Xenophanes of Colophon \zi-'naf-9- I nez... , ka-b-f9n\ (b. c. 560, Colophon, Ionia—d. c. 478 bc) Greek poet, religious thinker, and reputed precursor of philosophy of the Eleatics. Though some critics consider Par¬ menides the founder of the Eleatic school, Xenophanes’ philosophy, which found expression primarily in the poetry he recited on his travels, prob¬ ably anticipated Parmenides’ views. Fragments of his epics reflect his contempt for anthropomorphism and for popular acceptance of Homeric mythology.
Xenophon Yzen-a-,fan\ (b. 431, Attica, Greece—d. shortly before 350 bc, Attica) Greek historian. Bom of a well-to-do Athenian family, Xeno¬ phon was critical of extreme democracy and for a time was exiled as a trai¬ tor. He served with the Greek mercenaries of the Persian prince Cyrus, an experience on which he based his best-known work, the Anabasis. Its prose was highly regarded in antiquity and exerted a strong influence on Latin literature. His other works include On Horsemanship ; On Hunting ; Cyro- paedia, a historical novel about Cyrus II; Oeconomicus , a treatise on estate management; and his completion of a work by the historian Thucydides.
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2086 I xerography ► Xia Gui
Light shining on the item to be copied is reflected off a mirror, through a lens, and off a second mirror to form an image on a photosensitive (selenium-coated) drum. The drum's surface charge varies with the light and dark areas of the image. The toner drum delivers tiny black particles (toner) to the dark, charged areas of the image. The toner-based image is then transferred to paper rolled onto the drum, the negatively charged toner particles being attracted by a positive charge under the sheet, and the paper is heated to set the toner. The copy paper itself originally provided the treated surface, but the innovation of the selenium-coated drum permitted the use of ordinary paper. Light projection permits the printed image to be enlarged or reduced by any desired percentage.
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xerography \zo-'ra-gr9-fe\ Image-forming process that relies on a photoconductive substance whose electrical resistance decreases when light falls on it. Xerography is the basis of the most widely used document-copying machines (see photocopier). The process was invented in the 1930s by U.S. physicist Chester F. Carlson (1906-1968) and devel¬ oped in the 1940s and ’50s by Xerox Corp. (then called Haloid). Light passing through or reflected from a document reaches a selenium-coated drum surface onto which negatively charged particles of ink (toner) are sprayed, forming an image of the document on the drum. As a sheet of paper is passed close to the drum, a positive electric charge under the sheet attracts the negatively charged ink particles, transferring the image to the copy paper. Heat briefly applied fuses the ink particles to the paper. The first commercially successful xerographic copier was introduced in 1959.
Xerox Corp. Major U.S. corporation. It was founded as Haloid Co. in 1906 to make and sell photographic paper. It changed its name to Haloid Xerox Co. in 1958, and to Xerox Corp. in 1961. Xerox marketed the first xerographic, plain-paper copier in 1960 (see xerography), and the product was so successful that the company has had to wage a continuing campaign to prevent the trademark Xerox from becoming a generic term. In addition to copiers, Xerox sells scanners, fax machines, printers, software, and serv¬ ers for networked printing. Its headquarters are in Stamford, Conn.
Xerxes I Vz3rk-,sez\ Persian Khshayarsha (b. c. 519 bc —d. 465 bc, Persepolis) Persian king (486-465 bc) of the Achaemenian dynasty. The son of Darius I, he had been governor of Babylon before his succession. He ferociously suppressed rebellions in Egypt (484) and Babylonia (482). To avenge Darius’s defeat by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon, he spent three years raising a massive army and navy. When a storm destroyed the bridges he had built to cross the Hellespont, he had them rebuilt and for seven days oversaw the crossing of his army, numbering 360,000 troops by modern estimates, supported by more than 700 ships. The Persians broke through at the Battle of Thermopylae and pillaged Ath¬ ens, but then lost their navy at the Battle of Salamis (480). Xerxes returned
to Asia, leaving the army behind; it withdrew after its defeat at the Battle of Plataea (479). In Persia he began an extensive building campaign at Persepolis. Drawn unwittingly into palace intrigues, he killed his broth¬ er’s family at the queen’s demand. He was murdered by members of his court. His setback in Greece was regarded as the beginning of the decline of the Achaemenid dynasty. See photograph below.
Xhosa \'ko-s9\ People living pri¬ marily in East Cape province, South Africa. They form part of the south¬ ern Nguni group of Bantu-speaking peoples. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the series of conflicts called the Kaffir (“Infidel”) Wars engaged the Xhosa against the Euro¬ pean settlers. Eventually the Xhosa were defeated and their territory annexed. Between 1959 and 1961 the Xhosa inhabited the nonindependent black states of Transkei and Ciskei cre¬ ated by the white South African gov¬ ernment. In the 1960s many Xhosa became migrant labourers. Today they number some 7.8 million. See photograph on opposite page.
Xi Vshe, 'shi\ River Chinese Xi Jiang or Hsi Chiang English West River River system, south¬ ern China. Known as the Nanpan and then the Hongshui in its upper course, the Xi proper begins as it enters Guangdong province from eastern Guangxi autonomous region. It flows east through Guangdong and then through the vast Pearl River delta before entering the South China Sea west of Hong Kong near Macau; the city of Guangzhou (Canton) is in its delta. It is about 1,200 mi (1,930 km) long, shorter than other important Chinese rivers, but its volume of flow is second only to that of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). It is the great commercial waterway of southern China, linking the delta cities with the interior.
Xi Xia or Hsi Hsia \'she-she-'a\ Kingdom of Tangut tribes that was established in the 11th century and flourished through the early 13th.
Founded by Li Yuanhao, who named it after the ancient Chinese state of Xia, it existed in an uneasy truce with China’s Southern Song dynasty and the Liao dynasty of the Inner Asian Khitan tribes until it was con¬ quered by Genghis Khan.
Xia dynasty or Hsia \she-'a\ dynasty (c. 2070-c. 1600 bc) Quasi-legendary first dynasty of China, preceding the Shang. In Chi¬ nese histories it is said to have been founded by Yu and to have had 17 rulers. Archaeological sites in Henan and Shanxi provinces in northeastern and eastern China have been tenta¬ tively identified with Xia culture. See also Erlitou culture.
Xia Gui or Hsia Kuei (fl. 1195— 1224, Qiantang, Zhejiang province, China) Chinese master of landscape painting. Xia served in the Imperial Painting Academy, and most sources
Xerxes I, detail of a bas-relief of the north courtyard in the treasury at Per¬ sepolis, late 6th -early 5th century bc; in the Archaeological Museum, Tehran.
COURTESY OF THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
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Xi'an ► Xiwangmu I 2087
Xhosa women dancing as they return to their village from the fields.
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agree that he followed the stylistic tradition of an earlier landscapist in the academy, L Tang. Xia and his contemporary, Ma Yuan, were the most influential members of the academy, and a school of painting inspired by them came to be known as the Ma-Xia school. Most of Xia’s surviving works are album leaves painted on silk. A typical work by him is exquis¬ itely calculated and perfectly balanced, conveying with great precision a scene glimpsed through haze, sharply focused at a few points but obscured at others. Chinese writers spoke of his use of a “split brush” (i.e., the brush tip divided so as to make two or more strokes at once) in painting tree foliage and of his freehand drawing “without employing a ruler.” While his influence was considerable, it was only in modern times that he came to be recognized as one of the leading masters of Chinese landscape painting and one of art’s great interpreters of nature.