Luxor Vlsk-.sor, 'luk-.sorN Arabic Al-Uqsur City (pop., 1996: 360,503), Upper Egypt. Its name has been given to the southern half of the ruins of Thebes. It is centred on the Great Temple of Amon, which was built on the eastern bank of the Nile River by King Amenhotep III in the 14th century bc. Tutankhamen and Horemheb completed the temple, and Ramses II added to it. Ruins include pillars and courts of the original temple as well as the remains of Coptic churches and a mosque. The modern city serves as a tourist centre and as a market for the surrounding agricultural district. See also Karnak.
luxury tax Excise levy on goods or services considered to be luxuries rather than necessities (e.g., jewelry and perfume). Luxury taxes may be levied with the intent of taxing the rich or in a deliberate effort to alter consumption patterns, either for moral reasons or in times of national emergency. Today revenue productivity generally overshadows the moral argument.
Luyia See Luhya
Luzon \lii-'z6n\ Island (pop., 2000: 37,909,589), Philippines. The coun¬ try’s largest island, with an area of 40,420 sq mi (104,688 sq km), it is the site of Quezon City and Manila, the nation’s capital. Located in the northern Philippine archipelago, it is bounded by the Philippine Sea, the Sibuyan Sea, and the South China Sea, and it is separated from Taiwan by the Luzon Strait. It represents one-third of the country’s land area and half of its population. It is largely mountainous; in 1991 the eruption of Mount Pinatubo altered the island’s geography. It is the country’s leader in both industry and agriculture.
Luzon Strait Passage between northern Luzon, Philippines, and south¬ ern Taiwan. Connecting the China Sea on the west with the Philippine Sea on the east, and extending 200 mi (320 km), it is part of an important shipping route. A series of channels, it is dotted with the islands of the Batan and Babuyan island groups.
Lviv \l9-'ve-u,\ English \l3-'vef\ or Lvov Mo-'voA City (pop., 2001: 733,000), western Ukraine. Founded c. 1256 by Prince Daniel of Galicia,
it came under Polish rule in 1349. Lviv became one of the great medi¬ eval trading towns and changed hands many times. It was taken by the Cossacks in 1648 and by the Swedes in 1704. Given to Austria in 1772, it became the capital of the Austrian province of Galicia. It passed to Poland in 1919, after an unsuccessful attempt by Ukrainians to set up a republic (1918). It was seized by the Soviet Union in 1939 and, after Ger¬ man occupation, annexed by the Soviets in 1945. It is now a centre for Ukrainian culture and the seat of a university (founded 1661).
Lvov \l3-'v6f\, Georgy (Yevgenyevich), Prince (b. Nov. 2, 1861, Popovka, near Tula, Russia—d. March 7, 1925, Paris, France) Russian politician, first head of the provisional government established during the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1905 he joined the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party and was elected to the first Duma (1906). He became chairman of the All-Russian Union of Zemstvos (1914) and won the respect of political liberals and army commanders. In March 1917 he became premier but was unable to satisfy the increasingly radical demands of the populace. He resigned in July, after a major left-wing demonstration, in favour of Aleksandr Kerensky. Arrested when the Bol¬ sheviks seized power, he escaped and settled in Paris.
Lyallpur See Faisalabad
Lyautey \lyo-'ta\, Louis-Hubert-Gonzalve (b. Nov. 17, 1854, Nancy, France—d. July 21, 1934, Thorey) French soldier and first colo¬ nial administrator in Morocco under the protectorate (1912-56). Early in his career he served in French Indochina, Madagascar, and Algeria. As resident general in Morocco (1912-24), he pacified the colony and advo¬ cated the principle of indirect rule.
Lycaonia \,lI-ka- , o-ne-3\ Ancient region, southern Anatolia. Situated north of the Taurus Mountains in present-day Turkey, in ancient times it was bounded by the regions of Caria and Pamphylia. It was ruled by Alex¬ ander the Great, the Seleucids, the Attalids, and, finally, the Romans. Under Rome it was attached to Galatia and Cappadocia. From Seleucid times on, Iconium (modem Konya) served as its capital. It was visited by St. Paul and by the 4th century had developed an organized ecclesiastical system.
lyceum Ml-'se-omV movement Form of adult education popular in the U.S. during the mid-19th century. The lyceums were voluntary local asso¬ ciations that sponsored lectures and debates on topics of current interest. The first was founded in 1826, and by 1834 there were approximately 3,000 in the Northeast and Midwest. They attracted such speakers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Daniel Webster, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Susan B. Anthony. The movement began to decline with the outbreak of the Civil War and eventually blended into the postbellum Chautauqua movement. In their heyday the lyceums contrib¬ uted to the broadening of the school curricula and the development of local museums and libraries.
lychee See litchi
Lycia Vli-shoV Ancient district, southwestern Anatolia. Located along the Mediterranean Sea coast in present-day Turkey, in ancient times it was situated between the regions of Caria and Pamphylia. By the 8th century bc it was a thriving maritime country. It later fell to king Cyrus II of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty. Annexed to Roman Pamphylia in ad 43, after the 4th century it became a separate Roman province.
Lycurgus \U-'k3r-g3s\ (fl. 7th century bc?) Legendary founder of the legal institutions of ancient Sparta. Because ancient sources give differ¬ ing accounts of his career, some scholars conclude that he was not a his¬ torical person, but many believe that a man named Lycurgus instituted drastic reforms in Sparta after the revolt of the helots in the 7th century bc. Lycurgus is thought to have devised the militarized communal system that made Sparta unique among Greek city-states and to have determined the powers of the council and the assembly.
Lycurgus (b. c. 390— d. 324 bc) Athenian orator and statesman. He sup¬ ported Demosthenes in opposing Macedonia. As controller of state finances (338-326), he was noted for his efficient administration and vigorous prosecution of corrupt officials. He reconstituted the army and remodeled the fleet, carried on a major building program that included reconstruc¬ tion of the theatre of Dionysus, produced the official edition of the dra¬ mas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and worked to restore Athenian cults and festivals.
Lydia Ancient land, western Anatolia. Located in present-day Turkey, it was bounded on the west by the Aegean Sea and profoundly influenced
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lye ► Lynd I 1153
the Ionian Greeks in the 7th-6th centuries bc through such economic developments as the use of metallic coinage. It was conquered by the Per¬ sians under Cyrus II in 546 bc. It later passed to Syria and Pergamum, and under the Romans it became part of the province of Asia.
lye Alkaline (see alkali) liquid extracted by soaking wood ashes in water, commonly used for washing and in making soap. More generally, lye is any strong alkaline solution or solid, such as sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) or potassium hydroxide (caustic potash).
Lyell Vli-olX, Sir Charles (b. Nov. 14, 1797, Kinnordy, Forfarshire, Scot.—d. Feb. 22, 1875, London,
Eng.) Scottish geologist. While studying law at the University of Oxford, he became interested in geology and later met such notable geologists as Alexander von Humboldt and Georges Cuvier. Lyell came to believe that there were natural (as opposed to supernatural) explana¬ tions for all geologic phenomena, a position he supported with many examples in his three-volume Prin¬ ciples of Geology (1830—33). A rec¬ ognized leader in his field, he gained the friendship of other well-known men of science, including the Her- SCHEL FAMILY and CHARLES DARWIN, whose Origin of Species (1859) per¬ suaded Lyell to accept evolution.