Asgard \'as-,gard\ In Norse mythology, the dwelling place of the gods. It consisted of 12 or more realms, including Valhalla, home of Odin; Thrudheim, home of Thor; and Breidablick, home of Balder. Each Norse god had his own palace in Asgard. This heavenly region could only be reached from earth via the rainbow bridge called Bifrost.
ash Any tree of the genus Fraxinus, in the olive family. The genus includes about 70 species of trees and shrubs found mostly in the North¬ ern Hemisphere. The U.S. boasts 18 species of ash, 5 of which furnish most of the ash cut as lumber. Most important are the white ash ( F. amer- icana) and the green ash ( F. pennsylvanica ), which yield wood that is stiff, strong, and resilient, yet lightweight. This “white ash” is used for base¬ ball bats, hockey sticks, paddles and oars, tennis and other racket frames, and the handles of agricultural tools. Black ash ( F. nigra), blue ash ( F. quadrangulata), and Oregon ash (F. latifolia) produce wood of compa¬ rable quality that is used for many more purposes, including furniture, interior paneling, and barrels.
Ash Can school Group of U.S. realist painters, active in New York City c. 1908-18, who specialized in scenes of everyday urban life. Inspired by Robert Henri, the core group included William Glackens, George Luks (1867-1933), Everett Shinn (1876-1953), and John Sloan. As artist-reporters on the Philadelphia Press before moving to New York, they had developed a quick eye and a memory for detail. Though they often depicted slums and outcasts of the city, they were more interested in the picturesque aspects of these subjects than in the social issues they raised. George Wesley Bellows and Edward Hopper were also associated with the group. See also The Eight.
ash cone See cinder cone
Ash Wednesday See Lent Ashanti See Asante
Ashari Va-sha-re\, Abu al-Hasan al- (b. 873/874, Basra, Iraq—d. 935/936, Baghdad) Muslim Arab theologian. He probably belonged to the family of Abu Musa al-Ash c arI, one of the Companions of the Prophet. He joined the Mu'tazilah school and compiled scholarly opin¬ ions in his Maqdlat al-Islamlyin (“Theological Opinions of the Mus¬ lims”). At about age 40 he concluded that his method had led to sterile concepts of God and humanity, and he turned to more orthodox theology. He expanded his Maqalat and authored Kitdb al-Luma ( (“The Luminous Book”). Reflecting on the ideas of al-MuHASiBi and others, he created his own school, which became known as the Khorasan, or Ash'arite, school. See also Ash'ariyyah.
Ash'ariyyah School of Muslim theology founded by Abu al-Hasan al-AsH l ARi in the 10th century. It sup¬ ported the use of reason and specu¬ lative theology (kalam) to defend the faith but was not as extreme in its rationalism as the Mu'tazilah school. Followers attempted to demonstrate the existence and nature of God through rational argument, while affirming the eternal, uncreated nature of the Qur’an. They were
Asclepius, from an ivory diptych, 5th century ad; in the Liverpool City Museum, England
THE BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY/ART RESOURCE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Ashbery ► Ashur I 115
accused by the Mu'tazilah of believing in predestination because they claimed the human capacity for action was only acquired at the very moment of action.
Ashbery, John (Lawrence) (b. July 28, 1927, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. poet. He earned degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities and subsequently became known as an art critic. His poems, noted for their elegance, originality, and obscurity, are characterized by arresting images, exquisite rhythms, intricate form, and sudden shifts in tone and subject. His collections include The Double Dream of Spring (1970), Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award), A Wave (1984), Flow Chart (1991), and Wakefulness (1998).
Ashcroft, Dame Peggy orig. Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft
(b. Dec. 22, 1907, Croydon, London, Eng.—d. June 14, 1991, London) British actress. She made her debut in 1927 and appeared from 1932 with the Old Vic company, winning acclaim in Romeo and Juliet (1935). She starred in more than 100 stage productions, playing comedy and tragedy with equal success. One of the great actresses of the British stage, she was a founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Co. (1961) and later a director. She acted in films such as The Thirty-nine Steps (1935) and A Passage to India (1984, Academy Award) and in the television series The Jewel in the Crown (1984).
