di Suvero, Mark, 1933-, American sculptor, b. Shanghai. Di Suvero's major works are constructions of massize pieces of steel, huge weathered timbers, tires, chains, and rope. They are remarkable for their large scale, their composition from common materials, and the effect of motion they produce. Di Suvero's work is represented in the Art Institute of Chicago; the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn.; and the Whitney Museum, New York City.

Lemon, Mark, 1809-70, English editor and humorist. He was a founder of Punch in 1841 and one of its first editors. Besides contributing to periodicals, he wrote more than 60 plays, none of them memorable.

Van Doren, Mark 1894-1973, American poet and critic, b. Hope, Vermilion co., Ill., grad. Univ. of Illinois, 1914, Ph.D. Columbia, 1920; brother of Carl Van Doren. He taught English at Columbia (1920-59), where he was a renowned and dedicated teacher. He was also on the staff of the Nation (1924-28, 1935-38). With Carl Van Doren he wrote American and British Literature since 1890 (1939). He wrote critical studies of various authors, including John Dryden (1920) and Nathaniel Hawthorne (1949), compiled several anthologies, and collected his lectures on poetry in The Noble Voice (1946). As a poet Van Doren was deeply influenced by Wordsworth. Among his volumes of poems are Collected Poems, 1922-1938 (1939; Pulitzer Prize) and Morning Worship and Other Poems (1959). Other writings include novels and a play, The Last Days of Lincoln (1959). He also wrote the influential Liberal Education (1943).

Morris, Mark 1956-, American dancer and choreographer, b. Seattle, Wash. After training in Balkan folk dance, flamenco, and ballet, he went on to dance for Eliot Feld, Laura Dean, and Lar Lubovitch. His own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, debuted in New York in 1980; from 1988 to 1991 it was the resident company the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. In 1990 he and Mikhail Baryshnikov established the White Oak Dance Project, a group formed to choreograph and perform new dance. In 2001 his company moved into permanent studios in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Since the 1980s Morris's dances have attracted great interest for their craftsmanship, ingenuity, musicality, and iconoclastic choreography as well as their sometimes eclectic and always live musical accompaniments; his solo performance of O Rangasayee, for example, was danced to an Indian raga. He won particular acclaim for The Hard Nut (1991), a campily ebullient version of The Nutcracker set in the 1960s. Generally less ironic and more serious in tone, his other works include L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, ed Il Moderato (1988), Dido and Aeneas (1989), The Office (1995), Greek to Me (2000), a dance version of the Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein opera Four Saints in Three Acts (2001), the ballet The Garden (2001), the modern dance pieces V (2002), All Fours (2004), and Rock of Ages (2005), a new version of the classic ballet Sylvia (2004), Mozart Dances (2006), a joyous vaudevillesque version of Purcell's King Arthur (2006), and a new ballet to Prokofiev's score for Romeo and Juliet (2008). Morris officially retired as a dancer in 2006.

Aldanov, Mark, pseud. of Mark Aleksandrovich Landau, 1886-1957, Russian writer. Aldanov earned degrees in chemistry and law. He took part in the Revolution of 1917, after which he emigrated to France, where he wrote novels about social conflict. These include The Thinker, a tetralogy on the events of the era 1793-1821, comprising The Ninth Thermidor (1923, tr. 1926), The Devil's Bridge (1925, tr. 1928), The Conspiracy (1927), and St. Helena: Little Island (1921, tr. 1924). The Tenth Symphony (1931, tr. 1948) concerns Vienna in Beethoven's time. The Fifth Seal (1939, tr. 1943) portrays the decay of revolutionary idealism during the Spanish civil war. Aldanov describes the clash between Soviet and American ideologies in Nightmare and Dawn (tr. 1957). Among his last works are A Night at the Airport (tr. 1949) and The Escape (tr. 1950). He visited the United States in 1941, returning to France shortly before his death.

