Alcaeus was one of the greatest Grecian lyric poets He was born at Mitylene, in Lesbos, and nourished there at the close of the seventh and beginning of the sixth centuries B.C.; but of his life little is known. A strong manly enthusiasm for freedom and justice pervades his lyrics, of which only a few fragments are left. He wrote in the AEolic dialect, and was the inventor of a metre that bears his name, which Horace has employed in many of his odes. Research Alcaeus
Alcman was the chief lyric poet of Sparta. A Lydian by birth, he flourished between 671 BC and 631 BC and wrote (in the Doric dialect) love songs, hymns, paeans, etc, of which only fragments remain. Research Alcman
The Celts were, according to some sources, ancient tribes of people which came to Britain from central Europe in the late Bronze age and again in the Iron Age. The name is also applied to the Ancient Britons, peoples living in Britain around the time of the bronze age until the invasion by the Romans. The Celts left no written accounts of their life, written accounts were made by the Romans, who in all probability were less than gracious.
Through archaeology we are able to understand a little of Celtic life, we know that they wove cloth, and yet corpses found are all dressed identically in a cloth made of brown felt, like a blanket, comprising a skirt and a cloak like top covering, in the case of women sometimes a crop top arrangement. These clothes found on dead Celts are often very tatty, full of holes, even though the deceased was obviously wealthy and of status, established from the artefacts found buried with the body.
We think that the Celts lived in round houses constructed of wattle and daub, and thatched with straw - these houses did not have a hole in the roof to emit the smoke from the interior fire, contrary to popular belief. If they had, the roof would fall outwards, and rain fall in and extinguish the fire. Rather, the smoke from the interior fire assisted in seasoning the wood and killing insects. They were farmers, growing wheat, barley and keeping sheep, pigs and goats. They were very eco-friendly, sustaining their environment for over a thousand years, and understanding herbalism which was used for medicine, and the production of coloured dyes.
At an early date the Celts divided into two great branches, speaking dialects widely differing from each other, but doubtless belonging to the same stock. One of these branches is the Gad-helic or Gaelic, represented by the Highlanders of Scotland, the Celtic Irish, and the Manx; the other is the Cymric, represented by the Welsh, the inhabitants of Cornwall, and those of Brittany. The Cornishdialect is now extinct.
The sun seems to have been the principal object of worship among the Celts, and groves of oak and the remarkable circles of stone commonly called 'Druidical Circles', their temples of worship. All the old Celts seem to have possessed a kind of literary order called Bards. The ancient Irish wrote in a rude alphabet called the Ogham; later they employed the Roman alphabet, or the Anglo-Saxon form of it. The chief literature existing consists of the hymns, martyrologies, annals, and laws of Ireland, written from the 9th to the 16th centuries. The Scottish Gaelic literature extant includes a collection of manuscripts in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, some of v/hich date from the 12th century; the Book of the Dean of Lismore, 16th century; a number of songs from the 17th century to the present day; and the so-called poems of Ossian. The Welsh literary remains date from the 9th century, and consist of glossaries, grammars, annals, genealogies, histories, poems, prose tales, etc. Research Celts
Cockney is a term which was originally applied (with regard to people) to the inhabitants of any town, and implied their ignorance of farming and agriculture. During the 17th century its use became limited to the inhabitants of London, and more recently to those born within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow (Bow bells) in London. The cockney dialect is chiefly characterised by the substitution of f or v for th (e.g. brover for brother), of ah for ou (e.g. rahnd for round) and ou for o (nou for no) and also a tendency to nasalise many vowels. Other peculiarities are substituting a long i for a long a (e.g. lidy for lady) and oi for i (foin for fine) and the dropping or misplacement of the letter h ('e for he) and of pronouncing many words ending in 'ts' as two syllables, as though there were an 'e' between the 't' and the 's'. Research Cockney
The Czechs are the most westerly branch of the Slavic peoples. About 480 they migrated to Bohemia and Moravia. The origin of the name is unknown. Czechs speak a Slavonic dialect of great antiquity and of high scientific cultivation. The Czech language is distinguished as highly inflectional, with great facility for forming derivatives, frequentatives, inceptives, and diminutives of all kinds. Like the Greek it has a dual number, and its manifold declensions, tenses, and participial formations, with their subtle shades of distinction, give the language a complex grammatical structure. The alphabet consists of forty-two letters, expressing a great variety of sounds. In musical value the Czech comes next to Italian. Research Czechs
The Dorians were one of the four great branches of the Greek nation who migrated from Thessaly southwards, settling for a time in the mountainous district of Doris in Northern Greece and finally in Peloponnesus. Their migration to the latter was said to have taken place in 1104 BC; and as among their leaders were certain descendants of Hercules (or Heracles), it was known as the return of the Heraclidae. The Dorians ruled in Sparta with great renown as a strong and warlike people, though less cultivated than the other Greeks in arts and letters. Their laws were severe and rigid, as typified in the codes of the great Doric legislators Minos and Lycurgus. The Doric dialect was characterized by its broadness and hardness, yet on account of its venerable and antique style was often used in solemn odes and choruses. Research Dorians
Edmund Spenser was an English poet. He was born in 1552 in London and died in 1599. Born of humble parentage he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, graduating in 1576 before spending some months living in Lancashire learning the local dialect before returning to London where he was introduced to the earl of Leicester and his nephew Philip Sidney, with whom Edmund Spenser became firm friends. Spenser became famous as a poet following the publication of 'The Shepheardes Calender' in 1579.
In 1580 Spenser went to Ireland as secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, the new lord deputy, whose remorseless methods of imposing order Spenser admired. After filing various posts, Spenser was awarded with an estate of 3000 acres of County Cork, including Kilcolman Castle, and after flattering Elizabeth in the first of three books entitled 'The Faerie Queen', was further awarded a pension of fifty pounds by the queen. In 1597 Edmund Spenser's home, Kilcolman Castle, was burned down during an insurrection against the English occupation and persecution of the Irish, and one of his children was killed in the fire. As a result Spenser returned to London where he died a broken man. Research Edmund Spenser
Edward Eggleston was an American novelist and miscellaneous writer. He was born in 1837 and died in 1902. He entered the ministry of the MethodistChurch, and was engaged in pastoral work for a number of years, latterly as pastor of an independent church founded by himself. He wrote and edited much, among his books being The HoosierSchoolmaster (1871), The End of the World: A Love Story; Roxy, a highly popular novel (1878); The Hoosier Schoolboy; The Graysons;
Household History of the United States; The Faith Doctor. His novels are marked by abundance of incident, skilful handling of dialect, and realistic portraiture. Research Edward Eggleston
Hellenists is a name for those Jews who, especially in Egypt after the time of Alexander the Great, became imbued with Greek culture and civilization, and spoke and wrote in Greek. To them was due the formation of the peculiar dialect termed the Hellenistic dialect of Greek, the special feature of which was its use of foreign, and more particularly of Hebrew and Aramaic words and idioms. The most noted of the Jewish Hellenistic philosophers was Philo of Alexandria, and the chief of the learned labours of the Alexandrian Jews was the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. Research Hellenists
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Alcaeus
