leopard, (Panthera pardus), large cat closely related to the lion, tiger, and jaguar. The name leopard was originally given to the cat now called cheetah—the so-called hunting leopard—which was once thought to be a cross between the lion and the pard. The term pard was eventually replaced by the

Leo V was a Byzantine emperor responsible for inaugurating the second Iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire. When Bardanes Turcus and Nicephorus I were fighting over the Byzantine throne in 803, Leo, son of the patrician Bardas, at first served Bardanes but later sided with Nicephorus. Leo

eclipse: Medieval European: …penned by the contemporary chronicler Leo the Deacon:

St. Leo I ; Western feast day November 10 ([formerly April 11]), Eastern feast day February 18) was the pope from 440 to 461, and a master exponent of papal supremacy. His pontificate—which saw the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West and the formation in the East of theological

Leo III was a Byzantine emperor (717–741), who founded the Isaurian, or Syrian, dynasty, successfully resisted Arab invasions, and engendered a century of conflict within the empire by banning the use of religious images (icons). Born at Germanicia (Marʿash) in northern Syria (modern Maraş, Tur.),

Leo IV was a Byzantine emperor whose reign marked a transition between the period of Iconoclasm and the restoration of the icons. Leo became Byzantine emperor in 775 at the death of his father, Constantine V. The following year, at the request of the army and with the support of the Senate and the

John Boorman: Early documentaries, first feature film, and Point Blank: Leo the Last (1970) was a quirky philosophical tale about an exiled monarch (Marcello Mastroianni) who returns to his family’s London home and finds the surrounding area has become impoverished. Although initially self-absorbed, he slowly becomes involved in the lives of his neighbors. The dramedy…

Leo VI was the Byzantine coemperor from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire. Leo was the son of Basil I the Macedonian, who had begun the codification, and his second wife, Eudocia Ingerina. Made coemperor in 870, Leo

Leo VI was the Byzantine coemperor from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire. Leo was the son of Basil I the Macedonian, who had begun the codification, and his second wife, Eudocia Ingerina. Made coemperor in 870, Leo

Leo I was the Eastern Roman emperor from ad 457 to 474. Leo was a Thracian who, beginning his career in the army, became a protégé of General Aspar. In proclaiming Leo Eastern emperor at Constantinople (Feb. 7, 457), Aspar expected to use him as a puppet ruler. Leo, who had recognized Majorian as

museum: History museums: …Chinese province of Sichuan; the Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow; Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home in Virginia; and Paul Gauguin’s residence in Tahiti, now the Paul Gauguin Museum.

snow leopard, large long-haired Asian cat, classified as either Panthera uncia or Uncia uncia in the family Felidae. The snow leopard inhabits the mountains of central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, ranging from an elevation of about 1,800 metres (about 6,000 feet) in the winter to about 5,500

Leo V was a pope from August to September 903. Elected while a priest to succeed Pope Benedict IV, Leo assumed the pontificate in a dark period of papal history. He was deposed and imprisoned by the antipope Christopher. Leo was perhaps murdered, either by Christopher or his successor, Pope Sergius

Leo V was a Byzantine emperor responsible for inaugurating the second Iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire. When Bardanes Turcus and Nicephorus I were fighting over the Byzantine throne in 803, Leo, son of the patrician Bardas, at first served Bardanes but later sided with Nicephorus. Leo

Leo VI was pope from May to December 928. He was Pope John VIII’s prime minister and later a cardinal priest when elected by the senatrix Marozia, then head of the powerful Roman Crescentii family, who deposed and imprisoned Leo’s predecessor, Pope John X. His principal act was the regulation of

Leo VI was the Byzantine coemperor from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire. Leo was the son of Basil I the Macedonian, who had begun the codification, and his second wife, Eudocia Ingerina. Made coemperor in 870, Leo

Leo VII was the pope from 936 to 939. He was probably a Benedictine monk when he succeeded John XI, who had been imprisoned by Duke Alberic II of Spoleto. In 936 he invited Abbot St. Odo of Cluny (then one of the most influential abbeys in western Europe) to help him settle the struggle between