Hopkins, Mark, 1802-87, American educator, b. Stockbridge, Mass., grad. Williams, 1824, and Berkshire Medical School, 1829. After a few months of medical practice he returned (1830) to Williams as professor of moral philosophy and rhetoric. President of the college from 1836 to 1872 and professor of intellectual and moral philosophy until his death, he was renowned as a teacher and administrator. He was ordained in the Congregational Church in 1836, preached frequently, and was president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1857-87). His works include the Lowell Institute lectures for 1844, which later appeared as Evidences of Christianity (1863; rev. for text use), Lectures on Moral Science (1862), The Law of Love and Love as a Law (1869), and The Scriptural Idea of Man (1883).

Hopkins, Mark, 1813-78, American railroad builder and merchant, b. Henderson, N.Y. A clerk in a village store and later a commission merchant in New York City, he was more than 35 years old when he went to California. There he became (1853) a partner of Collis P. Huntington and was later one of the incorporators of the Central Pacific RR, of which he became treasurer.

Twain, Mark, pseud. of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910, American author, b. Florida, Mo. As humorist, narrator, and social observer, Twain is unsurpassed in American literature. His novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a masterpiece of humor, characterization, and realism, has been called the first (and sometimes the best) modern American novel.

Early Life and Works

After the death of his father in 1847, young Clemens was apprenticed to a printer in Hannibal, Mo., the Mississippi River town where he spent most of his boyhood. He first began writing for his brother's newspaper there, and later he worked as a printer in several major Eastern cities. In 1857, Clemens went to New Orleans on his way to make his fortune in South America, but instead he became a Mississippi River pilot—hence his pseudonym, "Mark Twain," which was the river call for a depth of water of two fathoms. The Civil War put an end to river traffic, and in 1862 Clemens went west to Carson City, Nev., where he failed in several get-rich-quick schemes. He eventually began writing for the Virginia City Examiner and later was a newspaperman in San Francisco.

Soon the humorist "Mark Twain" emerged, a writer of tall tales and absurd anecdotes. He first won fame with the comic masterpiece "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," first published in 1865 in the New York Saturday Press and later (1867) used as the title piece for a volume of stories and sketches. When he returned from a trip to Hawaii financed by the Sacramento Union in 1866, Twain became a successful humorous lecturer. The articles he wrote on a journey to the Holy Land were published in 1869 as The Innocents Abroad. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon of Elmira, N.Y., and settled down in Hartford, Conn., to be "respectable," although Roughing It (1872) presented anecdotes of his less genteel past on the Western frontier.

Mature Works

In Hartford, Twain wrote some of his best work: The Gilded Age (1873), a satirical novel written with Charles Dudley Warner about materialism and corruption in the 1870s; two evocations of his boyhood in Hannibal, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); The Prince and the Pauper (1882), a novel for children that blends the simplicity of a fairy tale with realistic social criticism; and the nonfictional Life on the Mississippi (1883). He also produced a travel book, A Tramp Abroad (1880), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), in which satirical overtones reflect a profound seriousness.

Later Life and Works

Some of Twain's later works are forced attempts at humor—The American Claimant (1892) and two sequels to Tom Sawyer. His distinctly bitter Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) underscores his increasingly melancholy attitude. Over the years Twain had invested a great deal of money in unsuccessful printing and publishing ventures, and in 1893 he found himself deeply in debt. To recoup his losses he wearily lectured his way around the world, being funny at whatever cost, and recording his experiences in Following the Equator (1897).

His later life was shadowed by the deaths of two of his daughters and by the long illness and death in 1904 of his wife. Some critics think that the fierce pessimism of his later works derives from these tragedies. Whatever the reason, he abandoned the optimistic tone of The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896), and wrote such somber works as The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (1899), What Is Man? (1905), The Mysterious Stranger (1916), and Letters from the Earth (1962). The strange contradiction in personality between the genial humorist and the declared misanthrope has long intrigued commentators and makes Twain a fascinating biographical subject.

Twain's Masterpiece: Huckleberry Finn

Twain's literary reputation rests most particularly on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In its hero, a resourceful, unconventional boy with an innate sense of human values, Twain created one of the most memorable characters in fiction. The narrative device of a raft carrying Huck and a runaway slave down the Mississippi enabled Twain to achieve a realistic portrait of American life in the 19th cent. Through his use of authentic vernacular speech he revolutionized the language of American fiction and exerted a great influence on many subsequent American writers. In 1990 a handwritten manuscript of the first half of the novel was discovered that includes a number of minor changes and an episode that was left out of the original published version; these passages were included in an edition published in 1996.

