Source

Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)

Encyclopaedia Britannica is a long running general reference encyclopedia, maintained today by its own editorial staff and revised continuously online. It sits a step below a peer reviewed academic reference because its entries, while carefully edited, are not written and vetted by a rotating body of subject specialist scholars the way a university press reference work is; it is a reputable secondary source rather than a primary scholarly one. Within the atlas it is used for ordinary, encyclopedia depth claims: a figure's basic biography, a place's geography, the broad political history behind a religious movement, the kind of general fact Britannica genuinely supports well. It is not the right citation for specialist, technical detail, such as manuscript or textual criticism scholarship, which needs a dedicated academic source instead; a spot check here found exactly that kind of mismatch once and it was corrected rather than left standing. This atlas also holds seven single-topic Britannica articles as separate records (the Palladium, the Emerald Tablet, the Emerald Buddha, Louangphrabang, the Church of St. Mary of Zion, Athanasius Kircher, and art conservation and restoration); each is one entry inside this same staff-edited project, so citing this general record alongside one of those articles, or citing two of those articles together, for the same claim is Britannica's own editorial voice appearing more than once, not two independent lines of evidence. It remains distinct from the atlas's separate Verified Biographies record, a narrower source reserved for a fact individually checked against a live, dated page, which is not a duplicate of this general use and is not folded into this lineage.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

A general purpose encyclopedia maintained by a professional editorial staff rather than peer reviewed original scholarship, reliable for encyclopedia depth claims but not for specialist technical detail, which keeps it one tier below a dedicated academic reference.

Notes

General reference encyclopedia (Encyclopaedia Britannica online). Originally recorded 2026-08-01 with a narrow scope of five sacred objects (the Ark of the Covenant, the Tablets of the Law, the Kaaba, the Menorah, Zulfiqar), which was true of its use at that moment. That scope was silently outrun within days: by 2026-08-06 the atlas held over 1,100 live facts across more than 30 entity types citing this source for ordinary encyclopedia-depth claims (biographical basics such as gender and lifespan, geography, political history, general religious background), the kind of general claim Britannica genuinely supports. Corrected 2026-08-06 after a ten-citation spot check against Britannica's own site confirmed the general pattern (the Taliban's Deobandi lineage, Acre's Ptolemais and Crusader history, the Ali or Zulfiqar saying, the Osroene kings who ruled from Edessa, the Kingdom of Judah's geography, Njinga's queenship, the Buddha's long-versus-short chronology debate) while also finding a real mismatch: the Romans manuscript-tradition fact naming the P46 Chester Beatty papyrus is textual-criticism detail no general Britannica article on Romans or early Christianity actually carries. Use this source for general, encyclopedia-depth claims only; a claim needing specialist-level technical support (manuscript and papyrological detail, for instance) is not covered by this note and should cite a dedicated specialist source instead, named as an open follow-on rather than fixed here. Distinct from the separate Encyclopaedia Britannica: Verified Biographies source, a narrower source reserved for biographical facts individually verified against a live, dedicated Britannica page on a stated date.

Citation

Author

Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Publisher

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Publication Year

2024

URL

https://www.britannica.com/

Source Type

reference

Connections

Derived from This

Art Conservation and Restoration (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Art Conservation and Restoration; one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Art Conservation and Restoration (Encyclopaedia Britannica)Encyclopaedia Britannica

Athanasius Kircher

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Athanasius Kircher; one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Athanasius KircherEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

Church of St. Mary of Zion (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Church of St. Mary of Zion; one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Church of St. Mary of Zion (Encyclopaedia Britannica)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Emerald Buddha (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Emerald Buddha; one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Emerald Buddha (Encyclopaedia Britannica)Encyclopaedia Britannica

Emerald Tablet (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Emerald Tablet; one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Emerald Tablet (Encyclopaedia Britannica)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Louangphrabang (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Louangphrabang; one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Louangphrabang (Encyclopaedia Britannica)Encyclopaedia Britannica

Palladium (Greek religion), Encyclopaedia Britannica

This record's own Author and Publisher fields name Encyclopaedia Britannica's own editorial staff, not an individual named scholar, for its entry on Palladium (Greek religion); one article inside that same continuously maintained project, not a witness independent of it.