Leo VIII was a pope, or antipope, from 963 to 965. The legitimacy of his election has long been debated. A Roman synod in December 963 deposed and expelled Pope John XII for dishonourable conduct and for instigating an armed conspiracy against the Holy Roman emperor Otto I the Great. Otto, who had

Leo X was one of the leading Renaissance popes (reigned 1513–21). He made Rome a cultural center and a political power, but he depleted the papal treasury, and, by failing to take the developing Protestant Reformation seriously, he contributed to the dissolution of the Western church. Leo

Leo XI was the pope from April 1–27, 1605. Pope Gregory XIII made him bishop of Pistoia, Italy, in 1573, archbishop of Florence in 1574, and cardinal in 1583. He was elected to succeed Clement VIII on April 1,

Leo XII was the pope from 1823 to 1829. Ordained in 1783, della Genga became private secretary to Pope Pius VI, who in 1793 sent him as ambassador to Lucerne, Switz. In 1794 he was appointed ambassador to Cologne, subsequently being entrusted with missions to several German courts. Pope Pius VII

Leo XIII was the head of the Roman Catholic Church (1878–1903) who brought a new spirit to the papacy, expressed in more conciliatory positions toward civil governments, by less opposition to scientific progress, and by an awareness of the pastoral and social needs of the times. Vincenzo Gioacchino

Heinrich Leo was a Prussian conservative historian. As a student at the universities of Breslau, Jena, and Göttingen, Leo joined the extreme revolutionary wing of the students’ association. But, after reading Edmund Burke and Albrecht Haller and after a friend of his murdered the reactionary

Leonardo Leo was a composer who was noted for his comic operas and who was instrumental in forming the Neapolitan style of opera composition. Leo entered the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini at Naples in 1709, where his earliest known work, a sacred drama, L’infedeltà Abbattuta, was performed

Melissa Leo is an American actress who is known for her naturalistic portrayals of tough, flinty women dealing with difficult situations. Leo became enamoured with acting when as a small child she was enrolled in the Peter Schumann Bread and Puppet Theater Workshop. She later studied at the

Melissa Leo is an American actress who is known for her naturalistic portrayals of tough, flinty women dealing with difficult situations. Leo became enamoured with acting when as a small child she was enrolled in the Peter Schumann Bread and Puppet Theater Workshop. She later studied at the

Leoben, town, southeast-central Austria, on the Mur River, northwest of Graz. An ancient settlement, it was reestablished as a town by Ottokar II of Bohemia about 1263. Medieval buildings include the Maria am Waasen Church (12th century, rebuilt 15th century) with magnificent Gothic stained-glass

Venice: End of the Venetian republic: The Peace of Leoben left Venice without an ally, and Ludovico Manin, the last doge, was deposed on May 12, 1797. A provisional democratic municipality was set up in place of the republican government, but later in the same year Venice was handed over to Austria.

Leochares was a Greek sculptor to whom the Apollo Belvedere (Roman copy, Vatican Museum) is often attributed. About 353–c. 350 bc Leochares worked with Scopas on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Most of his attributions are from ancient records. The base of a

Ebroïn: Leodegar (or Léger), bishop of Autun, of complicity in Childeric’s murder; the bishop’s tongue and lips were cut off before he was finally executed.

Red Bluff, city, seat (1857) of Tehama county, northern California, U.S. It lies along the Sacramento River, 115 miles (185 km) north-northwest of Sacramento. Settled in the 1840s, it was known as Leodocia until sometime before 1854, when it was renamed for the reddish sand and low bluffs on which

Leofric was an Anglo-Saxon earl of Mercia (from 1023 or soon thereafter), one of the three great earls of 11th-century England, who took a leading part in public affairs. On the death of King Canute in 1035, Leofric supported the claim of Canute’s son Harold to the throne against that of

Léogâne, city and port on the Gulf of Gonâve, southwestern Haiti, lying approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Port-au-Prince on the north shore of the country’s southern peninsula. A former French colonial town, Léogâne has long been the centre of a predominantly agricultural region. The city was