Rothko, Mark, 1903-70, American painter, b. Russia. Rothko emigrated to the United States in 1913. He was a student of Max Weber, then came under the influence of the surrealists. In the mid-1940s Rothko experimented with abstraction, arranging intense colors in irregular shapes. Soon he became a leading exponent of a uniquely meditative and personal strain within the larger movement of abstract expressionism. His later works (e.g., No. 10, 1950; Mus. of Modern Art, New York City) frequently consist of floating rectangles of luminous color on enormous canvases that manage to simultaneously convey a deep sensuality and a profound spirituality. Rothko's images to some degree presaged some of the techniques of the later color-field painting. He collaborated with the architect Philip Johnson on the design of a chapel in Houston in the mid-1960s. Rothko committed suicide.

Tobey, Mark, 1890-1976, American painter, b. Centerville, Wis. An avid traveler, Tobey visited China and Japan in 1934. He then developed his celebrated "white writing," in which he attempted to symbolize the human spirit by applying principles of Eastern calligraphy to the rhythms of Western civilization. An exciting sense of motion and lyric treatment of light and color are revealed in his San Francisco Street (1941; Detroit Inst. of Arts) and Fountains of Europe (1955; Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston). In 1923, Tobey settled in the NW United States; much of his work is exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum. Transit (1948; Metropolitan Mus.) is characteristic of the East Asian influence in Tobey's art.

Strand, Mark, 1934-, American poet, b. Prince Edward Island, Canada. His poetry is noted for its confrontation with the surreal and irrational. His collections include Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964), Darker (1970), Selected Poems (1980), Blizzard of One (1998; Pulitzer Prize), and New Selected Poems (2007). He has also published a novel, Mr. and Mrs. Baby (1985), and has edited several distinguished poetry anthologies, including The Contemporary American Poets (1969) and Another Republic (1976). He was poet laureate of the United States (1990-91).

Mark, Saint [Lat. Marcus], Christian apostle, traditional author of the 2d Gospel (see Mark, Gospel according to). His full name was John Mark. His mother, named Mary, had a house in Jerusalem, which the Christians used as a meeting place. Mark accompanied St. Paul and St. Barnabas, who was his cousin or uncle, on their mission to Cyprus, but he left them at Perga and returned to Jerusalem. Paul refused to take Mark on his second trip, thus creating a breach with Barnabas. Tradition identifies Mark with the young man who "fled from them naked" at Gethsemane. Tradition also makes him an associate of St. Peter, who is thought to have furnished many of the evangelist's facts. The Alexandrian church claims Mark as its founder—the liturgy of that church is called the Liturgy of St. Mark. St. Mark is the patron of Venice and of its famous cathedral, where his relics are shown. His symbol as an evangelist is a lion. Feast: Apr. 25.

Mark, Gospel according to, 2d book of the New Testament. The shortest of the four Gospels and probably the earliest, it is usually thought to have been composed shortly before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Tradition claims St. Mark as the author and St. Peter as the eyewitness authority who supplied much of his information. Because much of the material in Mark is found in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, it is likely that Mark's Gospel was an important source for those later Gospels (see Synoptic Gospels). The Gospel of St. Mark may be divided into four sections: beginning of the ministry of Jesus; his first two years of preaching and healing in Galilee; his third year of ministry, including the journey to Jerusalem; the passion and resurrection. The earliest manuscripts of the Gospel conclude with the news of Christ's resurrection proclaimed at his open tomb; later manuscripts conclude with a longer passage in which the risen Jesus appears to some of his disciples. A large portion of the Gospels is devoted to the events of the week leading up to Christ's trial and crucifixion; they are foreshadowed earlier in the Gospel by Christ's three "passion predictions." Mark teaches that true discipleship comes from an appreciation not so much of Christ's miracles as of the service and suffering that characterize his ministry and messiahship. Jesus is presented as reluctant to disclose his true nature to those who lack the understanding that comes from insight into his suffering.

