Pompey \'pam-pe\ the Great in full Gnaeus Pompeius Mag¬ nus (b. Sept. 29, 106, Rome—d. Sept. 28,48 bc, Pelusium, Egypt) States¬ man and general of the Roman republic. His early military career was illustrious. He fought effectively for Sulla against Marius in the Social War, reconquered Spain (76-71), destroyed utterly the army of Sparta- cus (71), destroyed the pirates of the eastern Mediterranean (from 67), defeated Mithradates (63), and consolidated and extended the eastern provinces and frontier kingdoms. In 61 he formed the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus. After Crassus’s death in 53, Pompey and Caesar fell out. By 52, with Rome in a state of anarchy, Pompey was named sole consul. In 49 Caesar defied the Senate and pro¬ voked the civil war by crossing the Rubicon in pursuit of Pompey, who fled east with his navy. Defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus (48), Pompey fled with his fleet to Egypt, not realizing the Egyptians would take Cae¬ sar’s side, and was killed as he prepared to step on land from the boat they had sent to bring him ashore.
Pompidou \'pam-pi-,du\, Georges (-Jean-Raymond) (b. July 5, 1911, Montboudif, France—d. April 2, 1974, Paiis) French premier (1962-68) and president (1969-74).
He taught school before serving in World War II and was an aide to Charles de Gaulle (1944-46). After joining the Rothschild bank in Paris, he rose rapidly to become director general (1959). As de Gaulle’s chief aide (1958—59), he helped draft the constitution of the Fifth Republic. He secretly negotiated a cease-fire in the Algerian War in 1961 and was appointed premier the following year. In 1968 he skillfully negotiated an end to the French student-worker strikes. Elected president of France in 1969, he continued de Gaulle’s policies. The Pompidou Centre is named for him.
Pompidou Vpam-pi-.diA Centre or Beaubourg \bo-'biir\ Centre French national cultural centre, on the rue Beaubourg in the Marais section of Paris. Its full name, the Georges Pompidou National Art and Cultural Centre, recognizes the presi¬ dent of the Republic under whose administration it was commissioned. When formally opened in 1977, the building attracted notoriety for its brightly coloured exterior pipes, ducts, and other exposed architectural elements, and it soon became one of the most visited cultural sites in the world. Though primarily a museum for 20th-century visual arts, it also houses temporary exhibitions, a library, a centre for industrial design, a film museum, and a Centre for Musical and Acoustical Research.
Ponce de Leon V.pan-so-.da-le-'onX, Juan (b. 1460, Tierra de Campos Palencia, Leon—d. 1521, Havana, Cuba) Spanish explorer. He may have accompanied Christopher Columbus’s expedition in 1493 and later fought in the West Indies (1502), becoming governor of eastern Hispaniola. He colonized Puerto Rico (1508-09) and founded a settlement near modem San Juan. Rumours of a fountain of youth in the Bahamas inspired him to lead an expedition in 1513, but he landed instead on the northern coast of Florida near modern St. Augustine. He sailed along Florida’s southern and western coasts, then returned to Spain to secure the title of military governor (1514). He sailed again to colonize Florida in 1521 but was wounded in an Indian attack and died in Cuba.
Pondicherry Union territory (pop., 2001: 974,345), India. It was formed in 1962 from the four former French colonies of Pondicherry, Karikal, and Yanam, on the eastern seaboard, and Mahe, on the western
seaboard. With a total area of 190 sq mi (492 sq km), it is united by little other than its colonial past and focus on tourism. The city of Pondicherry is the administrative capital.
Pondicherry City (pop., 2001: 220,865), seaport, and capital of Pondicherry union territory, southeastern India. Lying on the Coromandel Coast, it originated as a French trade centre in 1674, when it was purchased from a local ruler. The scene of fighting between the French and Dutch, it was occupied by the British several times from 1761 before becoming a French possession (1816-1954). A seaside tourist resort, it contains an international study centre at a Hindu religious retreat, or ashram.
Pondoland Region, Eastern Cape province, southern Republic of South Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It was settled at the end of the 16th century by the Pondo (Mpondo), a BANTU-speaking people. It was annexed to Cape Colony in 1894. It occupies a narrow strip from the coast to the interior plateaus in the west. The interior is rich cattle country with fertile farmlands.
Pont-Aven \ 1 po n -to- , ven\ school Group of young painters who espoused a style known as Synthetism and united under the tutelage of Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven, Brittany, France, in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The artists included Emile Bernard, Charles Laval, Maxime Maufra, Paul Serusier, Charles Filiger, Jacob Meyer de Haan, Armand Seguin, and Henri de Chamaillard. Their paintings showed an overall simplification, a highly expressive use of colour, and an intensely spiritual subject matter. When Gauguin left for Tahiti, members of the school became increasingly involved in developing the theories and techniques of Symbolism.
Pontchartrain Vpan-chor-.tranV Lake Lake, southeastern Louisiana, U.S. It is 40 mi (64 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) wide, with an area of 630 sq mi (1,631 sq km). More a tidal lagoon than a lake, it is brackish and teems with game fish. It is connected through Lake Borgne with the Gulf of Mexico and by canal with the Mississippi River. It is spanned by the Pontchartrain Causeway, two parallel road bridges which cross the lake north of New Orleans and, at nearly 24 mi (39 km) in length, are the long¬ est overwater bridges in the world.
Pontecorvo X.pan-to-'kor-vcA, Guido (b. Nov. 29, 1907, Pisa, Italy—d. Sept. 24, 1999, near Zermatt, Switz.) Italian-born British geneti¬ cist. In 1938, influenced by Hermann Joseph Muller, he designed a method for studying genetic differences among species that usually produce ster¬ ile hybrids when interbred. His technique permitted him to study evolu¬ tionary divergence in the fruit fly. His conviction that research in microbial genetics could lead to increased production of penicillin, much needed in World War II, led him to the genetics of fungi, and in 1950 he found that recombination of genes can occur in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans with¬ out sexual reproduction. Nonsexual gene recombination became a useful technique in exploring the nature of gene action.
Pontiac (b. c. 1720, on the Maumee River in present-day Ohio, U.S.—d. April 20, 1769, near the Mississippi River at present-day Cahokia, Ill.) Ottawa Indian chief. At first friendly with whites, Pontiac realized that his people would lose their ancestral lands in the Great Lakes area if white encroachment were not stopped. With a series of actions that came to be known as Pontiac’s War (1763-64), he coordinated the attack on 12 for¬ tified British posts by a confederacy of tribes, winning a great victory. He himself led the attack on the fort at Detroit, in what is now Michigan, U.S. Continuing British action took its toll, however, and in 1766 Pon¬ tiac finally agreed to a peace treaty. His murder in 1769 by an Illinois Indian provoked the vengeance of several northern Algonquian tribes, resulting in the virtual destruction of the Illinois.
Pontifex See Quintus Mucius Scaevola
pontifex Member of a council of priests in ancient Rome. The pontifices were responsible for administration of the jus divinum (laws concerning religious practices). There were 3 pontifices under the monarchy, but by the time of Julius Caesar the number had grown to 16, of which 1 was desig¬ nated chief priest, or pontifex maximus. Also included in the collegium (college) of pontifices were the Vestal Virgins. Among the duties of the pon¬ tifices were regulation of the calendar and of expiatory rituals, consecration of temples and sacred objects, superintendence of marriage and the family, and administration of the laws of adoption and succession.