Pole, Edmund de la. 1472-1513. Yorkist claimant to British throne. Beheaded.

Politburo. 1917~. Soviet governing body, arm of Communist Party. Abolished by Stalin 1952-66.

Pol Pot. 1925-98. Cambodian Communist Khmer Rouge leader. Arrested 1997.

Polyphemus. Cyclops blinded by Ulysses.

Polytheism. Belief in multiple gods.

Poor Law Commission. 1842. Chadwick recommends municipal clean water supply and sewage systems to prevent disease.

Post-Romantic. Music style of late 19C, early 20C. Exaggerated Romanticism. Mahler. Schoenberg.

Potemkin. Russian battleship, 1905 mutiny.

Praetorius, Michael. 1571-1621. German choral composer. Musae Sioniae 1605-10. Syntagma Musicum 1615-19.

Pravda. 1912. Newspaper of Russian Communist Party.

Presley, Elvis. 1935-77. US singer of rock, folk, gospel, and country music. 28M records sold. Heartbreak Hotel 1956.

Prophet. Old Testament Hebrew spiritual leader, divinely inspired spokesperson. Muhammad, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Jesus.

Pufendorf, Samuel von. 1632-94. German historian/jurist. Universal natural laws.

P’u-i, Henry. 1906-67. Last Chinese Emperor. 1908-12. Japanese puppet Emperor of Manchukuo 1934-45. Interned by Soviets in Siberia 1945-50. Reeducated by Communist Chinese. Pardoned 1959. Mechanic. From Emperor to Citizen 1980.

Pyramus and Thisbe. Legendary Babylonian lovers of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Pythian Games. -4C. Musical and athletic contests at Delphi.

Qaddafi, Muammar. 1942-. Radical nationalist Libyan dictator 1969- after deposing Idris I. Nationalized oil industry 1973. Middle East terrorist supporter.

Quadrivium. Arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, music. Trivium.

Quietism. 1696. Mystic religious movements. Passivity allows communication with God. Hinduism. Sufism. Molinos. Guyon. Fenelon. Soul in passive state is saved by divine spirit.

Quirinus. Roman god of war. Romulus deified.

Rahman, Mujibur. 1920-75. Bangladesh Awami Leader. Prime Minister 1972-, President 1974-. Murdered in coup.

Rajk, Laszlo. 1909-49. Hungarian communist statesman. Hung for treason. Rehabilitated 1956.

Rakovsky, Khristian. 1873-?. Russian Communist leader. Opposed Stalin. Imprisoned 1938.

Ramus, Petrus. 1515-72. French humanist, logician. Reforms of Aristotelian logic.

Ramuz, Charles. 1878-1947. Swiss novelist: Terror on the Mountain 1925. Beauty on Earth 1927. Soldier’s Tale.

162 more results ...