mark, designation for the free village community that was supposed to have been the unit of primitive German social life. According to a theory formulated in the 19th cent. by Georg Ludwig von Maurer and others, the mark was composed of free men in voluntary association, holding lands communally, and governed by a chief elected for a short term. The theory was expanded by other scholars, among them Edward Augustus Freeman, but it later was bitterly attacked by the historians N. D. Fustel de Coulanges and Frederic Seebohm. It has become generally accepted that Roman as well as Germanic institutions influenced the formation of the medieval manorial system and that the idyllic democratic society depicted by Maurer never existed. See village.

Akenside, Mark, 1721-70, English poet and physician. His chief literary work was the didactic poem The Pleasures of Imagination (1744). Among his other works are the neoclassical Odes on Various Subjects (1745) and the Epistle to Curio (1744), a vigorous political satire. Akenside's conversion to Tory principles at the accession of George III earned him the appointment of physician to the queen.

orig. Samuel Langhorne Clemens

(born Nov. 30, 1835, Florida, Mo., U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Conn.) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer. He grew up in Hannibal, Mo., on the Mississippi River and was apprenticed in 1848 to a local printer. He received a riverboat pilot's license in 1859 and later moved on to Nevada and California. In 1863 he took his pseudonym, the riverman's term for water 2 fathoms (12 ft [3.7 m]) deep. In a California mining camp he heard the story that he first published in 1865 and made famous as the h1 story of his first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867). He traveled widely, using his travels as subject matter for lectures and books, from the humorous narratives The Innocents Abroad (1869) and Roughing It (1872) to Life on the Mississippi (1883), his reflections on being a riverboat captain. He won a worldwide audience for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1885), one of the masterpieces of American fiction. The satirical A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and increasingly grim works including Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (1900) followed. In the 1890s financial speculations bankrupted him. His eldest daughter died in 1896, his wife in 1904, and another daughter in 1909. He expressed his pessimism about human character in such late works as the posthumously published Letters from the Earth (1962).

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(born Dec. 11, 1890, Centerville, Wis., U.S.—died April 24, 1976, Basel, Switz.) U.S. painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1918 he converted to the Bahā'ī religion and his work became inspired by Asian art and thought. In the 1930s he achieved notoriety with his “white writing” paintings, consisting of a web of calligraphic marks painted in white on a gray or coloured ground (e.g., Broadway, 1936), which soon displaced his representational work. His style is distinguished by his use of the small format and a refined execution in watercolour, tempera, or pastel. In the 1950s he exerted much influence abroad, especially on French Tachism.

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(born April 11, 1934, Summerside, P.E.I., Can.) Canadian-born U.S. poet and writer of short fiction. Educated in the U.S., he taught at several American universities. His poetry, influenced by Latin American surrealism and European writers such as Franz Kafka, is known for its symbolic imagery and its minimalist sensibility. His volumes include the collections Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964), The Story of Our Lives (1973), and Blizzard of One (1998); Dark Harbor (1993), a book-length poem; and Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories (1985). He was named U.S. poet laureate in 1990.

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(born Feb. 10, 1950, Modesto, Calif., U.S.) U.S. swimmer. He swam in college for Indiana University. At the 1968 Olympic Games he won two gold medals in team relay races. In the 1972 Olympics he won four individual men's events (setting world records in all four) and three team events (one world record); Spitz's feat of winning seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games remains unmatched.

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orig. Marcus Rothkowitz

(born Sept. 25, 1903, Dvinsk, Russia—died Feb. 25, 1970, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. painter. His family settled in Portland, Ore., in 1913, and he took up painting (largely self-taught) after moving to New York City in 1925. His early realistic style culminated in the Subway series (late 1930s). The semiabstract forms of his work in the early 1940s developed into a highly personal, contemplative form of Abstract Expressionism by 1948. Unlike many of his fellow Abstract Expressionists, Rothko never relied on such dramatic techniques as violent brush strokes or the dripping and splattering of paint. Instead, his virtually gestureless paintings achieved their effects by juxtaposing large areas of melting colours that seemingly float parallel to the picture plane in an indeterminate, atmospheric space. Rothko spent the rest of his life refining this basic style through continuous simplification. In 1965–66 he completed 14 immense canvases, whose sombre intensity reveals his deepening mysticism; they are now housed in a chapel in Houston, which was named the Rothko Chapel after his suicide.

