Tha´les. One of the seven wise men of Greece, born at Miletus in Ionia. His discoveries in astronomy were great, and he was the first who calculated with accuracy a solar eclipse. He died about 548 years before the Christian era.
Thali´a. One of the Muses. She presided over festivals and comic poetry.
Themis´tocles. A celebrated general born at Athens. When Xerxes invaded Greece, Themistocles was intrusted with the care of the fleet, and at the famous battle of Salamis, fought B.C. 480, the Greeks, instigated to fight by Themistocles, obtained a complete victory over the formidable navy of Xerxes. He died in the sixty-fifth year of his age, having, as some writers affirm, poisoned himself by drinking bull’s blood.
Theoc´ritus. A Greek poet who lived at Syracuse in Sicily, 282 B.C. He distinguished himself by his poetical compositions, of which some are extant.
Theodo´sius, Fla´vius. A Roman emperor surnamed Magnus from the greatness of his exploits. The first years of his reign were marked by conquests over the Barbarians. In his private character Theodosius was an example of temperance. He died in his sixtieth year, A.D. 395, after a reign of sixteen years.
Theodo´sius Second became emperor of the Western Roman empire at an early age. His territories were invaded by the Persians, but on his appearance at the head of a large force they fled, losing a great number of their army in the Euphrates. Theodosius was a warm advocate of the Christian religion. He died, aged forty-nine, A.D. 450.
Theophras´tus. A native of Lesbos. Diogenes enumerates the titles of more than 200 treatises which he wrote. He died in his 107th year, B.C. 288.
Thermop´ylæ. A narrow Pass leading from Thessaly into Locris and Phocis, celebrated for a battle fought there, B.C. 480, between Xerxes and the Greeks, in which three hundred Spartans, commanded by Leonidas, resisted for three successive days an enormous Persian army.
Thersi´tes. A deformed Greek, in the Trojan war, who indulged in ridicule against Ulysses and others. Achilles killed him because he laughed at his grief for the death of Penthesilea. Shakspeare, who introduced Thersites in his play of “Troilus and Cressida,” describes him as “a deformed and scurrilous Grecian.”
The´seus, king of Athens and son of Ægeus by Æthra, was one of the most celebrated heroes of antiquity. He caught the bull of Marathon and sacrificed it to Minerva. After this he went to Crete amongst the seven youths sent yearly by the Athenians to be devoured by the Minotaur, and by the aid of Ariadne he slew the monster. He ascended his father’s throne B.C. 1235. Pirithous, king of the Lapithæ, invaded his territories, but the two became firm friends. They descended into the infernal regions to carry off Proserpine, but their intentions were frustrated by Pluto. After remaining for some time in the infernal regions, Theseus returned to his kingdom to find the throne filled by an usurper, whom he vainly tried to eject. He retired to Scyros, where he was killed by a fall from a precipice.