Cáceres, Andrés Avelino, 1836?-1923, president of Peru (1886-90, 1894). He was a commander in the war with Chile (see Pacific, War of the) and continued to wage guerrilla warfare long after Peru had been conquered. Bitterly opposed to the peace made by the government of Miguel Iglesias, Cáceres attempted to seize control in 1884, but failed. Gathering more troops, he entered Lima in 1885 and forced Iglesias to hold an election. Cáceres was chosen president. In 1894 his party forced congress to elect him president, but Nicolás de Piérola soon overthrew the new government. Cáceres later held important diplomatic posts.

Cáceres, city (1990 pop. 73,915), capital of Cáceres prov., W central Spain, in Estremadura. Products of cork, leather, pottery, and cloth are made there. Cáceres was an important Roman colony. It fell to the Moors in the 8th cent. but was recaptured (1229) by Alfonso IX. The old town, on top of a hill and encircled by turreted walls, has many notable Roman and Moorish structures.

Ceres, in astronomy, a dwarf planet, the first asteroid to be discovered. It was found on Jan. 1, 1801, by G. Piazzi. He took three distinct observations; on the basis of these the mathematician Gauss calculated Ceres' orbit with such accuracy that it was found one year later within 0.5° of the predicted position. Ceres is the largest and most massive of the asteroids; it has a diameter of c.590 mi (949 km) and a mass 1/100,000 that of the earth. Its orbit has a semimajor axis of 2.78 astronomical units and a period of 1,681 days. From its discovery until the 1850s, when many additional asteroids began to be identified, Ceres was regarded by many astronomers as a planet. In 2006 the reconsideration by astronomers of Pluto's status as a planet also led to the reclassification of Ceres as a dwarf planet.

Ceres, in Roman religion and mythology, goddess of grain; daughter of Saturn and Ops. She was identified by the Romans with the Greek Demeter. Her worship was connected with that of the earth goddess and involved not only fertility rites but also rites for the dead. Her chief festival was the Cerealia, celebrated on Apr. 19, and her most famous cult was that of the temple on the Aventine Hill. There is much argument about the origins and nature of her cults.

In Roman religion, the goddess of the growth of food plants, sometimes worshiped in association with the earth goddess Tellus. Her cult was overlaid by that of Demeter, who was worshiped in Greece and Sicily. According to tradition, her cult was introduced into Rome in 496 BC to check a famine. Her temple on Aventine Hill was known as a centre of plebeian religious and political activities and for its artwork.

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