2010 Haiti earthquake: The earthquake: …by contractional deformation along the Léogâne fault, a small hidden thrust fault discovered underneath the city of Léogâne. The Léogâne fault, which cannot be observed at the surface, descends northward at an oblique angle away from the EPG fault system, and many geologists contend that the earthquake resulted from the…

Leominster, city, Worcester county, north-central Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the Nashua River, just southeast of Fitchburg and about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Boston. The site, purchased from the Nashua Indians in 1701, was originally part of Lancaster. It was separately incorporated as a

Leominster, town (parish), unitary authority and historic county of Herefordshire, west-central England. It is situated on the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye. A religious house was founded on the site in 660, and the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul was the former priory church. The town

León, provincia (province) in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain, consisting of the northern part of the former kingdom of León. In the north are the lofty Cantabrian Mountains, the highest peak of which is the Torrecerredo (8,688 feet [2,648 metres]).

Leon, medieval Spanish kingdom. Leon proper included the cities of León, Salamanca, and Zamora—the adjacent areas of Vallodolid and Palencia being disputed with Castile, originally its eastern frontier. The kings of Leon ruled Galicia, Asturias, and much of the county of Portugal before Portugal

León, city, capital of León provincia (province) in Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain. It lies on the northwestern part of the northern Meseta Central (plateau), at the confluence of the Bernesga and Torío rivers. The city developed from the camp of the

León, city, northwestern Guanajuato estado (state), central Mexico. It stands in a fertile plain on the Turbio River, 6,182 feet (1,884 metres) above sea level. Although León was first settled in 1552, it was not formally founded until 1576 and was given city status in 1830. At that time the words

Leon, medieval Spanish kingdom. Leon proper included the cities of León, Salamanca, and Zamora—the adjacent areas of Vallodolid and Palencia being disputed with Castile, originally its eastern frontier. The kings of Leon ruled Galicia, Asturias, and much of the county of Portugal before Portugal

León, city situated in western Nicaragua. The city of León was founded on the edge of Lake Managua in 1524, but after an earthquake it was moved in 1610 to the site of the old Indian capital and shrine of Sutiaba. León was the capital of the Spanish province and of the Republic of Nicaragua until

León, city, northwestern Guanajuato estado (state), central Mexico. It stands in a fertile plain on the Turbio River, 6,182 feet (1,884 metres) above sea level. Although León was first settled in 1552, it was not formally founded until 1576 and was given city status in 1830. At that time the words

Emiliano Chamorro Vargas was a prominent diplomat and politician, president of Nicaragua (1917–21). Born to a distinguished Nicaraguan family, Chamorro early became an opponent of the regime of José Santos Zelaya. From 1893 on, Chamorro organized and was active in many of the revolts against this

Jean-Pierre Melville: Léon Morin, prêtre (1961; “Leon Morin, Priest”) was his first major commercial production. It was followed by a series of highly stylized, Hollywood-inspired gangster films: Le Doulos (1962; Doulos—The Finger Man), Le Deuxième Souffle (1966; “Second Wind”), and Le Samourai (1967; “The Samurai”).

Jean-Pierre Melville: Léon Morin, prêtre (1961; “Leon Morin, Priest”) was his first major commercial production. It was followed by a series of highly stylized, Hollywood-inspired gangster films: Le Doulos (1962; Doulos—The Finger Man), Le Deuxième Souffle (1966; “Second Wind”), and Le Samourai (1967; “The Samurai”).

Leone Modena was an Italian rabbi, preacher, poet, scholar, gambling addict, and polemicist who wrote an important attack on the Sefer ha-zohar (“Book of Splendour”), the chief text of Kabbala, the influential body of Jewish mystical teachings. By the time Modena was 12, he could translate portions

Mexico: The northern dynasty: Obregón and Calles: …president-elect, he was assassinated by José de León Toral, a religious fanatic.

