Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Apollodorus" to "Aral" / Volume 2, Slice 3

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

34047

Title

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Apollodorus" to "Aral" / Volume 2, Slice 3

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

This volume presents encyclopedic entries on figures from Apollodorus to Aral, spanning ancient Greek artists, grammarians, architects, and mathematicians, alongside geographical and historical topics. The tone is scholarly and authoritative, offering concise, fact-based overviews of historical personalities, scientific contributions, and geographical features.

Summary up to 500 words

This volume from the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica offers a comprehensive survey of historical figures, geographical locations, and scientific concepts ranging from Apollodorus to Aral. The text begins by exploring multiple individuals named Apollodorus, including an Athenian painter noted for early advancements in perspective, a grammarian who preserved ancient mythology, a comedy writer from Carystus whose works influenced Terence, and a renowned architect who designed Trajan's Forum before his tragic death under Emperor Hadrian. The entries continue with Apollonia, a significant Illyrian city, and a series of Apollonius figures. These include the geometer of Perga, whose treatise on conics defined the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola, and various rhetoricians and grammarians who shaped ancient education. The volume also details the lives of Arab historians such as Ibn Isḥāq and al-Wāqidī, who were instrumental in preserving early Islamic traditions and the biography of the Prophet. Their works evolved from oral traditions to written histories, blending critical analysis with narrative storytelling to document the rise of Islam and Arab conquests. Geographically, the text provides an extensive description of the Aral Sea, the fourth largest inland sea in the world. It details its location between the steppes and deserts of Central Asia, its shallow depth, and its unique ecosystem. The entry highlights the sea's shrinking waters caused by excessive irrigation of its two main feeders, the Amu-darya and Syr-darya, and notes the resulting ecological changes, including the exposure of former islands. The writing style is dense and encyclopedic, rich with historical data, technical details, and citations, reflecting the scholarly nature of the source material. Through these entries, the volume serves as a repository of knowledge on arts, sciences, literature, and general information, capturing the breadth of human achievement and geographical diversity of its time.

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4.2/5

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Categories

• Encyclopedias and dictionaries