Tinia, a river of Umbria, now Topino, falling into the Clitumnus. Strabo, bk. 5.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 454.
Tipha, a town of Bœtia, where Hercules had a temple. Ovid, ltr. 6, li. 48.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 32.
Tiphys, the pilot of the ship of the Argonauts, was son of Hagnius, or, according to some, of Phorbas. He died before the Argonauts reached Colchis, at the court of Lycus in the Propontis, and Erginus was chosen in his place. Orphica.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.—Apollonius.—Valerius Flaccus.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 32.—Hyginus, fables 14 & 18.
Tiphysa, a daughter of Thestius. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 7.
Tīrĕsias, a celebrated prophet of Thebes, son of Everus and Chariclo. He lived to a great age, which some authors have called as long as seven generations of men, others six, and others nine, during the time that Polydorus, Labdacus, Laius, Œdipus, and his sons sat on the throne of Thebes. It is said that in his youth he found two serpents in the act of copulation on mount Cyllene, and that when he had struck them with a stick to separate them, he found himself suddenly changed into a girl. Seven years after he found again some serpents together in the same manner, and he recovered his original sex, by striking them a second time with his wand. When he was a woman, Tiresias had married, and it was from those reasons, according to some of the ancients, that Jupiter and Juno referred to his decision, a dispute in which the deities wished to know which of the sexes received greater pleasure from the connubial state. Tiresias, who could speak from actual experience, decided in favour of Jupiter, and declared, that the pleasure which the female received was 10 times greater than that of the male. Juno, who supported a different opinion, and gave the superiority to the male sex, punished Tiresias by depriving him of his eyesight. But this dreadful loss was in some measure repaired by the humanity of Jupiter, who bestowed upon him the gift of prophecy, and permitted him to live seven times more than the rest of men. These causes of the blindness of Tiresias, which are supported by the authority of Ovid, Hyginus, and others, are contradicted by Apollodorus, Callimachus, Propertius, &c., who declare that this was inflicted upon him as a punishment, because he had seen Minerva bathing in the fountain Hippocrene, on mount Helicon. Chariclo, who accompanied Minerva, complained of the severity with which her son was treated; but the goddess, who well knew that this was the irrevocable punishment inflicted by Saturn on such mortals as fix their eyes upon a goddess without her consent, alleviated the misfortunes of Tiresias, by making him acquainted with futurity, and giving him a staff which could conduct his steps with as much safety as if he had the use of his eye-sight. During his lifetime, Tiresias was an infallible oracle to all Greece. The generals, during the Theban war, consulted him, and found his predictions verified. He drew his prophecies sometimes from the flight or the language of birds, in which he was assisted by his daughter Manto, and sometimes he drew the manes from the infernal regions to know futurity, with mystical ceremonies. He at last died, after drinking the waters of a cold fountain, which froze his blood. He was buried with great pomp by the Thebans on mount Tilphusses, and honoured as a god. His oracle at Orchomenos was in universal esteem. Homer represents Ulysses as going to the infernal regions to consult Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 6.—Theocritus, Idylls, poem 24, li. 70.—Statius, Thebaid, bk. 2, li. 96.—Hyginus, fable 75.—Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes.—Sophocles, Œdipus Tyrannus.—Pindar, Nemean, poem 1.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11.—Plutarch, Convivium Septem Sapientium, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 33.
Tiribāses, an officer of Artaxerxes killed by the guards for conspiring against the king’s life, B.C. 394. Plutarch, Artaxerxes.
Tirida, a town of Thrace where Diomedes lived. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 11.
Tiridātes, a king of Parthia, after the expulsion of Phraates by his subjects. He was soon after deposed, and fled to Augustus in Spain. Horace, bk. 1, ode 26.——A man made king of Parthia by Tiberius, after the death of Phraates, in opposition to Artabanus. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 6, &c.——A keeper of the royal treasures at Persepolis, who offered to surrender to Alexander the Great. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 5, &c.——A king of Armenia, in the reign of Nero.——A son of Phraates, &c.
Tiris, a general of the Thracians, who opposed Antiochus. Polyænus, bk. 4.
Tiro Tullius, a freedman of Cicero, greatly esteemed by his master for his learning and good qualities. It is said that he invented shorthand writing among the Romans. He wrote the life of Cicero and other treatises now lost. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, &c.