Ashe, Arthur (Robert), Jr. (b. July 10, 1943, Richmond, Va., U.S.—-d. Feb. 6, 1993, New York, N.Y.) U.S. tennis player. He won his first grand-slam singles title (the 1968 U.S. Open) as an amateur. The first African American member of the U.S. Davis Cup team, he helped win five championships (1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1978). In 1975 he won the Wim¬ bledon singles title and received World Championship Tennis top ranking. He retired in 1980 and became captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team (to 1985). Off the court he was a critic of racial injustice, including South Africa’s apartheid policy. In 1992 he revealed that he had been infected with HIV by a transfusion following surgery, and he thereafter devoted time to increasing public awareness of AIDS. The U.S. Open is now played at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which opened at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., in 1997.
Ashford, Evelyn (b. April 15, 1957, Shreveport, La., U.S.) U.S. sprinter. She attended UCLA, where she won four national collegiate championships and competed in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She went on to win world championships (100- and 200-m sprints) in 1979 and 1981 and was named Woman Athlete of the Year both years. She won two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics (100-m dash, 4 x 100-m relay) and a silver and a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics (in the same events). At the 1992 games, her fifth Olympics, she became the oldest woman (at 35) to win a gold medal in track and field (4 x 100-m relay).
Ashgabat Vash-ga-,bat\ formerly Ashkhabad Vash-ko-.badX City (pop., 1999 est.: 605,000), capital of Turkmenistan. It lies in an oasis at the northern foot of the Kopet-Dag Range near the Iranian border. Founded in 1881 as a Russian military fort, it was the capital of Turk¬ menistan S.S.R. (1924-90). A violent earthquake destroyed the city in 1948; it was rebuilt on the same plan. It is now an industrial, transpor¬ tation, and cultural centre.
Ashikaga \,a-she-'ka-ga\ family Japanese warrior family that estab¬ lished the Ashikaga shogunate in 1338. The founder, Ashikaga Takauji (1305-58), supported the emperor Go-Daigo’s attempt to wrest control of the country from the Hojo family, but then turned on him and set up an emperor from another branch of the imperial family, who granted Takauji the title of shogun. Takauji’ s grandson Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), the third Ashikaga shogun, ended the dual imperial courts that had resulted from his grandfather’s actions, took an active role in the court bureaucracy, and reorganized civil government. Yoshimitsu reopened formal trade with China and is remembered as a sponsor of the arts; he commissioned the famous Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) in Kyoto. Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-90), the eighth Ashikaga shogun, was also a great patron of the arts and a devotee of the tea ceremony. He commissioned the Silver Pavil¬ ion (Ginkaku-ji), whose understated elegance contrasts with the opulence of the Golden Pavilion. Politically, Yoshimasa’s tenure as shogun coin¬ cided with increasing loss of control over the countryside as Japan headed toward a century of civil war. See also Muromachi period; daimyo; Onin War; samurai.
Ashkenazi \,ash-k3-'na-ze\ Any of the historically Yiddish-speaking European Jews who settled in central and northern Europe, or their
descendants. They lived originally in the Rhineland valley, and their name is derived from the Hebrew word Ashkenaz (“Germany”). After the start of the Crusades in the late 11th century, many migrated east to Poland, Lithuania, and Russia to escape persecution. In later centuries Jews who adopted the German-rite synagogue ritual were called Ashkenazim to dif¬ ferentiate them from the Sephardic, or Spanish-rite, Jews (see Sephardi), from whom they differ in cultural traditions, pronunciation of Hebrew, and synagogue chanting as well as in the use of the Yiddish language (until the 20th century). Today they constitute more than 80% of the world’s Jews.