Leon Trotsky’s essay on Vladimir Lenin is historically significant not because it is trustworthy in its judgments but because it is unique. Here is one giant figure writing about another (who happened to have been his boss) at a time when both had been—until Lenin’s death in 1924—engaged in making

Daniel De Leon was an American socialist, one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He was one of the chief propagandists for socialism in the early American labour movement, but his uncompromising tactics were often divisive. De Leon arrived in the United States in 1874. In

fuero: …in the west is the Fuero de León (c. 1020), which contains laws applicable to the kingdom in general and to the city of León in particular. The oldest Aragonese fuero was believed to be that of Sorbrarbe (late 11th or early 12th century), though some modern scholars treat it…

San Fernando, city, Cádiz provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. It is situated on a rocky island surrounded by salt marshes that line the southern shore of the Bay of Cadiz, south of Cádiz city. Founded in 1776, it was known as Isla

Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer who founded the first European settlement on Puerto Rico and who is credited with being the first European to reach Florida in 1513. Born into a noble family, Ponce de León was a page in the royal court of Aragon and later fought in a campaign against the

Luis de León was a mystic and poet who contributed greatly to Spanish Renaissance literature. León was a monk educated chiefly at Salamanca, where he obtained his first chair in 1561. Academic rivalry between the Dominicans and the Augustinians, whom he had joined in 1544, led to his denunciation

Democratic Alliance: …fight back,” and its leader, Tony Leon, cultivated a belligerent attitude toward the ruling ANC.

Lyonnesse, mythical “lost” land supposed once to have connected Cornwall in the west of England with the Isles of Scilly lying in the English Channel. The name Lyonnesse first appeared in Thomas Malory’s late 15th-century prose account of the rise and fall of King Arthur, Le Morte Darthur, in which

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi: …novel Lienhard und Gertrud (1781–87; Leonard and Gertrude, 1801), written for “the people,” was a literary success as the first realistic representation of rural life in German. It describes how an ideal woman exposes corrupt practices and, by her well-ordered homelife, sets a model for the village school and the…

Leonard Cohen: The critically acclaimed documentary Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2005) blended interview and archival footage with performances of Cohen’s songs by a variety of musicians.

Benny Leonard was an American world lightweight (135-lb [61.2-kg]) boxing champion from May 28, 1917, when he knocked out Freddy Welsh in nine rounds in New York City, until Jan. 15, 1925, when he retired. He is regarded as one of the cleverest defensive boxers in the history of professional

Buck Leonard was an American baseball player who was one of the best first basemen in the Negro leagues. He was among the first Negro leaguers to receive election into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Leonard, a left-handed hitter, was a semiprofessional player for several years in North Carolina before

Elmore Leonard was an American author of popular crime novels known for his clean prose style, uncanny ear for realistic dialogue, effective use of violence, unforced satiric wit, and colourful characters. Leonard served in the U.S. Naval Reserve (1943–46), then graduated with a bachelor of

Elmore Leonard was an American author of popular crime novels known for his clean prose style, uncanny ear for realistic dialogue, effective use of violence, unforced satiric wit, and colourful characters. Leonard served in the U.S. Naval Reserve (1943–46), then graduated with a bachelor of

E.L. James is a British author best known for the Fifty Shades series of erotic novels. James is the daughter of a Chilean mother and a Scottish father. She studied history at the University of Kent before taking a job as a studio manager’s assistant at the National Film and Television School in

Meteoritical Society: …elected its founder, the astronomer Frederick C. Leonard of the University of California at Los Angeles, as its first president. Annual meetings were suspended during World War II; when they reconvened in 1946, the members adopted the name Meteoritical Society. With the advent of the space age, the society grew…

Tadd Dameron: …big bands, in particular for Harlan Leonard and His Rockets in the early 1940s. Dizzy Gillespie introduced some of his finest songs, including “Good Bait” and “Our Delight”; Gillespie also premiered his extended orchestral work Soulphony at Carnegie Hall in 1948. The small groups Dameron led on the East Coast…

Lillian Russell was an American singer and actress in light comedies who represented the feminine ideal of her generation. She was as famous for her flamboyant personal life as for her beauty and voice. Born Helen Leonard, she attended convent and private schools in Chicago. About 1877 or 1878 she

