Dolley Payne Madison was born in Guilford County, North Carolina on May 20, 1768. Dolley was born the first girl in a family of several children to Quaker parents, John Payne and Mary Coles. She spent her childhood in Scotchtown, Virginia. “The Paynes were well connected and sufficiently prosperous, small planters in Hanover County.”1 The…
Dionysus was the most widely worshipped and popular god in ancient Greece. It’s not difficult to see why; he was their god of wine, merriment, ritual dance, warm moisture, and later, civilization. He was often depicted as a handsome young man, dressed in fawnskin, and carrying a goblet and an ivy-covered staff. Some myths hold…
His Early Life Dante Alighieri was born under the sign of Gemini, he was thought to be born on May 29, but this is not certain. He was born in Florence, the son of Alighiero II, his family was one of lower nobility. His mother died when he was a child and his father when…
The Anasazi, who were named by the Navajos, knew how to chart the seasons by observing the sky. The biggest mystery of Chaco Canyon is why the Anasazi decided to leave the home that they had built over so many years. the one thing that is quite interesting is that they were able to construct…
A fraternity, as defined by the The American Heritage Dictionary is “a chiefly social organization of male college students, usually designated by Greek letters.”(pg. 523) This definition, however, is very limited and leaves plenty of space for short sighted people to believe the stereotype conveyed by the popular media, where fraternity members are depicted as…
Chivalry, the order of knighthood, and especially, the code of knightly behavior, comes from many origins. In Middle English, the word “chevalrie” meant “mounted horseman”. In Old French, the word “chevalrie” meant knightliness or “chevalier” meaning knight. (Microsoft, Encarta) Almost all origins of the word meant horseman. Warfare was not an option in the medieval…
Charles Manson is known as one of the most sinister and evil criminals of all time. He organized the murders that shocked the world and his name still strikes fear into American hearts. Manson’s childhood, personality, and uncanny ability to control people led to the creation of a family-like cult and ultimately to the bloody…
Frederic Ogden Nash was an American humorist who lived from 1902 to 1971. He was born in 1902 in Rye, New York, where he grew up with well educated parents. Microsoft Encarta 95 said that his parent’s names were Edmund Strudwick Nash and Mattie Nash. During his childhood years, Nash was educated at several private…
Samuel Clemens based his works on things that occurred throughout his personal life. He gained many interests and talents while on the Mississippi River that contributed to his writings. Samuel Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was two months premature. At the time of his birth, Haley’s comet was in…
“There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportions” (Biography on Poe 8). Edgar Alan Poe endured a very difficult life and this is evident in his literary style. He was once titled the “master of the macabre.” One of the aspects in his life with which he struggled was social isolation. He…
One of the greatest city states of all time was the city state of Athens from which we take many of our modern ways. Their government was a full democracy in which they had an assembly was all male citizens over 25 years old, they had the council of five hundred which was chosen by…
Caius Julius Caesar, a Roman consul, was a great leader and a terrible dictator. Many of his reforms were excellent, but he also was hungry for the power of Roman Dictator, which would give him absolute power for as long as he required it. Throughout his life he did many things including creating the calendar…
Anne Boleyn was a very important, if not the most important character in Anne of a Thousand Days. The way that she behaves, and the decisions that she makes, effect the way that the ends. For example, Anne could have refused to marry Henry, and could have run away. These actions and decisions would have…
The ancient Romans were similar to todays generations in their eating habits but never ate three hearty meals a day. Ientaculum and prandium were merely appetizers that filled their stomachs unitl the large cena, the event they look forward to since awakening. They had names for their meals similar to ours, breakfast (ientaculum), lunch (prandium),…
All Quiet on the Western Front is a graphic depiction of the horrors of war. In the short note before Chapter One, Remarque lets the reader know exactly what themes he intends. War is a savage and gratuitous evil, war is unnatural, and war is responsible for the destruction of an entire generation. Remarque is…
The Arab League is a regional organization that was founded on March 22, 1945. The league’s function is to promote political cooperation among it’s member states, and to deal with disputes or any breaches of peace in the region. The league’s official name is the League of Arab States. The founding members of the league…
The plot of The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy, can often be confusing and difficult to follow. The pages of this novel are filled with sex, scandal, and alcohol, but it provides for a very interesting and unique story. It all begins one day in the large Wessex village of Weydon-Priors. Michael Henchard, a…
Every company has what is known as a “signature piece,” that is, a work which expresses something about the artistic direction and the spirit of the company. For the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater that piece is Revelations. Choreographed and set to traditional music, Revelations was first performed at the Ninety-second Street YM-YWHA New York, NY.,…
ALLEGORY, pronounced AL uh gawr ee, is a story with more than one meaning. Most allegories have moral or religious meanings. Famous allegories include the fables attributed to Aesop, an ancient Greek writer. Aesop’s fables seem to describe the adventures of animals and human beings. But the author actually wanted to teach his readers something…
The ancient Kingdom of Macedonia, situated in the north of modern Greece, was established by Perdiccas I about 640 B.C. Perdiccas was a Dorian, although the Macedonian tribes included Thracian and Illyrian elements. Originally a semibarbarous and fragmented power, Macedon became tributary to Persia under the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes I and thereafter…
