Télĕphus: king of Mysia at the time of the Trojan war. He was wounded by Achilles, and could only be cured by ‘that which had wounded him’. The remedy turned out to be the rust of Achilles’ spear.
Tháïs: a witty and beautiful courtesan of Athens, first associated with Alexander during his Asiatic campaigns and then with Ptolemy in Egypt.
Thales: of Miletus, c. 635-555 B.C. Famous as a physical philosopher, mathematician, and shrewd practical man. He is regularly mentioned first among the Seven Sages.
Theaetétus: a high-minded Athenian youth, eager for knowledge, who plays his part in Plato’s dialogue of that name.
Theágĕnes: Theban general at Chaeronea (338 B.C.).
Theánō: wife or pupil (or both) of Pythagoras (q.v.), herself a writer on philosophy and a pattern of virtue.
Themistŏcles: became political leader at Athens 483 B.C., and commanded the Athenian contingent at the battle of Salamis. Subsequently (471 B.C.) this extremely able, but apparently not extremely honest, man was ostracised. His last days were spent in the service of Persia. His son Diophantus is of no note.
Theócritus: of Chios, rhetorician and sophist, noted for his caustic wit. The Antigonus who put him to death was Antigonus the ‘One-Eyed’.
Theógnis: elegiac poet of the sententious order. He flourished at Megara c. 550-540 B.C. Amid the feuds of his country he sides with the aristocrats, and allusions to political injustice are frequent. Many current maxims of proverbial wisdom were fathered on ‘Theognis’ as a matter of course.
Theōn: painter of Samos, contemporary of Apelles (q.v.) and Alexander; spoken of by Pliny as ‘next to the first’.