Aphid, (family Aphididae), any of a group of sap-sucking, soft-bodied insects (order Homoptera) that are about the size of a pinhead, most species of which have a pair of tubelike projections (cornicles) on the abdomen. Aphids can be serious plant pests
of India, Pakistan, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, where scattered trees alongriverbankswere used much as they are today—for fuel, construction, and handles for tools. Writers of theHebrew Biblemake frequent reference to the use of wood. Pictures in Egyptian tombs show the use of the woodenplowand...
In classical antiquity, palm fronds were gifted to athletes and soldiers as a sign of victory. Palms are mentioned30 times in the bibleand at least 22 times in the Quran. Even today, practicing religious communities use the palm fronds in annual celebrations and festivals to symbolize hope, ...
But her name suggests that she is in that very large and loose category of ‘fairies’: the shee is the same as the sidhe, the Irish fairy folk. Home region: The Banshee is found in Ireland above all, but there are similar traditions from Gaelic Scotland. There are also some intriguing...
The rabbis also added two public fast days to the Jewish calendar, which are briefly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: the fast of Esther (Ta’anit Ester), in commemoration of the Jews’ fasting before Esther went in to see the king (Esther 4:16), and the fast of Gedaliah, whose assassi...
Metonymy, (from Greek metōnymia, “change of name,” or “misnomer”), figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related to or suggested by the original, as “crown” to mean “king” (“The power of the