Kawhi Leonard is an American professional basketball player noted for his prowess on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball whose status as one of the NBA’s best wing players has been hampered by recurring injuries. He currently plays small forward for the Los Angeles Clippers. Leonard

Kawhi Leonard is an American professional basketball player noted for his prowess on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball whose status as one of the NBA’s best wing players has been hampered by recurring injuries. He currently plays small forward for the Los Angeles Clippers. Leonard

Frederick Leonard Lonsdale was a British playwright and librettist whose lightweight comedies of manners were admired because of their tight construction and epigrammatic wit. Lonsdale established himself as a librettist of musical comedies, chief among them being The King of Cadonia (1908), The

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American former boxer whose agility and finesse helped him win 36 of 40 professional matches and various titles. As an amateur, he took an Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight class at the 1976 Games in Montreal. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.)

Robert Z. Leonard was an American film director who was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s premier directors for some 30 years, best known for a series of popular musicals. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Leonard studied law at the University of Colorado before moving to

Robert Z. Leonard was an American film director who was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s premier directors for some 30 years, best known for a series of popular musicals. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Leonard studied law at the University of Colorado before moving to

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American former boxer whose agility and finesse helped him win 36 of 40 professional matches and various titles. As an amateur, he took an Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight class at the 1976 Games in Montreal. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.)

Buck Leonard was an American baseball player who was one of the best first basemen in the Negro leagues. He was among the first Negro leaguers to receive election into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Leonard, a left-handed hitter, was a semiprofessional player for several years in North Carolina before

Saint John Leonardi ; canonized 1938; feast day October 9) was the founder of the Roman Catholic Ordo Clericorum Regularium Matris Dei (Clerks Regular of the Mother of God), whose members were commonly called Leonardini; the order was distinguished for learning and was originally devoted to

Permian Period: Later work: …of four series—namely, the Wolfcampian, Leonardian, Guadalupian, and Ochoan—on the basis of the succession in West Texas and New Mexico.

Saint John Leonardi: …founder of the Roman Catholic Ordo Clericorum Regularium Matris Dei (Clerks Regular of the Mother of God), whose members were commonly called Leonardini; the order was distinguished for learning and was originally devoted to combatting Protestantism and to promoting the Counter-Reformation.

Giovanni Papini: …an influential Florentine literary magazine, Leonardo (1903). During this period he wrote several violently antitraditionalist works, such as Il crepuscolo dei filosofi (1906; “The Twilight of the Philosophers”), in which he expressed disenchantment with traditional philosophies. One of his best-known and most frequently translated books is the autobiographical novel Un…

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. His Last Supper (1495–98) and Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19) are among the most widely popular and

Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, in Milan, museum devoted to developments in science since the 15th century, including transport, metallurgy, physics, and navigation. It is housed in the old Olivetan convent of San Vittore, which dates from the early 16th century.

Leonardo da Vinci discussed the parachute in a notebook entry now contained in the Codex Atlanticus. Although it is unlikely that he actually tested his idea, a drawing by da Vinci in the codex shows a pyramid-shaped parachute and is accompanied by the following text: On June 26, 2000, British

Fibonacci was a medieval Italian mathematician who wrote Liber abaci (1202; “Book of the Abacus”), the first European work on Indian and Arabian mathematics, which introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe. His name is mainly known because of the Fibonacci sequence. Little is known about

Ruggero Leoncavallo was a Neapolitan opera composer whose fame rests on the opera Pagliacci, which, with Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (1890), represented a reaction against Richard Wagner and against Romantic Italian opera; both works substituted for the quasi-historical plot a

Georg Büchner: Leonce und Lena (written 1836), a satire on the nebulous nature of Romantic ideas, shows the influence of Alfred de Musset and Clemens Brentano. His last work, Woyzeck, a fragment, anticipated the social drama of the 1890s with its compassion for the poor and oppressed.…

Venice Film Festival: Among these is the Leone d’Argento (Silver Lion), which has been awarded for achievements such as best direction and best short film, as well as for runners-up among films competing for the Leone d’Oro. Notable Leone d’Oro winners include Rashomon (1950), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), and Brokeback Mountain…

