (534)....

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