Source Palladium (Greek religion), Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica

Claims Backed By This Source (8,436 claims)

This source backs 8,436 claims across the atlas. As facts: 5,762 well-attested, 1 partially Attested, 73 scholarly debate, 6 open question. As cited relationships: 705 holds, 62 connected, 1 critiqued Here. Plus 1,826 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Sacred Sites, 2,106 claims: 1,473 well-attested, 185 holds, 448 general references.
Articles, 1,909 claims: 1,438 well-attested, 1 partially Attested, 143 holds, 44 connected, 283 general references.
Historical Figures, 749 claims: 487 well-attested, 33 scholarly debate, 4 open question, 40 holds, 185 general references.
Scholarly Disciplines, 486 claims: 361 well-attested, 2 holds, 123 general references.
Regions, 417 claims: 299 well-attested, 9 holds, 109 general references.
States & Territories, 354 claims: 246 well-attested, 7 scholarly debate, 47 holds, 54 general references.
Scripture Portions, 267 claims: 187 well-attested, 53 holds, 27 general references.
Cities, 260 claims: 133 well-attested, 6 scholarly debate, 16 holds, 105 general references.
Figures, 234 claims: 156 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 18 holds, 59 general references.
Practices, 201 claims: 154 well-attested, 4 scholarly debate, 14 holds, 1 connected, 28 general references.
Countries, 157 claims: 102 well-attested, 5 scholarly debate, 2 holds, 48 general references.
Cultures, 149 claims: 64 well-attested, 21 holds, 64 general references.
Secular Organizations, 134 claims: 92 well-attested, 24 holds, 18 general references.
Denominations, 109 claims: 54 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate, 7 holds, 3 connected, 42 general references.
Alchemical Apparatus, 94 claims: 53 well-attested, 12 holds, 29 general references.
Rituals, 69 claims: 52 well-attested, 5 holds, 2 connected, 10 general references.
Holidays & Festivals, 59 claims: 41 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 7 holds, 9 general references.
Languages, 58 claims: 25 well-attested, 8 holds, 25 general references.
Sacred Objects & Ritual Items, 51 claims: 29 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 9 holds, 12 general references.
Open Questions, 48 claims: 38 well-attested, 3 connected, 7 general references.
Religions, 48 claims: 25 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 open question, 4 holds, 17 general references.
Religious Events, 43 claims: 19 well-attested, 5 scholarly debate, 7 holds, 12 general references.
Custodians & Museums, 41 claims: 27 well-attested, 6 holds, 8 general references.
Disciplines, 31 claims: 15 well-attested, 12 holds, 4 general references.
Glands, 28 claims: 21 well-attested, 7 general references.
Organizations, 28 claims: 13 well-attested, 6 holds, 6 connected, 3 general references.
Bodies of Water, 26 claims: 15 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 10 general references.
Pilgrimage Routes, 22 claims: 9 well-attested, 11 holds, 2 general references.
Culture Groups, 21 claims: 14 well-attested, 7 general references.
Empires & Polities, 21 claims: 12 well-attested, 9 general references.
Doctrines, 17 claims: 12 well-attested, 2 holds, 3 general references.
Scripts & Magical Alphabets, 17 claims: 12 well-attested, 1 holds, 4 general references.
Councils and Synods, 16 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 holds, 1 critiqued Here, 4 general references.
Esoteric Texts, 16 claims: 8 holds, 8 general references.
Performance Works, 16 claims: 10 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 holds, 2 general references.
Continents, 12 claims: 8 well-attested, 4 general references.
Deities, 12 claims: 8 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
Artifacts & Relics, 10 claims: 3 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 5 general references.
Religious Organization & Structure, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Calendars, 9 claims: 2 well-attested, 4 holds, 3 general references.
Metaphysical Positions, 8 claims: 5 well-attested, 1 holds, 2 general references.
Numbers, 8 claims: 8 general references.
Sacred Sound, 8 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 holds, 2 connected, 1 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
Observance Rules, 7 claims: 5 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
Sacred Art & Iconography, 7 claims: 5 well-attested, 1 open question, 1 general references.
Metals, 4 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 general references.
Religious Roles & Titles, 4 claims: 3 holds, 1 general references.
Scriptures & Texts, 4 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 holds, 2 general references.
Subtle Energies, 4 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Years, 4 claims: 2 holds, 2 general references.
Animals & Totems, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Mythical Creatures, 3 claims: 2 holds, 1 general references.
Groups, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Religious Legal Instruments, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Textual Witnesses, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Wars & Conflicts, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Virtues, 1 claims: 1 general references.