Venice Film Festival: …festival’s highest honour by the Leone d’Oro (Golden Lion), awarded to the best film. In 1968 students began to protest the Venice Biennale because of what they perceived to be its increasing commodification of art; as a result, no film prizes were awarded in 1969–79, and the festival’s reputation briefly…

Judah Leone ben Isaac Sommo was an Italian author whose writings are a primary source of information about 16th-century theatrical production in Italy. Sommo wrote the first known Hebrew drama, Tzaḥut bediḥuta de-qiddushin (1550; “An Eloquent Comedy of a Marriage”), in which characters such as the

Leo Africanus was a traveler whose writings remained for some 400 years one of Europe’s principal sources of information about Islam. Educated at Fès, in Morocco, Leo Africanus traveled widely as a young man on commercial and diplomatic missions through North Africa and may also have visited the

Sergio Leone was an Italian motion-picture director who was known primarily for his popularization of the “spaghetti western,” a subgenre of movies that were made in Italy but set in the 19th-century American West. The son of a film industry pioneer and an actress, Leone became involved in Italian

Leon Battista Alberti: Contribution to philosophy, science, and the arts of Leon Battista Alberti: At the Este court in Ferrara, where Alberti was first made a welcome guest in 1438, the Marchese Leonello encouraged (and commissioned) him to direct his talents toward another field of endeavour: architecture. Alberti’s earliest effort at reviving classical forms of building still stands in Ferrara, a…

Mexico: Sports and recreation: …and its first national park, Desierto de los Leones (“Desert of the Lions”), near Mexico City in 1917. The backbone of the park system was created by two presidents: during the 1930s Lázaro Cárdenas established some 40 national parks and 7 reserves, and José López Portillo (1976–82) added another 9…

court: …centuries, has six, including the Court of the Lions and Court of the Myrtles, the most celebrated of all Muslim patios. In Tudor and Elizabethan England of the 16th century, the principal mansions frequently had a forecourt, with wings of the house projecting forward on either side. The larger houses…

bridge: U.S. designs: …with the German firm of Leonhardt and Andra, its cost was not significantly different from those of other proposals with more conventional designs. The same designers produced the East End Bridge across the Ohio River between Proctorville, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia, in 1985. The East End has a major…

Leone Leoni was a Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, and medalist who had a tumultuous, yet successful, career in Milan and was a sculptor for the Spanish court. Leoni was the son of a stonemason, and he began his career as a goldsmith and medalist at the mint in Ferrara (Italy). He was excused from

Pompeo Leoni was an Italian late Renaissance sculptor and medalist who, like his father, Leone, was known for his expressive sculpture portraits. In 1556 Pompeo went to Spain to help his father. He produced a large-scale sculpture for the wedding of King Philip II and Anna of Austria in 1570. Also

Venezuela: Technocrats and party politics: …by the Democratic Action candidate Raúl Leoni. The Christian Democrats thereupon withdrew from the governing coalition, but they were replaced by the labour-leftist Democratic Republican Union. The oil and iron ore industries began to boom once more, and a new petrochemical industry was launched. Although prosperity had returned, growing popular…

meteor and meteoroid: Meteor showers: The Leonid meteor shower represents a recently formed meteor stream. This shower, though it occurs every year, tends to increase greatly in visual strength every 33 or 34 years, which is the orbital period of the parent comet, Tempel-Tuttle. Such behaviour results from the fact that…

Olympia: The remains of Olympia: …of the Altis stood the Leonidaeum, a large hostel for the reception of distinguished visitors, which was built in the 4th century bce and remodeled in Roman times. To the northwest were the Palaestra, where wrestlers and boxers trained, and the gymnasium, which included an elaborate entrance gateway and a…

Leonidas was a Spartan king whose stand against the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece is one of the enduring tales of Greek heroism, invoked throughout Western history as the epitome of bravery exhibited against overwhelming odds. A member of the Agiad house,

Agis IV: …led by the other king, Leonidas II, defeated these proposals, Leonidas was deposed. The ephors of 242 tried to restore him to his throne, but they were replaced by a board headed by Agesilaus.