Thespius
A ruler in the vicinity of Mount Cithaeron whose herds, along with those of his neighbor, Amphitryon, were being attacked by a huge lion. Heracles set out, when aged just 18, to kill the lion. The chase lasted for 50 days, during which time Heracles stayed with Thespius, who rewarded Heracles by giving his 50 daughters to him. He slept with a different maiden each night. Heracles killed the animal with a blow from his wild olive club and made himself a garment from the pelt and a helmet from the head, though most say that Heracles made these items later, after he had killed the Nemaean Lion.
Heracles’ sons by the daughters of Thespius were later sent, under the leadership of Iolaus, to settle in Sardinia.
Thessaly
An ancient district of northern Greece that was divided from Macedonia by a mountain range. At the eastern end of the range rose Mount Olympus, and between it and Mount Ossa was the Vale of Tempe, a beautiful valley through which flowed the River Peneus. Modern Thessatia, the largest natural area in Greece, is an administrative district of north-central Greece. It was the center of an extensive Neolithic settlement until c. 2500 B.C. and remained cut off from much of the culture and politics of classical Greece. Thessaly was taken by Macedonia in 325 B.C. and became a part of the province of Macedonia under Roman rule in 148 B.C. It later became a part of the Byzantine Empire with the decline of Roman rule, passing to the Turks in 1393. It was annexed to Greece in 1881.
Legend made it the site of the ten-year Titanomachia, the war between the Titans and the Olympian gods. It was also the homeland of the centaurs, the children of King Ixion who lived on the slopes of Mount Pelion. The Myrmidones, a warlike people, lived on the southern borders of Thessaly and were led to the Trojan War by Achilles, a Thessalanian prince who was the son of Peleus and Thetis.
Thetis
A daughter of Nereus and Doris, chief of the Nereides. When Hephaistos was thrown into the sea by Hera, Thetis and Eurynome looked after the unfortunate deity in an underwater grotto. She was loved by both Zeus and Poseidon. Helped by Briareus, she released Zeus on the occasion he was put in chains by the other Olympians. Upon being told by Themis, some say Prometheus, that any son born to her would be greater than his father, the gods decided that she should marry a mortal. That mortal was Peleus, king of the Myrmidones at Phthia in Thessaly. Having been advised what to do, he caught her while she slept on the shore at Sepias and held on while she transformed into many different shapes. He then made her his wife, their wedding being attended by all the immortals, who brought wonderful gifts. However, there was one omission from the guest list, the goddess Eris, who in a fit of pique threw among the guests a golden apple inscribed with the words, "To the fairest." Ownership of this apple, the Apple of Discord, was contested by Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite and would ultimately lead to the Trojan War.
Thetis and Peleus had a single son, Achilles, whom Thetis attempted to make invulnerable, either by dipping him in the waters of the River Styx—his ankle, where she held him, remaining his only vulnerable spot—or by immolating him on a fire. Peleus caught her in the act and shouted at her to stop, thus breaking the taboo that no mortal shall speak to his mermaid wife. She immediately returned to the sea but continued to watch over her son during his short but eventful life. She attempted to forestall the prophecy that Achilles would die at the Trojan War by hiding him among the daughters of King Lycomedes on the island of Scyros, but he was discovered and made to enlist along with his great friend, Patroclus.
Following the death of Patroclus, Thetis came to Achilles and gave him a new set of armor that had been made by Hephaistos. Wearing it he rejoined the fray and drove the terrified Trojans back to their city, killing Hector in the process. His return to the battle was short-lived, however, for a short time later he was killed by an arrow fired by Paris. Guided by Apollo, the arrow struck him in his one vulnerable spot, fulfilling the prophecy Thetis had attempted to circumvent.
Thisbe
Maiden from Babylon who was the lover of Pyramus. The couple was forbidden to marry or even to see each other, so they had to make do with conversing through a crack in the wall separating their houses. Through this they laid their plans to meet outside the city at the tomb of Ninus. Thisbe arrived first but fled from a lioness that had just killed an ox, dropping her cloak or her veil in the process, which the animal mauled and covered in blood. When Pyramus arrived and found the blood-stained clothing he thought Thisbe had been killed, and so he stabbed himself under a mulberry tree. Thisbe returned and found his body. Grief-stricken, she threw herself onto Pyramus’s sword. Their parents buried the tragic couple in the same urn.
