Ben Nevis Highest mountain, British Isles. It is located in the Scottish Highlands; its summit, which reaches 4,406 ft (1,343 m), is a plateau of about 100 acres (40 hectares). Snow lies in some parts all year. It con¬ sists of a superstructure of volcanic rocks surmounting the ancient schists of the Highlands.
Benares See Varanasi
Benavente y Martinez X.be-no-'ven-te-e-mar-'te-nosV Jacinto (b. Aug. 12, 1866, Madrid, Spain—d. July 14, 1954, Madrid) Spanish dra¬ matist. His most celebrated work, The Bonds of Interest (1907), was based on the Italian commedia dell’arte; his 1913 tragedy La malquerida was also popular. During the Spanish Civil War he was detained by the authori¬ ties for a time, but he reestablished himself in official favour with Lo increible (1941). One of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th cen¬ tury, he continued to write until the end of his life, producing more than 150 plays. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922.
Bench, Johnny (Lee) (b. December 7, 1947, Oklahoma City, Okla., U.S.) U.S. baseball player. Bench joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1967. During his 17 seasons catching for them (1967-83), he helped lead the team (with Pete Rose and Joe Morgan) to four National League pennants (1970, 1972, 1975, 1976) and two World Series victories (1975, 1976). Batting right-handed, he led the National League in runs batted in three times (1970, 1972, 1974) and twice in home runs (1970, 1972). He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive catchers ever to play the game.
Benchley, Robert (Charles) (b. Sept. 15, 1889, Worcester, Mass., U.S.—d. Nov. 21, 1945, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. drama critic, actor, and humorist. Benchley graduated from Harvard University and joined the staff of Life magazine in 1920. A regular member of the Algonquin Round Table, he was drama critic for The New Yorker 1929-40, for which he also wrote “The Wayward Press” column under the pseudonym Guy Fawkes. He had bit parts in many feature films, but he is best known for
more than 40 short subjects, including How to Sleep (1934, Academy Award). His writing was warmly humorous, his satire sharp but not cruel.
bends See decompression sickness
Bene-lsrael Vben-e-.iz-ra-'eL (Hebrew: “Sons of Israel”) one of three groups of Jews in India. The origins of the Bene-lsrael are uncertain, but because of their observance of certain traditions and lack of observance of others, they are believed to have escaped persecution in Galilee before the 2nd century bce and to have shipwrecked on the coast of India. Seven couples are believed to have survived, without the benefit of a material culture. Isolated from other Jews, they largely assimilated into India’s caste system, though they practiced Jewish dietary laws, circumcised male children on the eighth day, and did not work on Saturday. Present-day Bene-lsrael bear a physical resemblance to the Marathi people and speak Marathi and English. Many have emigrated to Israel.
Benedetto da Maiano Xba-na-'dat-to-da-ma-'ya-noV (b. 1442, Majano, Republic of Venice—d. May 24, 1497, Florence) Italian sculp¬ tor active in Florence. He was influenced by Bernardo Rossellino; his marble tomb designs are variants on Rossellino’s patterns. His master¬ piece is a pulpit in Santa Croce in Florence (completed 1485) consisting of five narrative reliefs. He often worked with his brothers, Giovanni and Giuliano, in the design and execution of architectural features such as pilasters, capitals, friezes, and niches. He was also a master of natural¬ istic portrait busts.
Benedict, Ruth orig. Ruth Fulton (b. June 5, 1887, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 17, 1948, New York City) U.S. anthropologist. She received a Ph.D. under Franz Boas at Columbia University and taught at Columbia from 1924 until her death.
In Patterns of Culture (1934), her most famous work, she emphasized how small a part of the range of pos¬ sible human behaviour is elaborated or emphasized in any one society.
She described how these forms of behaviour are integrated into pat¬ terns or configurations, and she sup¬ ported cultural relativism, or the judging of cultural phenomena in the context of the culture in which they occur. In The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946), she applied her methods to Japanese culture. Her theories had a profound influence on CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY.
Benedict of Nursia, Saint (b. c.
480, Nursia, Kingdom of the Lombards—d. c. 547) Founder of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy, and father of Western monasticism. Born into a prominent family at Nursia in central Italy, he rejected the immoral and profligate life of the rich and became a hermit outside Rome, where he attracted disciples. At his monastery at Cassino he formulated the Benedictine Rule, which became standard in monasteries throughout Europe. The Rule includes a probationary year prior to the vow of obedience and lifelong residence at one monastery, a ban on personal property, an abbot elected for life who appoints all other officers, and a precisely ordered day that includes five to six hours of liturgy and prayer, five hours of manual work, and four hours of scriptural and spiritual reading.
Benedict XII orig. Jacques Fournier (b. Saverdun, near Toulouse, France—d. April 25, 1342, Avignon, Provence) Pope (1334-42). A French cardinal and theologian, he became the third pontiff to reign at Avignon (see Avignon papacy), succeeding John XXII. The bishop of Pamiers and Mirepoix and a zealous inquisitor before his elevation to the papacy, Benedict devoted himself to the reform of the church and its religious orders; he also tried unsuccessfully to prevent the outbreak of the conflict between England and France that became the Hundred Years' War. His bull Benedictus Deus (1336) set forth the doctrine of the beatific vision as a vision of God granted to the souls of the just immediately after death.
Benedict XIII orig. Pedro de Luna (b. c. 1328, Illueca, Kingdom of Aragon—d. 1423, Penfscola, in Valencia) Antipope (1394-1423). A French
Ruth Benedict.
COURTESY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW VORK
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
198 I Benedict XIV ► Bengal
professor of canon law, he was named a cardinal in 1375. When the West¬ ern Schism began in 1378, he supported the antipope Clement VII. Elected pope at Avignon (see Avignon papacy), he refused French pressure to abdi¬ cate and was besieged in the papal palace (1398). Benedict escaped to Provence in 1403 and won back the obedience of France. He refused to yield when deposed by the Councils of Pisa (1409) and Constance (1417).
Benedict XIV orig. Prospero Lambertini (b. March 31, 1675, Bologna, Papal States—d. May 3, 1758, Rome) Pope in 1740-58. Nobly bom, he received a doctorate in theology and law. Typical of his pontifi¬ cate were his promotion of scientific learning and his admonition to those drawing up the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books) to act with restraint. In the Papal States he reduced taxation, encouraged agriculture, and supported free trade. He maintained conciliatory relations with neighbouring kingdoms. A lifelong active scholar, he founded sev¬ eral learned societies and laid the groundwork for the present Vatican Museum. Bernard Gamier, a French cleric who was counter-antipope (1425-33) while Martin V was pope and Clement VIII was antipope, was also called Benedict XIV.
Benedict XV orig. Giacomo Della Chiesa (b. Nov. 21,1854, Pegli, Kingdom of Sardinia—d. Jan. 22,
1922, Rome, Italy) Pope (1914-22).
Ordained a priest in 1878, he entered the papal diplomatic service. He was made archbishop of Bologna in 1907 and cardinal in 1914. Elected pope a month after the outbreak of World War I, he tried to follow a policy of strict neutrality and concentrated the church’s efforts on relief. He later made positive efforts toward reestab¬ lishing peace, though his principal attempt in 1917 to mediate the war was unsuccessful.