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(born Jan. 18, 1779, London, Eng.—died Sept. 12, 1869, West Malvern, Worcestershire) English physician and philologist. In 1814 he invented a slide rule for calculating the roots and powers of numbers. He was instrumental in founding the University of London (1828). He is best known for his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1852), a comprehensive classification of synonyms or verbal equivalents which he assembled during his retirement. He was a fellow (from 1815) and secretary (from 1827) of the Royal Society.

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(born Jan. 18, 1779, London, Eng.—died Sept. 12, 1869, West Malvern, Worcestershire) English physician and philologist. In 1814 he invented a slide rule for calculating the roots and powers of numbers. He was instrumental in founding the University of London (1828). He is best known for his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1852), a comprehensive classification of synonyms or verbal equivalents which he assembled during his retirement. He was a fellow (from 1815) and secretary (from 1827) of the Royal Society.

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(born Aug. 29, 1956, Seattle, Wash., U.S.) U.S. dancer and choreographer. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980. It was the resident company at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (1988–91), returned to the U.S. in 1991, and made its permanent home in Brooklyn in 2001. Known for his daring style, he has choreographed many works for his own company as well as for opera productions and television performances, including The Hard Nut (1991), his modernized version of The Nutcracker.

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(born Oct. 1, 1963, Pomona, Calif., U.S.) U.S. baseball player. McGwire played first base in college, then joined the Oakland Athletics in 1987 and quickly displayed the strength that would become his trademark. His 49 home runs hit during his first season in the majors set a record, and he was named the American League's Rookie of the Year. In 1989 his .343 postseason batting average guided Oakland to the World Series championship. Injuries plagued him in 1993–95. Traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997, he hit 58 homers. In 1998 he topped Roger Maris's 37-year-old season record of 61 home runs. He and Sammy Sosa thrilled fans with their home-run competition, and McGwire achieved the new record with 70; the record was broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds (73). In 1999 McGwire hit 65 home runs. Following the 2001 season he retired from professional play.

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(born May 1, 1896, Madison Barracks, N.Y., U.S.—died April 17, 1984, Charleston, S.C.) U.S. army officer. After graduating from West Point, he served in Europe in World War I. In 1942 he was appointed chief of staff of army ground forces. He commanded the U.S. landing at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943 and received the surrender of the government of Pietro Badoglio. He then directed the hard-fought campaign to wrest the Italian peninsula from Axis control, taking Rome in June 1944 and receiving the surrender of the last German forces in northern Italy in May 1945. In the Korean War he commanded all UN troops (1952–53). After his retirement he served as president of The Citadel military college (1954–66).

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orig. Samuel Langhorne Clemens

(born Nov. 30, 1835, Florida, Mo., U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Conn.) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer. He grew up in Hannibal, Mo., on the Mississippi River and was apprenticed in 1848 to a local printer. He received a riverboat pilot's license in 1859 and later moved on to Nevada and California. In 1863 he took his pseudonym, the riverman's term for water 2 fathoms (12 ft [3.7 m]) deep. In a California mining camp he heard the story that he first published in 1865 and made famous as the h1 story of his first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867). He traveled widely, using his travels as subject matter for lectures and books, from the humorous narratives The Innocents Abroad (1869) and Roughing It (1872) to Life on the Mississippi (1883), his reflections on being a riverboat captain. He won a worldwide audience for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1885), one of the masterpieces of American fiction. The satirical A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and increasingly grim works including Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (1900) followed. In the 1890s financial speculations bankrupted him. His eldest daughter died in 1896, his wife in 1904, and another daughter in 1909. He expressed his pessimism about human character in such late works as the posthumously published Letters from the Earth (1962).

