Parnassus \par-'na-sos\, Mt. Mountain in central Greece. Located in the Pindus range, it rises to a height of 8,061 ft (2,457 m). In the ancient world it was sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, probably because
of its proximity to Delphi and its oracle. For Roman poets the Castalian spring on Parnassus was a source of inspiration, and the mountain was regarded as the home of the Muses.
Parnell \par-'nel\, Charles Stewart (b. June 27, 1846, Avondale, County Wicklow, Ire.—d. Oct. 6, 1891, Brighton, Sussex, Eng.) Irish nationalist leader. After an education at the University of Cambridge, he returned to Ireland and served in the British Parliament (1875-91), intro¬ ducing obstructionist legislative tactics to call attention to Ireland’s needs. In 1877 he became president of the Home Rule Confederation. He was jailed for making violent speeches against the new land act (1881-82), then released to curb an increase in terrorist acts. Reaction against the Phoenix Park murders enabled him to unite factions in Ireland to win sup¬ port for parliamentary measures, such as William E. Gladstone’s Home Rule proposals. He remained popular in Ireland until he was named in the divorce suit of his mistress, Katherine O’Shea (1890).
parochial education Education offered institutionally by a religious group. The curriculum usually includes both religious and general stud¬ ies. In the U.S. and Canada, parochial education has referred primarily to elementary and secondary schools maintained by Roman Catholic par¬ ishes, but it can also apply to schools operated by Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist organizations, among others.
parody In literature, a work in which the style of an author is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule. Differing from both burlesque (by the depth of its technical penetration) and travesty (which treats dignified subjects in a trivial manner), parody mercilessly exposes the tricks of manner and thought of its victim and therefore cannot be written without a thorough appreciation of the work it ridicules. Examples date from as early as ancient Greece and occur in nearly all literatures and all periods.
parole Supervised conditional liberty from prison granted prior to the expiration of a prisoner’s sentence. Modern use of parole stems from a change in penal philosophy to emphasize rehabilitation rather than retri¬ bution. In some jurisdictions, those convicted of certain crimes (e.g., rape or murder) are not eligible for parole. Conditions of parole vary, but in all cases their violation may constitute grounds for reincarceration. Parole supervision ranges from little more than a periodic police check to inten¬ sive supervision by trained personnel. See also probation.
Parr, Catherine See Catherine Parr
Parra, Nicanor (b. Sept. 5, 1914, San Fabian, Chile) Chilean poet. A student of mathematics and physics, Parra began teaching theoretical physics at the University of Chile in 1952. One of the most important Latin American poets of the 20th century, he is known for originating so-called antipoetry (poetry that opposes traditional poetic techniques or styles). In Poems and Antipoems (1954), he sought to make poetry acces¬ sible to the masses by treating everyday problems of a grotesque world in clear language with black humour and ironic vision. In later works he experimented with language, and he continued to use antipoetic tech¬ niques.
Parrhasius \po-'ra-zh3s\ or Parrhasios (fl. 5th century bc, Athens, Greece) Greek painter. He was praised by ancient critics as a master of outline drawing. He apparently succeeded in portraying various psycho¬ logical states in his depictions of the face. Many of his drawings on wood and parchment were preserved and highly valued by later painters for purposes of study. His picture of Theseus adorned the Capitol in Rome; other works were chiefly mythological groups. No works or copies sur¬ vive.
Parrish \'par-ish\, (Frederick) Maxfield (b. July 25, 1870, Phila¬ delphia, Pa., U.S.—d. March 10, 1966, Plainfield, N.H.) U.S. illustrator and painter. Trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Drexel Institute of Art, he was the highest-paid commercial artist and muralist in the U.S. by the 1920s. He is best known for his depictions of fantasy landscapes populated by attractive young women. He used meticulously defined outlines and intricately detailed natural back¬ grounds; his unusual colours, especially the luminous “Parrish blue,” give his pictures a dreamlike quality. Though his popularity declined in the late 1930s, appreciation of his work revived in the 1960s and ’70s.
parrot Any of the 333 species of birds in the family Psittacidae. About 220 species of true parrots (subfamily Psittacinae) are found worldwide in warm regions (see parakeet). Many are brilliantly coloured. They have a blunt tongue and eat seeds, buds, and some fruit and insects. Their vocal
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1452 I parrot fish ► Partch
apparatus permits many species to mimic human speech with great accuracy. The African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus ), intelligent and a particularly good talker, is about 13 in. (33 cm) long and is gray except for a red tail and white face; it lives up to 80 years. The 31 species of Amazon parrots (genus Amazona), also good mimics, are 10-16 in.
(25-40 cm) long and predominantly green. Four other subfamilies are found chiefly around New Zealand and Australia, as are the cockatoos and cockatiel (family Cacatuidae); these are often considered parrots as well because they are classified with Psittacidae in the order Psittaci- formes. See also kea; lovebird; macaw.
parrot fish Any of about 80 species (family Scaridae) of slender, blunt¬ headed, deep-bodied fishes found on tropical reefs. They are often brightly coloured and have large scales. The fused teeth form a “beak” used to scrape algae and the soft part of coral from reefs. Platelike teeth in the throat grind the ingested food and bits of coral. Some species grow to 4 ft (1.2 m) long and weigh 45 lb (20 kg). The Indo-Pacific surf, or rivu- lated, parrot fish ( Callyodon fascia- tus) grows to 18 in. (46 cm) or more.
The queen parrot fish ( Scarus vetula) is an Atlantic species.
parsec Unit of measure used by astronomers to express distances to stars and galaxies. It is the distance at which the radius of Earth’s orbit would subtend an angle of one sec¬ ond of arc, so an object one parsec away would have a parallax of one second. An object’s distance in parsecs is the reciprocal of its parallax in seconds of arc. For example, Alpha Centauri, with a parallax of 0.76 sec¬ ond, is 1.33 parsecs from the Sun and Earth. One parsec equals 3.26 light- years, or 19.2 trillion mi (30.9 trillion km).
Parshvanatha Vparsh-vo-'na-toV (fl. 8th century bc) In Jainism, the 23rd Tirthankara, or saint, of the present age. He founded a religious order and formulated four vows binding on its members (not to kill, steal, lie, or own property; a vow of celibacy was added later by Mahavira). Accord¬ ing to legend, Parshvanatha once saved a family of serpents trapped in a log in an ascetic’s fire. One of the snakes, later reborn as Dharana, the lord of the underworld kingdom of nagas (snakes), sheltered Parshvanatha from a storm sent by an enemy demon. In sculpture and painting Parsh¬ vanatha is depicted with a canopy of snake hoods over his head.
Parsi or Parsee Zoroastrian of India. The Parsis, whose name means “Persians,” are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India to escape persecution by Muslims. The migration occurred sometime between the 8th and 10th century. The Parsis settled in Gujarat and became a farming community. When the British East India Co. took control of the region around Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 17th century and estab¬ lished religious freedom, many Parsis moved there, and by the 19th century they had become a wealthy merchant class. The Parsis still live chiefly in the Mumbai area, though other Parsi communities exist in Bangalore, India, and Karachi, Pakistan. See also Zoroastrianism and Parsiism.