Well-attested

5,762

Animals & Totems

The Carp

Showing 1 to 50 of 2,157 entities carrying this claim.

Partially Attested

Articles

The Dragon's Mouth

Scholarly debate

Showing 1 to 50 of 54 entities carrying this claim.

Open question

Historical Figures

Karen KingLawrence PrincipeNiceta of RemesianaShimon bar Yochai

Religions

Religion of Humanity

Sacred Art & Iconography

Leshan Giant Buddha

Holds

705

Articles

Goldziher Tests the Chain of Transmission and Finds It Was Built LaterHarshberger Names the Study of What People Do With PlantsHermann Kopp Writes Chemistry's Past Down in OrderJeffreys Reads a Blurred X-Ray and Invents Genetic FingerprintingJohn Graunt Counts London's Dead and Finds a PatternJohnson Publishes a Dictionary and Lexicography Gets Its ModelJulian Steward Organizes a Continent's Worth of Fieldwork Into One HandbookKaufman Reconstructs a Family Tree for Thirty Living LanguagesKnorozov Reads Maya Glyphs as Sound, Not Just SymbolKrogman Writes a Pamphlet for the FBI and a Discipline FollowsKunst Names a Field and Ethnomusicology Gets Its WordLachmann Builds a Family Tree Out of Copying MistakesLibby Measures a Decaying Isotope and Gives Archaeology a ClockLinnaeus Gives Every Plant Two Names and a Fixed PlaceLondon Scholars Found a Society and Genealogy Gets a DisciplineLyell Argues the Present Is the Key to the PastMax Muller Proposes a Science of ReligionMbiti Publishes From Kenya and East African Religion Gets a Systematic StudyMedicare Becomes Law and Health Policy Becomes a Field of Its OwnMendenhall Counts Word Lengths and Authorship Becomes a StatisticMichaelis Applies History to Scripture and a Discipline FollowsMicheli Finds Spores Under a Lens and Founds a ScienceMohenjo Daro Surfaces and a Textless Civilization AppearsMontucla Writes the First Wide Ranging History and a Field FollowsNevins Starts Taping Interviews at Columbia and Names a MethodNiebuhr Reads Livy Skeptically and Modern Ancient History BeginsNine Scientific Bodies on Both Sides of the Paranormal QuestionNine Seas, Each Carrying a Different Faith Across ItOswald Heer and the Seeds the Swiss Lake Dwellings KeptPetrie Cuts Into Tell El Hesi and Gives Excavation a TimelinePolitical Arithmetic Becomes a Discipline of Its OwnQawwali and the Shrine of Nizamuddin AuliyaRasmus Rask's Grammar Opens the Sagas to Systematic ReadingReek Sunday and the Older Mountain Beneath ItRhine Opens a Lab at Duke and Gives Psychical Claims a LaboratoryRichard Simon Asks Who Actually Wrote the Torah and Is Condemned for AskingRosenmuller Publishes a Handbook and Gives Biblical Minerals a MethodRuth Fox Convenes Physicians in New York and Alcoholism Becomes a Medical QuestionSchurer Rewrites the Age of Jesus and a Field Gets Its Reference WorkSix Cities Holding Four Religions' Living CentersSix German Cities Where Christian Authority Was Tested and SplitSix Schools Known for One Religious Studies Program or LaboratoryStanner Convenes a Conference and Aboriginal Studies Gets a National AddressStarbuck Surveys Converts and Religion Becomes a Question Psychology Can AskStephens and Catherwood Prove the Ruins Are Native and a Field BeginsSudhoff Builds an Institute and Medicine Gets a Discipline of Its OwnTen Movements Spanning Reform Synthesis and Interfaith DialogueThe American Heart Association Gives Heart Disease Its Own SocietyThe College de France Opens a Chair for a Language Almost No European ReadThe Economic History Society Gives the Field Its Own Learned Society

Showing 51 to 100 of 440 entities carrying this claim.