Learn more about Twain, Mark with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 11, 1890, Centerville, Wis., U.S.—died April 24, 1976, Basel, Switz.) U.S. painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1918 he converted to the Bahā'ī religion and his work became inspired by Asian art and thought. In the 1930s he achieved notoriety with his “white writing” paintings, consisting of a web of calligraphic marks painted in white on a gray or coloured ground (e.g., Broadway, 1936), which soon displaced his representational work. His style is distinguished by his use of the small format and a refined execution in watercolour, tempera, or pastel. In the 1950s he exerted much influence abroad, especially on French Tachism.

Learn more about Tobey, Mark with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 11, 1934, Summerside, P.E.I., Can.) Canadian-born U.S. poet and writer of short fiction. Educated in the U.S., he taught at several American universities. His poetry, influenced by Latin American surrealism and European writers such as Franz Kafka, is known for its symbolic imagery and its minimalist sensibility. His volumes include the collections Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964), The Story of Our Lives (1973), and Blizzard of One (1998); Dark Harbor (1993), a book-length poem; and Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories (1985). He was named U.S. poet laureate in 1990.

Learn more about Strand, Mark with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marcus Rothkowitz

(born Sept. 25, 1903, Dvinsk, Russia—died Feb. 25, 1970, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. painter. His family settled in Portland, Ore., in 1913, and he took up painting (largely self-taught) after moving to New York City in 1925. His early realistic style culminated in the Subway series (late 1930s). The semiabstract forms of his work in the early 1940s developed into a highly personal, contemplative form of Abstract Expressionism by 1948. Unlike many of his fellow Abstract Expressionists, Rothko never relied on such dramatic techniques as violent brush strokes or the dripping and splattering of paint. Instead, his virtually gestureless paintings achieved their effects by juxtaposing large areas of melting colours that seemingly float parallel to the picture plane in an indeterminate, atmospheric space. Rothko spent the rest of his life refining this basic style through continuous simplification. In 1965–66 he completed 14 immense canvases, whose sombre intensity reveals his deepening mysticism; they are now housed in a chapel in Houston, which was named the Rothko Chapel after his suicide.

Learn more about Rothko, Mark with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 29, 1956, Seattle, Wash., U.S.) U.S. dancer and choreographer. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980. It was the resident company at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (1988–91), returned to the U.S. in 1991, and made its permanent home in Brooklyn in 2001. Known for his daring style, he has choreographed many works for his own company as well as for opera productions and television performances, including The Hard Nut (1991), his modernized version of The Nutcracker.

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(born Sept. 3, 1814, Richmond County, Va., U.S.—died March 29, 1878, Yuma, Arizona Territory) U.S. businessman who helped build the Central Pacific (later the Southern Pacific) Railroad and for whom San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel atop Nob Hill was named. He was brought up in North Carolina. After an unprofitable attempt to mine gold in California in 1851, he began selling groceries and established one of the most prosperous mercantile houses in the state. With three other merchants he planned a transcontinental railroad, and in 1861 they organized the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1869 the main line was completed, meeting the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah.

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orig. Marcus Alonzo Hanna

(born Sept. 24, 1837, New Lisbon, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 15, 1904, Washington, D.C.) U.S. industrialist and political kingmaker. He became a businessman in Cleveland, Ohio, with interests in banking, coal and iron, transportation, and publishing. Convinced that the interests of big business would best be served by the Republican Party, he began in 1880 to gather support among industrialists for its candidates. In 1892 he helped William McKinley secure the Ohio governorship. For McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign Hanna helped the Republicans raise an unprecedented $3.5 million, enough to overwhelm the grassroots campaign of William Jennings Bryan. He served in the U.S. Senate (1897–1904).

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(born Oct. 1, 1963, Pomona, Calif., U.S.) U.S. baseball player. McGwire played first base in college, then joined the Oakland Athletics in 1987 and quickly displayed the strength that would become his trademark. His 49 home runs hit during his first season in the majors set a record, and he was named the American League's Rookie of the Year. In 1989 his .343 postseason batting average guided Oakland to the World Series championship. Injuries plagued him in 1993–95. Traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997, he hit 58 homers. In 1998 he topped Roger Maris's 37-year-old season record of 61 home runs. He and Sammy Sosa thrilled fans with their home-run competition, and McGwire achieved the new record with 70; the record was broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds (73). In 1999 McGwire hit 65 home runs. Following the 2001 season he retired from professional play.

