Tellus, a divinity, the same as the earth, the most ancient of all the gods after Chaos. She was mother by Cœlus of Oceanus, Hyperion, Ceus, Rhea, Japetus, Themis, Saturn, Phœbe, Tethys, &c. Tellus is the same as the divinity who is honoured under the several names of Cybele, Rhea, Vesta, Ceres, Tithea, Bona Dea, Proserpine, &c. She was generally represented in the character of Tellus, as a woman with many breasts, distended with milk, to express the fecundity of the earth. She also appeared crowned with turrets, holding a sceptre in one hand and a key in the other; while at her feet was lying a tame lion without chains, as if to intimate that every part of the earth can be made fruitful by means of cultivation. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 130.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 137.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 1.——A poor man, whom Solon called happier than Crœsus the rich and ambitious king of Lydia. Tellus had the happiness to see a strong and healthy family of children, and at last to fall in the defence of his country. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 30.——An Italian who is said to have had commerce with his mares, and to have had a daughter called Hippone, who became the goddess of horses.
Telmessus, or Telmissus, a town of Caria, whose inhabitants were skilled in augury and the interpretation of dreams. Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Livy, bk. 37, ch. 16.——Another in Lycia.——A third in Pisidia.
Telo Martius, a town at the south of Gaul, now Toulon.
Telon, a skilful pilot of Massilia, killed during the siege of that city by Cæsar. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 592.——A king of the Teleboæ, who married Sebethis, by whom he had Œbalus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 734.
Telos, a small island near Rhodes.
Telphūsa, a nymph of Arcadia, daughter of the Ladon who gave her name to a town and fountain of that place. The waters of the fountain Telphusa were so cold, that Tiresias died by drinking them. Diodorus, bk. 4.—Strabo, bk. 9.—Lycophron, li. 1040.
Telxiŏpe, one of the muses according to Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 21.
Telys, a tyrant of Sybaris.
Temathea, a mountain of Messenia. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 34.
Temēnium, a place in Messene, where Temenus was buried.