Connected

Articles

A Ministry Built to Replace the Sheikh ul-IslamA Museum That Is Also a Working Church InstitutionA Nishapur Polymath Solves Cubic Equations and Reforms a CalendarAfrican Studies: Reading a Tradition on the Continent's Own TermsAnthropology: Comparing Cultures Since Tylor's 1871 DefinitionApproval, and a Secret That Would Not Stay SecretArchaeochemistry: Tracing Composition Back to Its OriginArchaeology: Recovering the Past From the Ground ItselfAsian Studies: Reading a Tradition on the Continent's Own TermsBiology: Naming the Sacred Plant and the Sacrificial AnimalByzantine Liturgical History: How a Rite Entered Orthodox PracticeConservation Science: Keeping a Sacred Object From DecayDocumenting Prisoners of Conscience Held for Their FaithEarth Science: Dating the Ground Beneath a Sacred LandscapeGenetics: Testing a Tradition's Account of Its Own AncestryGeorge and Nancy Barna's Survey Research FirmGoran Persson's Stockholm Forum and Its 1998 FoundingHenry Dunant and the Founding of the Red CrossHistory of Art: Reading Devotion in Stone and PaintHistory: Testing a Tradition's Own Account Against the RecordHumanities: The Shared Ground Beneath Sacred TextJulius II's Sculpture Collection and the Making of the Vatican MuseumsLaw: How a Body Governs Itself by Its Own CodeLinguistics: Recovering a Scripture's Original WordingMathematics: The Deductive Method Behind Calendar and DivinationMaximin's Secret: The One That Was Never ToldMedicine: Separating the Treatment of the Body From the DivinePeter Benenson's Appeal and the Founding of Amnesty InternationalPsychology: Studying the Mind Behind a Religious ExperienceResearch Methodology: How to Test a Claim About ReligionRhetoric: Reading a Sermon by Its Own AppealsSocial Science: Studying How a Religious Institution Actually BehavesSteve Green's Collection and the Museum's 2017 OpeningTextile Conservation Science: Dating a Fabric by Its Fibers and DyesThe 1887 Concordat and Catholic Establishment in MonacoThe 1969 Rabat Summit and the Founding of the OICThe Collective Voice of the Muslim World, and What That Means in PracticeThe Geneva Conventions' Guarantee of Religion in WartimeThe Modern Legal Dispute Over Lingayat IdentityThe Smuggled Antiquities Case and Thousands of ReturnsThe Three Story Sextant and the Zij-i SultaniThe Weeping Woman on the MountainThree Generations of the Lilly Family and a Pharmaceutical FortuneTusi Persuades Hulagu, and the Zij-i Ilkhani Follows

Denominations

EvangelicalismMainline ProtestantismRoman Catholicism

Observance Rules

Darwin Day, 12 February

Open Questions

How many people currently belong to or attend the Positivist Church of Brazil, the surviving organised body of the Religion of Humanity?What Is the Taliban Interim Administrations Total Domestic Revenue or Budget Figure?

Showing 1 to 50 of 56 entities carrying this claim.

Critiqued Here

Councils and Synods

The First Vatican Council

General References

1,826

Animals & Totems

The Carp

Articles

A Candle, a Cake and a Family's SaintA Cathedral Built Without a Right AngleA Celibate Vow That Emptied the Society by 1905A Chapel Built From the Overflow of a CemeteryA City Founded by Its Own PilgrimsA City of Mosaics Across a Religious TransitionA Company Founded to Win a Vote by Founding TownsA Different Kind of Shaker Church, Founded by a Squaxin ProphetA Drum That Once Spoke for a KingA Federal Code Outlawed the Ceremony for Half a CenturyA Forest Planted for an EmperorA Glacier Pilgrimage and a Christ on the RockA Jesuit Founded It, and Franciscans Finished It Decades LaterA La Jolla Conference Turns Ecology Toward Saving Species DeliberatelyA Minaret Among the EmbassiesA Minister Dissolved His Own Denomination in One DocumentA Ministry Built to Replace the Sheikh ul-IslamA Missionary's Supreme Court Case the President IgnoredA Motherhouse, Closed and Later ReopenedA Museum That Is Also a Working Church Institution

Derived from This

Disposition By Topic

Well-attested

Alchemical Apparatus

Animals & Totems

Articles

Partially Attested

Articles

Scholarly debate

Artifacts & Relics

Bodies of Water

Cities

Councils and Synods

Countries

Denominations

Figures

Historical Figures

Holidays & Festivals

Performance Works

Practices

Religions

Religious Events

Sacred Objects & Ritual Items

States & Territories

Open question

Historical Figures

Religions

Sacred Art & Iconography

Holds

Articles

Connected

Articles

Denominations

Observance Rules

Open Questions

Critiqued Here

Councils and Synods

General References

Alchemical Apparatus

Animals & Totems

Articles