Thoas
Son of Andraemon, king of Calydon, who sailed with 40 ships to join the Greek forces at Troy and was among those chosen to sneak into the city within the hollow belly of the Wooden Horse.
Thrace
An ancient region of the eastern Balkan Peninsula that included Bulgaria and eastern Macedonia and was, from about 1300 B.C., peopled by savage cannibals. Today the area is split among Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria. The Thracians had a rich and flourishing culture, passing on many important elements of religion, poetry, and music to the Greeks. Thrace came under Macedonian rule in 342 B.C., but it remained a warring and anarchic territory until it became a Roman province in 46 a.d. From the seventh century a.d. it was divided between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgar kingdom, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During the nineteenth century Russia tried to extend its influence over Thrace; the region was divided among its neighbors by treaties following World War I.
Threspotus
King of Sicyon to whom Pelopia, daughter of Thyestes, was priestess.
Thrinicia
Island where Helios maintained a herd of cattle. Against the warnings of both Teiresias and Circe, Odysseus’s men slaughtered many of the beasts. When they put to sea again all save Odysseus were destroyed by Zeus. See also: Odysseus
Thrugii
Town in Lucania where Herodotus was born.
Greco-Roman The Greek and Roman name for the northernmost known land, Roman tradition saying that it was six days’ sail from Britain. It was often applied to the Shetland Isles, the Orkneys, and Iceland, though later writers most commonly used it to refer to Scandinavia.
Thy(i)ades
The name given to the Attic votaries of the god Dionysos. Meaning "raging women," thyades is an apt description of the Bacchae. They were supposedly known by this name after Thyia, the first Attic woman to make sacrifice to the god.
Thyestes
Son of Pelops and brother of Atreus. With the connivance of their mother they killed their half-brother, Chrysippus, and were compelled to flee to Mycenae, where they were hospitably received. However, following the death of King Eurystheus, Atreus seized the kingdom and banished his brother. Having already seduced Atreus’s second wife, Aerope, Thyestes tricked Atreus into killing Pleisthenes, his son by his first wife, before leaving the city.
Atreus planned a grisly reprisal and lured his brother back to Mycenae on the false promise that he was ready to give him half the kingdom. Atreus then killed Thyestes’ sons and served them to their father. When Thyestes realized what he had been eating he cursed his brother and fled once again. He now sought the advice of the Delphic Oracle, who told him to father a child on his own daughter. Going to Sicyon, where his daughter, Pelopia, was a priestess in the service of King Threspotus, he ravished her and fled.
Atreus subsequently visited Sicyon and, believing Pelopia to be the daughter of Threspotus, married her as his third wife. When she gave birth to Aegisthus, Thyestes’ son, she exposed the child, but Atreus, believing the child to be his own, rescued him and reared him. Later Thyestes was captured and brought to Mycenae, where Atreus ordered Aegisthus to kill him. However, Thyestes disarmed the boy and, recognizing him as his own son, made himself known to Aegisthus, whom he then had kill Atreus. Thus, finally, Thyestes ruled Mycenae, though he was later routed by Agamemnon, Atreus’s son, who had the help of Tyndareus. His son, Aegisthus, was later to become the lover of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, and with her connivance he killed Agamemnon and so avenged his father.
Thyia
Reputedly the first Attic woman to sacrifice to Dionysos. As a result the Attic women who annually traveled to Parnassus to take part in the Dionysiac orgies became known as Thyiades, or Thyades. However, thyades means "raging women," an apt description of the Bacchae, which the Thyiades were another name for.
Thyone
The deified name of Semele, mother of Dionysos, after her son had rescued her from the Underworld and taken her to live with him in Olympus.
Thyrsus
A wand or rod wreathed with ivy and crowned with a fir cone; an attribute of the god Dionysos. It was also carried by his votaries, the Bacchae.
Tiber
The river that runs through Rome, personified in Father Tiber, the god of the river, possibly the deification of Tiberinus, who appeared to Aeneas as he sailed into the Tiber estuary following his journey to the Underworld. Father Tiber told Aeneas, in a dream, that Helenus’s prophecy was about to be fulfilled. Forewarned, Aeneas set out next day and soon came upon the white sow and her 30 piglets at the future site of the city of Alba Longa, which would be founded by his son, Ascanius, some 30 years later.
Father Tiber also advised Aeneas to seek the help of Evander, the Greek king from Arcadia who now ruled the Palatine Hill. Aeneas followed the advice and was promised the help of the king, whose son, Pallas, joined the noble Trojan’s forces.
