Thargelia, Gr. (θαργήλια). Very ancient festivals held at Athens on the occasion of a plague or other public disaster in honour of Apollo and Artemis; in which two persons, generally criminals, were put to death for the purification of the city.
Thaumaturgi, Chr. (θαυματο-εργός). Workers of miracles.
Theatrum, Theatre, Gr. and R. (θέατρον, lit. a place for seeing). The construction of the ancient Greek theatre was similar to that of modern theatres. The seats rose one behind and above the other in concentric half-circles, and the whole space enclosed was called cavea, the pit, being in most cases a real excavation from the rock. The central level space within and below the circles for spectators was covered with boards, upon which the chorus danced and performed their part. This was the Orchestra, the central point of which and of the plan of the whole building was the Thymele, or altar of Dionysus. This altar became a property of the piece, doing duty as a funeral monument, an altar, or a pulpit for the leader of the chorus or flute-player, according to the nature of the performance going on, in which it must be remembered that the part assigned to the chorus in the orchestra below was quite as important as any other, and in its original intention was in fact the centre of interest, to which the performance on the stage was accessory. The whole theatre and orchestra were open to the sky. The cavea of the former accommodated about 50,000 spectators. The arrangements of the stage were elaborate and ingenious, and the art of scene-painting developed at a very early period. The Roman theatre differed from the Greek principally in the absence of an orchestra, that space (the modern pit) being used for the seats of senators, foreign ambassadors, &c. Remains of ancient theatres still exist in Greece, Italy, and France. The most perfect of these are the Colosseum at Rome, and the amphitheatre at Nismes.
Theca Calamaria, Gr. and R. (θήκη; τίθημι, to put into). A portable inkstand.
Thenard’s Blue. (See Cobalt.)
Thensa. (See Tensa.)
Theo-gamia, Gr. (θεο-γάμια). Greek festivals held in honour of Proserpine and commemorating her marriage with Pluto.
Theorbo. A stringed musical instrument; a kind of lute, having supplementary strings by the side of the finger-board.
Thermæ, Gr. and R. (θέρμαι, lit. hot-springs). Distinguished from balneæ. The luxurious establishments for bathing, gymnastics, and conversation which grew up under the Roman Empire, on which all the resources of architecture and decorative art were lavished. The ruins of the thermæ of Titus, Caracalla, and Diocletian are still visible. They contained, besides the baths properly so called, “exedræ for philosophers and rhetoricians to lecture in, porticoes for the idle, and libraries for the learned, and were adorned with marbles and fountains, and shaded with walks and plantations.”
Thermography. A chemical process for copying prints and drawings upon paper or metal by the agency of heat without light.