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Latin Marcus Antonius

(born circa 83—died August, 30 BC) Roman general. After military service (57–54), he joined the staff of his relative Julius Caesar. He helped Caesar drive Pompey from Italy in 49 and in 44 was made co-consul. After Caesar's assassination, Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) initially opposed Antony but later formed the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus. Antony helped defeat republican forces at Philippi and took control of Rome's eastern provinces. On a mission to Egypt to question Cleopatra about her loyalty, he became her lover (41–40). He returned to Italy in 40 to settle differences with Octavian, whereupon he received command of the eastern provinces. To strengthen his position, he agreed to marry Octavian's sister Octavia. When relations with Octavian again collapsed, he headed for Syria and sent for Cleopatra for aid. Octavian sent Octavia to him, and, when Antony ordered her back to Rome, a fatal breach opened. The Triumvirate ended in 32, leaving Antony little support in Rome. He divorced Octavia, and Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. Antony lost the Battle of Actium, and he and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, pursued by Octavian. When resistance became futile, they committed suicide.

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(born Feb. 10, 1950, Modesto, Calif., U.S.) U.S. swimmer. He swam in college for Indiana University. At the 1968 Olympic Games he won two gold medals in team relay races. In the 1972 Olympics he won four individual men's events (setting world records in all four) and three team events (one world record); Spitz's feat of winning seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games remains unmatched.

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(flourished 1st century, Jerusalem—died traditionally Alexandria, Egypt; Western feast day April 25; Eastern feast day September 23) Christian evangelist to whom the second Gospel is traditionally ascribed. He joined Saints Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey but left them at Perga and returned to Jerusalem. He may also have aided St. Peter in Rome, and some scholars believe that Mark's Gospel is based on Peter's account of his experiences as one of the Twelve Apostles. If this is true, it was probably written shortly after Peter's death circa AD 65. The Egyptian church claims Mark as its founder, and he is patron saint of the Italian cities of Aquileia and Venice. His symbol is the lion.

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(born Sept. 3, 1814, Richmond County, Va., U.S.—died March 29, 1878, Yuma, Arizona Territory) U.S. businessman who helped build the Central Pacific (later the Southern Pacific) Railroad and for whom San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel atop Nob Hill was named. He was brought up in North Carolina. After an unprofitable attempt to mine gold in California in 1851, he began selling groceries and established one of the most prosperous mercantile houses in the state. With three other merchants he planned a transcontinental railroad, and in 1861 they organized the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1869 the main line was completed, meeting the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah.

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orig. Marcus Alonzo Hanna

(born Sept. 24, 1837, New Lisbon, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 15, 1904, Washington, D.C.) U.S. industrialist and political kingmaker. He became a businessman in Cleveland, Ohio, with interests in banking, coal and iron, transportation, and publishing. Convinced that the interests of big business would best be served by the Republican Party, he began in 1880 to gather support among industrialists for its candidates. In 1892 he helped William McKinley secure the Ohio governorship. For McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign Hanna helped the Republicans raise an unprecedented $3.5 million, enough to overwhelm the grassroots campaign of William Jennings Bryan. He served in the U.S. Senate (1897–1904).

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(born May 1, 1896, Madison Barracks, N.Y., U.S.—died April 17, 1984, Charleston, S.C.) U.S. army officer. After graduating from West Point, he served in Europe in World War I. In 1942 he was appointed chief of staff of army ground forces. He commanded the U.S. landing at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943 and received the surrender of the government of Pietro Badoglio. He then directed the hard-fought campaign to wrest the Italian peninsula from Axis control, taking Rome in June 1944 and receiving the surrender of the last German forces in northern Italy in May 1945. In the Korean War he commanded all UN troops (1952–53). After his retirement he served as president of The Citadel military college (1954–66).

