Pilate \'pi-bt\, Pontius (d. ad 36) Roman prefect of Judaea (ad 26-36) who presided at the trial of Jesus and gave the order for his crucifixion. The New Testament represents Pilate as a weak and vacillating man who found no fault with Jesus but ordered his execution to please the mob calling for his death. Known for his severity toward the Jews, he was eventually ordered back to Rome to stand trial for cruelty and oppression. A tradi¬ tion of uncertain accuracy holds that he killed himself on orders from Caligula in ad 39; another legend relates that both Pilate and his wife con¬ verted to Christianity.
pilchard Vpil-ch9rd\ Local name in Britain and elsewhere for the Euro¬ pean sardine ( Sardina pilchardus ). It is found in the Mediterranean and off the Atlantic coasts of Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain.
Pilcomayo \,pel-ko-'ma-y6\ River River, south-central South America. The chief western tributary of the Paraguay River, it rises in the eastern Andes Mountains in west-central Bolivia. It flows southeast through the
American pika (Ochotona princeps).
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1500 I pile ► Pima
Gran Chaco of Paraguay to join the Paraguay River opposite Asuncion, after about 1,000 mi (1,600 km). It forms part of the border between Argentina and Paraguay.
pile In building construction, a postlike foundation member used from prehistoric times. Piles transfer building loads down to a suitable bearing stratum when the soil mass immediately below a construction is unsuitable for the direct bearing of footings (see foundation). Piles support loads either by bearing directly on rock or suitable soil or by developing friction along their very ample length. In modern civil engineering, piles of timber, steel, or concrete are driven into the ground to support a structure; bridge piers and building foundations may be supported on groups of piles.
pile See hemorrhoid pileworm See shipworm
pilgrimage Journey to a shrine or other sacred place undertaken to gain divine aid, as an act of thanksgiving or penance, or to demonstrate devo¬ tion. Medieval Christian pilgrims stayed at hospices set up specifically for pilgrims, and on their return trip they wore on their hats the badge of the shrine visited. The chief attractions for pilgrims in the Middle Ages were the Holy Land, Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and Rome, but there were hundreds of local pilgrimage sites, including the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi and that of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. More recent pilgrimage sites include the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico (1531), Lourdes in France (1858), and Fatima in Portugal (1917). The tradition of pilgrimage is also important in Buddhism, with sites including Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha received enlightenment, and Varanasi, where he deliv¬ ered his first sermon. In Islam all members of the faith are enjoined to per¬ form the HAJJ, the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their lifetime.
Pilgrimage of Grace (1536) Uprising in the northern counties of England against the Reformation legislation of Henry VIII. Royal mandates to dissolve the monasteries in the north triggered riots in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, where 30,000 armed rebels under Robert Aske occupied York, demanding a return to papal obedience and a parliament free from royal influence. Playing for time to assemble enough royal forces to oust the rebels, the 3rd duke of Norfolk made vague promises, and the rebels dis¬ persed, believing they had won, only to be arrested later; about 220 were executed, including Aske.
Pilgrims First settlers of Plymouth (Massachusetts), the first permanent colony in New England (1620). The members of the English Separatist Church, a radical faction of Puritanism, composed a third of the 102 colo¬ nists who sailed aboard the Mayflower to North America, and they became the dominant group in the colony. The settlers were later collectively referred to as the Forefathers; the term Pilgrim Fathers was applied to them by Daniel Webster at the bicentennial celebration (1820). See also Mayflower Compact; Plymouth Co.
pill bug Any species of terrestrial crustacean in the genera Armadilli- dium and Armadillo (both in the order Isopoda), native to Europe and introduced worldwide. Pill bugs (sometimes called wood lice) resemble tiny armadillos in appear¬ ance and behaviour; they have a gray, oval body covered with plate¬ like armour and, when disturbed, roll into a ball. They are about 0.75 in.
(19 mm) long. Pill bugs live in dry, sunny places, in dry leaf litter, and on forest edges. See also sow bug.
pillar Relatively slender isolated vertical structural member such as a pier or (usually squat) column. It may be constructed of a single piece of stone or wood or built up of units, such as bricks. A pillar commonly has a load-bearing or stabilizing function, but it may also stand alone, as do commemorative pillars.
Pillars of Hercules Two prom¬ ontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. They include the Rock of Gibraltar (at Gibraltar) in Europe and Jebel Musa (at Ceuta) in north¬
ern Africa. They are fabled to have been set there by Heracles as a memo¬ rial in his labour of seizing the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon.
Pillars of Islam See Pillars of Islam
Pillsbury Co. U.S. food-products company. It was established in Min¬ neapolis in 1871 as C.A. Pillsbury & Co. Its founder, Charles Alfred Pillsbury (1842-99), built the company into one of the world’s largest milling concerns in the 1880s, expanding the business by obtaining favourable freight rates and building his own grain elevators throughout the Northwest. He sold the firm to an English syndicate but remained its managing director until his death. Pillsbury later became a successful manufacturer of food products, acquiring subsidiaries such as Burger King, Haagen-Dazs, and Green Giant. It was acquired by Grand Metro¬ politan PLC (now Diageo PLC) in a hostile takeover in 1989, and in 2001 it was sold to former rival General Mills, Inc.
Pilon \pe-'lo n \, Germain (b. 1535, Paris, France—d. Feb. 3, 1590, Paris) French sculptor. His decoration of the tomb of Francis I (1558), a relatively early work, shows an Italian influence, but he later developed a distinctively French expression by fusing elements of Classical and Gothic art with the Fontainebleau adaptation of Mannerism. His best- known works are funerary sculptures for Henry II and Catherine de Medi- cis at St.-Denis (1561—70). His work represents a transitional link between the Gothic tradition and Baroque sculpture.
pilot fish Widely distributed species {Naucrates ductor, family Car- angidae) of carnivorous fish that inhabits warm and tropical open seas. It is slender and has a forked tail, a lengthwise keel on each side of the tail base, and a few small spines in front of the dorsal and anal fins. It may grow to 2 ft (60 cm) but is usually about 14 in. (35 cm) long. Five to seven distinctive vertical dark bands mark the bluish body. Pilot fishes follow sharks and ships, apparently to feed on parasites and leftover scraps. It was formerly thought that they were leading, or “piloting,” the larger fishes to food.
pilot whale Any of one to three species (genus Globicephala, family Delphinidae) of toothed whale found in all oceans except the Arctic and Antarctic, also called caa’ing whale for a roaring sound it makes when stranded. It is black, usually with a lighter splash on the throat and chest, and has a round, bulging forehead, a short beaklike snout, and slender, pointed flippers, and grows to 13-20 ft (4-6 m) long. Pilot whales live in large schools, sometimes hundreds or thousands, feeding mainly on squid. They have been kept in oceanariums and trained to perform.
Pitsudski \pil-'sut-ske, pil-'ziit-ske\, Jozef (Klemens) (b. Dec. 5, 1867, Zulow, Pol., Russian Empire—d. May 12, 1935, Warsaw, Pol.) Pol¬ ish revolutionary leader. Reared with a hatred for Russian oppression, he was politically active and was banished to Siberia for his socialist agita¬ tion (1887-92), and he became a leader of the Polish Socialist Party on his return. In 1908 he organized the secret Union of Military Action, which fought in World War I under Austro-Hungarian command against the Russians. In 1916 he demanded recognition of Poland’s independence, which was granted in 1918. He served as Poland’s first head of state until the constitution was established in 1922. After staging a coup in 1926, he served as premier (1926-28) and minister of defense (1926-35) under handpicked premiers, enabling him to rule as the dictator of Poland.