Tiberinus
Son of Janus and Camise who drowned in a river that was thenceforth known as the River Tiber.
Tilphussa
A well near Thebes where the seer Teiresias died when he drank the water; whether the water was actually poisonous remains unstated.
Timon
A legendary Athenian misanthrope, a hermit who hated mankind and thus would have nothing to do with it.
Tiryns
A town in the Argolis with massive fortifications built by Proetus, the king, with the aid of the Cyclopes. Proetus was succeeded by Megapenthes, who later exchanged his kingdom with his cousin, Perseus, who then became the king of Tiryns. Tiryns is, perhaps, most famous as being the home of King Eurystheus, who set Heracles his 12 Great Labors.
Tisamenus
The son of Orestes who inherited the kingdoms of Sparta and Argos. He was later overthrown by the Heracleidae and fled to the northern Peloponnesos; from there his bones were later returned to Sparta on the orders of the Delphic Oracle.
Tisiphone
1. The daughter of Alcmaeon and Manto, daughter of Teiresias; through her mother she appears to have inherited some of her grandfather’s powers of prophecy.
2. One of the three winged, serpent-haired daughters of Ge who were known collectively as the Erinnyes or Furies; later they became known as the Eumenides. Her sisters were Alecto and Megaera. They were born from drops of blood that fell onto the earth, Ge, from the wound Cronos inflicted on Uranos. Living in Tartarus, the deepest, most infernal region of the Underworld, they were dispatched to avenge and punish unnatural crimes.
Titan
1. A generic term used to refer to any of the 12 giant children of Uranos and Ge whose names are variously given, the most common listing, that found in Hesiod’s Theogony, being: Oceanos, Hyperion, Coeus, Crius, Iapetus, Cronos, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. They were the primeval gods and goddesses who preceded the Olympian order led by Zeus, who overthrew them during the ten-year Titanomachia and condemned the male Titans to Tartarus, where they were guarded by the Hecatoncheires. After the battle Zeus burned incense at Ara, the altar of the centaur, in celebration of the victory. The Titans have a specific role in Orphic theogony, where they tore apart Zagreus, identified with Dionysos. Zeus swallowed his heart and gave birth to Dionysos for a second time with the aid of Semele. However, the Titans of this myth do not appear to be the pre-Olympian gods and goddesses but rather a race of primeval men and women.
2. A little-used generic term to refer to the second generation of gods born to several of the primeval gods and goddesses referred to as Titans, the original Titans. There were four second-generation Titans: Astraeus, Atlas, Epimetheus, and Prometheus. Technically, the Olympians were also second-generation Titans, and so they should be included in this generic grouping. Sometimes the term is applied to the Gigantes, the 24 giant sons of Ge with serpents’ tails who attempted to avenge the imprisonment of their brothers, the original Titans.
Astronomical: The largest satellite in the solar system and the only one to have any atmosphere. With a mean diameter of 5,800 kilometers (3,625 miles), it is larger than the planet Mercury. It orbits Saturn at an average distance of 1,221,000 kilometers (764,000 miles), between the orbits of Rhea and Hyperion.
Titanomachia
The ten-year war waged in Thessaly between the new order of Olympian deities and the original primeval Titans, though the children of these Titans, the second-generation Titans, also seem to have played a part, for Atlas was said to have led the forces against Zeus and his companions. A second battle between the Olympian gods and giant sons of Ge, the Gigantes, was later fought; this battle sometimes has been referred to as the Titanomachia, or as at least a phase of it. Victorious Zeus condemned the original Titans to Tartarus, where they were guarded by the Hecatoncheires. In the second battle Zeus was again victorious, though he needed the help of Heracles; this time he consigned the conspirators to prisons below mountains, which thereafter were volcanic.
Tithon~es, ~us
Son of Laomedon and Strymon, the half-brother of Priam who was loved by Eos, the mother of his son, Memnon. Eos persuaded Zeus to grant him immortality but failed to ask for eternal youth. He lived as a shrunken old man, though some sources say he shrank away to become a cicada.
Tityus
The giant son of Zeus and the nymph Elara, though some sources make him another of the giant sons of Ge and Uranos. Hera, still implacable over Zeus’s liason with Leto, sent Tityus to violate Leto as she came to Delphi with Artemis. Apollo and Artemis shot him, though some say Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt, and he was condemned to the Underworld. There he was chained down, his body covering a total of two (or nine) acres. Two eagles (or vultures or snakes) constantly devoured his liver, which would renew itself according to the phases of the moon.