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Latin Marcus Antonius

(born circa 83—died August, 30 BC) Roman general. After military service (57–54), he joined the staff of his relative Julius Caesar. He helped Caesar drive Pompey from Italy in 49 and in 44 was made co-consul. After Caesar's assassination, Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) initially opposed Antony but later formed the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus. Antony helped defeat republican forces at Philippi and took control of Rome's eastern provinces. On a mission to Egypt to question Cleopatra about her loyalty, he became her lover (41–40). He returned to Italy in 40 to settle differences with Octavian, whereupon he received command of the eastern provinces. To strengthen his position, he agreed to marry Octavian's sister Octavia. When relations with Octavian again collapsed, he headed for Syria and sent for Cleopatra for aid. Octavian sent Octavia to him, and, when Antony ordered her back to Rome, a fatal breach opened. The Triumvirate ended in 32, leaving Antony little support in Rome. He divorced Octavia, and Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. Antony lost the Battle of Actium, and he and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, pursued by Octavian. When resistance became futile, they committed suicide.

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Mark may refer to:

Christianity

• Curse and mark of Cain, Cain's inability to harvest crops and the necessity that he led a nomadic lifestyle
• Gospel of Mark, one of the books of the Bible, and the apocryphal Secret Gospel of Mark
• Mark the Evangelist (Saint Mark)
• Mark of the Beast, a sign or number mentioned in the Book of Revelation
• St Mark's Basilica, the most famous of the churches of Venice and an example of Byzantine architecture

Currency

• Mark (money), a unit of currency in various countries
• German gold mark, coinage of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914
• German Papiermark, German coinage from 1914 to 1924
• Rentenmark, German temporary currency 1923 to 1924
• German Reichsmark, German coinage from 1924 to 1948
• Deutsche Mark, official currency of Germany from 1948 to 2001
• East German Mark, official currency of the German Democratic Republic from 1948 to 1990
• Polish marka, Polish currency from 1917 to 1924
• Finnish markka, mark in Swedish, official currency of Finland from 1860 to 2001
• Bosnia and Herzegovina konvertibilna marka

Geography

• Mark, or marches, the border territory of a country
• Baruth/Mark, a village in the Teltow-Fläming district of Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 24 km east of Luckenwalde, and 53 km south of Berlin.
• County of Mark, a county of the Holy Roman Empire
• Mark (Dender), a river in Belgium, tributary of the Dender
• Mark (Dintel) a river in Belgium and the Netherlands, also known as the Dintel
• Mark Hundred in Sweden
• Mark Municipality in Sweden
• Mark, Somerset, a village in Somerset, United Kingdom
• Mark, Illinois, a village in the United States

Catching a ball

In both Australian rules football and rugby union, a clean catch from a kick by another player results in a free kick. See:

• Mark (Australian football)
• Mark (rugby)

Technology

• Harvard Mark I, the first large-scale automatic digital computer in the USA
• Mark (designation), level of development
• Mark frequency, extreme discrete value of frequency-shift keying

Measurement

• Mark (mass), an archaic European unit of weight whose use for precious metal gave rise to the currencies

Business

• Service mark, trademark used to identify a service rather than a product
• Trade mark, distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to uniquely identify itself and its products and services
• The victim in a confidence trick

Mythology

• Mark of Cornwall, a figure from Arthurian legend
• Mark, a satyr, a legend in Ancient Greece, regarded as a god in Thebes.

Other

• Beauty mark, dark mole on the face or other part of the body that is considered to be attractive
• Diacritical mark, mark added to a letter to alter a word's pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words
• Mark of Rohan, fictional realm in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy era of Middle-earth. See also Marches.
• Mark, a grade awarded to students' work
• Merchant's Mark
• Sea mark, pilotage aid which identifies the approximate position of a maritime channel, hazard and administrative area
• Tread mark, a mark left by a tire tread
• Mark (given name), a given name to a person. The name comes from Latin roots meaning "defender"
• A fan of professional wrestling.

See also

• Marks
• Marc
• Mack
• Mac
• Mach
• Mak