Trinăcria, or Trinăcris, one of the ancient names of Sicily from its triangular form. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 384, &c.
Trinium, a river of Italy falling into the Adriatic.
Trinobantes, a people of Britain in modern Essex and Middlesex. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 14, ch. 31.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 5, ch. 20.
Triocăla, or Triocla, a town in the southern parts of Sicily. Silius Italicus, bk. 14, li. 271.
Triŏpas, or Triops, a son of Neptune by Canace the daughter of Æolus. He was father of Iphimedia and of Erisichthon, who is called on that account Triopeius, and his daughter Triopeia. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 754.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.——A son of Phorbas, father to Agenor, Jasus, and Messene. Homer, Hymn 3 to Apollo, li. 211.——A son of Piranthus.
Triphȳlia, one of the ancient names of Elis. Livy, bk. 28, ch. 8.——A mountain where Jupiter had a temple in the island Panchaia, whence he is called Triphylius.
Triopium, a town of Caria.
Tripŏlis, an ancient town of Phœnicia, built by the liberal contribution of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus, whence the name.——A town of Pontus.——A district of Arcadia,——of Laconia. Livy, bk. 35, ch. 27.——Of Thessaly, Livy, bk. 42, ch. 53.——A town of Lydia or Caria.——A district of Africa between the Syrtes.
[♦]Trīptŏlĕmus, a son of Oceanus and Terra, or, according to some, of Trochilus, a priest of Argos. According to the more received opinion he was son of Celeus king of Attica by Neræa, whom some have called Metanira, Cothonea, Hyona, Melani, or Polymnia. He was born at Eleusis in Attica, and was cured in his youth of a severe illness by the care of Ceres, who had been invited into the house of Celeus, by the monarch’s children, as she travelled over the country in quest of her daughter. To repay the kindness of Celeus, the goddess took particular notice of his son. She fed him with her own milk, and placed him on burning coals during the night, to destroy whatever particles of mortality he had received from his parents. The mother was astonished at the uncommon growth of her son, and she had the curiosity to watch Ceres. She disturbed the goddess by a sudden cry, when Triptolemus was laid on the burning ashes, and as Ceres was therefore unable to make him immortal, she taught him agriculture, and rendered him serviceable to mankind, by instructing him how to sow corn, and make bread. She also gave him her chariot, which was drawn by two dragons, and in this celestial vehicle he travelled all over the earth, and distributed corn to all the inhabitants of the world. In Scythia the favourite of Ceres nearly lost his life; but Lyncus the king of the country, who had conspired to murder him, was changed into a lynx. At his return to Eleusis, Triptolemus restored Ceres her chariot, and established the Eleusinian festivals and mysteries in honour of the deity. He reigned for some time, and after death received divine honours. Some suppose that he accompanied Bacchus in his Indian expedition. Diodorus.—Hyginus, fable 147.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 14; bk. 8, ch. 4.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 6.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 5.—Callimachus, Hymn to Demeter, li. 22.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 646; Fasti, bk. 4, li. 501; Tristia, bk. 3, poem 8, li. 1.
[♦] ‘Trīppŏlĕmus’ replaced with ‘Trīptŏlĕmus’