Tlepolemus
A son of Heracles who, having killed his uncle, Licymnius, was forced to leave Argos and settle in Rhodes, where he became king and founded the cities of Lindos, Ialysos, and Camirus. From Rhodes he led nine ships to Troy, but his fate there is unknown.
Tmolus
King of Lydia and husband of Omphale. After his death Omphale famously purchased Heracles to serve as her slave for either one or three years.
Trachis
City or region from which Heracles invaded Oechalia and to where he sent Iole after he had killed Eurytus. Mount Oeta, atop which Heracles was immolated, was possibly located in Trachis.
Tricipitinus, Spurius Lucretius
Father of Lucretia who witnessed her suicide, along with her husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, and two others, Lucius Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius Poplicola, having first promised to avenge his daughter’s rape by Sextus Tarquinius.
Trident
Greco-Roman The three-pronged spear or scepter that was an attribute of Poseidon, allegedly given to him by the Cyclopes; it later became the main attribute of Neptune.
Triptolemus
A son of Metaneira and Celeus (king of Eleusis). While the goddess Demeter was staying with his parents during her futile search for her daughter, Persephone, Demeter taught Triptolemus how to sow, tend, and reap grain, thus giving him a grounding in the arts of agriculture. As a result Triptolemus is credited with the invention of the plough. Demeter then sent him to travel the world and spread the knowledge she had given him. Arriving at Athens, he was said to have instituted the Thesmaphoria to honor Demeter. Following his death Triptolemus joined Aeacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus as the fourth judge of the Underworld.
Triton
1. The son of Poseidon and Amphitrite who is usually depicted in the form of a merman, half-man and half-fish, with a scaled body, sharp teeth, and a forked fish’s tail. He had power over waves and possessed the gift of prophecy. He is usually shown blowing on a conch shell, a role in which he appears to be the personification of the wild sea. He gave his name to a class of lesser sea deities also known as Tritons and was said to have guided the Argonauts to the sea from Lake Triton.
2. One of a class of lesser sea gods, the Tritons, who take their name from the son of Poseidon, Triton. Like him they are half-man, half-fish and carry a shell trumpet, usually a conch, which they blow to soothe the waves, unlike Poseidon’s son, who blows his conch to rouse the force of the sea. One legend says that Tritons once attacked the people of Tanagra, though they were normally perceived as neither malevolent nor benevolent.
Astronomical: The innermost and largest satellite of the planet Neptune, its orbit within that of Nereid. It is larger than the Moon that orbits the Earth.
Triton, Lake
In the company of Hermes, Zeus was walking along the shore of this inland lake when he suffered an agonizing headache. Fully realizing just what the cause was, Hermes quickly persuaded Hephaistos, some say Prometheus, to cleave open Zeus’s skull. Doing this relieved the headache, for Athene sprang, fully grown and fully armed, from the wound. It was also the lake where the Argonauts had to enlist the help of Triton, the son of Poseidon, in order to navigate back to the sea.
Troad
An ancient region of northwest Asia Minor; the ancient Troy was its chief city.
Troezen
The birthplace of Theseus. Its ownership was once disputed by Athene and Poseidon; Zeus decreed they should share it equally.
Troilus
A son of Hecuba by either Priam or Apollo, he was killed by Achilles at the start of the Trojan War. The famous story of his love for the beautiful Cressida, the Greek Chryseis, and the actions of Pandarus, the lovers’ go-between, has no place in classical legend. It was first described in the twelfth-century romance Roman de Troie by Benoit de Sainte-More and was later celebrated by both Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s five-act play Troilus and Cressida (1602) tells of Cressida falling in love with the Trojan Prince Troilus, but after he is killed—and she is exchanged for a Trojan prisoner of war—she transfers her attentions to Diomedes.
Trojan Horse, the
Possibly better known as the Wooden Horse; the seemingly innocuous but treacherous gift left for Troy by the departing Greek forces. Within the hollow belly of the huge wooden animal were secreted more than 20 of the bravest Greek warriors. The horse was dragged within the city despite warnings by the priest Laocoon. While the city slept, the warriors descended from their hiding place, opened the city gates, and thereby enabled the Greek forces—which had feigned leaving and were awaiting the return signal—to enter and take Troy, thereby ending the ten-year Trojan War.
