Tertius hinc decimus labor est durissimus, unâ
Quinquaginta simul stupravit nocte puellas.
All the daughters of Thespius brought male children into the world, and some of them twins, particularly Procris the eldest, and the youngest. Some suppose that one of the Thespiades refused to admit Hercules to her arms, for which the hero condemned her to pass all her life in continual celibacy, and to become the priestess of a temple he had at Thespia. The children of the Thespiades, called Thespiadæ, went to Sardinia, where they made a settlement with Iolaus, the friend of their father. Thespius is often confounded by ancient authors with Thestius, though the latter lived in a different place, and, as king of Pleuron, sent his sons to the hunting of the Calydonian boar. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Pausanias, bk. 9, chs. 26 & 27.—Plutarch.
Thesprōtia, a country of Epirus, at the west of Ambracia, bounded on the south by the sea. It is watered by the rivers Acheron and Cocytus, which the poets, after Homer, have called the streams of hell. The oracle of Dodona was in Thesprotia. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 14, li. 315.—Strabo, bk. 7, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 17.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 179.
Thesprōtus, a son of Lycaon king of Arcadia. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 8.
Thessălia, a country of Greece, whose boundaries have been different at different periods. Properly speaking, Thessaly was bounded on the south by the northern parts of Greece, or Græcia propria; east, by the Ægean; north, by Macedonia and Mygdonia; and west, by Illyricum and Epirus. It was generally divided into four separate provinces, Thessaliotis, Pelasgiotis, Istiæotis, and Phthiotis, to which some add Magnesia. It has been severally called Æmonia, Pelasgicum, Argos, Hellas, Argeia, Dryopis, Pelasgia, Pyrrhæa, Æmathia, &c. The name of Thessaly is derived from Thessalus, one of its monarchs. Thessaly is famous for a deluge which happened there in the age of Deucalion. Its mountains and cities are also celebrated, such as Olympus, Pelion, Ossa, Larissa, &c. The Argonauts were partly natives of Thessaly. The inhabitants of the country passed for a treacherous nation, so that false money was called Thessalian coin, and a perfidious action, Thessalian deceit. Thessaly was governed by kings, till it became subject to the Macedonian monarchs. The cavalry was universally esteemed, and the people were superstitious, and addicted to the study of magic and incantations. Thessaly is now called Janna. Lucan, bk. 6, li. 438, &c.—Dionysius Periegetes,li. 219.—Curtius, bk. 3, ch. 2.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 1.—Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 36; bk. 10, ch. 1.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Justin, bk. 7, ch. 6.—Diodorus, bk. 4.
Thessălion, a servant of Mentor of Sidon, in the age of Artaxerxes Ochus, &c. Diodorus, bk. 16.
Thessaliotis, a part of Thessaly at the south of the river Peneus.
Thessalonīca, an ancient town of Macedonia, first called Therma, and Thessalonica, after Thessalonica the wife of Cassander. According to ancient writers it was once very powerful, and it still continues to be a place of note. Strabo, bk. 7.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.—Cicero, Against Piso, ch. 17.—Livy, bk. 29, ch. 17; bk. 40, ch. 4; bk. 44, chs. 10 & 45.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.——A daughter of Philip king of Macedonia, sister to Alexander the Great. She married Cassander, by whom she had a son called Antipater, who put her to death. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 7.
Thessălus, a son of Æmon.——A son of Hercules and Calliope daughter of Euryphilus. Thessaly received its name from one of these. Apollodorus, bk. 2.—Dictys Cretensis, bk. 2.——A physician who invited Alexander to a feast at Babylon to give him poison.——A physician of Lydia in the age of Nero. He gained the favours of the great and opulent at Rome, by the meanness and servility of his behaviour. He treated all physicians with contempt, and thought himself superior to all his predecessors.——A son of Cimon, who accused Alcibiades because he imitated the mysteries of Ceres.——A son of Pisicratus.——A player in the age of Alexander.