GHAZIPUR (45), a city of India, on the Ganges, 44 m.  NE. of Benares, capital of the district of that name (1,077), in the North-West Provinces; is the head-quarters of the Government Opium Department, and trades in rose-water, sugar, tobacco, &c.; contains the ruins of the Palace of Forty Pillars.

GHAZNI (10), a fortified city of Afghanistan, 7726 ft. above the sea, 85 m.  SW. of Cabul; it is the chief strategical point on the military route between Kandahar and Cabul; in the 11th and 12th centuries it was the capital of the KINGDOM OF GHAZNEVIDS, which stretched from the plains of Delhi to the Black Sea, and which came to an end in 1186.

GHEEL (12), a town in Belgium, situated on a fertile spot in the midst of the sandy plain called the Campine, 26 m.  SE. of Antwerp; it has been for centuries celebrated as an asylum for the insane, who (about 1300) are now boarded out among the peasants; these cottage asylums are under government control, and the board of the patients in most cases is guaranteed.

GHENT (150), a city of Belgium, capital of East Flanders, situated at the junction of the Scheldt and the Lys, 34 m.  NW. of Brussels; rivers and canals divide it into 26 quarters, connected by 270 bridges; in the older part are many quaint and interesting buildings, notably the cathedral of St. Bavon (13th century); it is the first industrial city of Belgium, and is a great emporium of the cotton, woollen, and linen trades; the floriculture is famed, and the flower-shows have won it the name of the “City of Flowers.”

GHETTO, an Italian word applied to the quarters set apart in Italian cities for the Jews, and to which in former times they were restricted; the term is now applied to the Jews’ quarters in any city.

GHIBELLINES, a political party in Italy who, from the 11th to the 14th centuries, maintained the supremacy of the German emperors over the Italian States in opposition to the GUELPHS (q. v.).

GHIBERTI, LORENZO, an Italian sculptor and designer, born at Florence; his first notable work was a grand fresco in the palace of Malatesta at Rimini in 1400, but his most famous achievement, which immortalised his name, was the execution of two doorways, with bas-relief designs, in the baptistery at Florence; he spent 50 years at this work, and so noble were the designs and so perfect the execution that Michael Angelo declared them fit to be the gates of Paradise (about 1378-1455).

GHIKA, HELENA.  See DORA D’ISTRIA.

GHILAN (200), a province of NW.  Persia, between the SW. border of the Caspian Sea and the Elburz Mountains; is low-lying, swampy, and unhealthy towards the Caspian, but the rising ground to the S. is more salubrious; wild animals are numerous in the vast forests; the soil, where cleared, is fertile and well cultivated; the Caspian fisheries are valuable; the people are of Iranian descent, and speak a Persian dialect.

GHIRLANDAJO (i. e.  Garland-maker), nickname of Domenico Curradi, an Italian painter, born at Florence; acquired celebrity first as a designer in gold; he at 24 turned to painting, and devoted himself to fresco and mosaic work, in which he won wide-spread fame; amongst his many great frescoes it is enough to mention here “The Massacre of the Innocents,” at Florence, and “Christ calling Peter and Andrew,” at Rome; Michael Angelo was for a time his pupil (1449-1494).