342 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



Thersi'tes. The ugliest and most scurrilous of the 

 Greeks before Troy. He spared, in his revilings. neither 

 prince nor chief," but directed his abuse principally 

 against Achilles and Ulysses. He was slain by Achilles 

 for deriding his grief for Penthesilea. The name is 

 often used to denote a calumniator. 



The -eiix. H,- became king of Athens, finding the J 

 sword and sandals of his father, .Kgeus. Of the many 

 adventures i.f Theseus, one <f the most celebrated was 

 against the Amazons. He is said to have 

 h.-m before they had recovered from the attack 

 of Hercules, and to have earned off their queen, Antiope. 

 The Amazons, in their turn, invaded Attica, and pene- 

 trate,! into Athens itself, and the tinal battle, in which 

 Theseus overcame them, was fought in the very midst 

 of the city. Theseus figures in almost all the great 

 heroic expeditions. 



Tin-- pian .Maids. The. The nine Muses. So called 

 from Thespia, in Bu>otia, near Mount Helicon, often 

 called Thespia Rupes. 



The'tis. One of the daughters of Nereus and Doris, 

 was a marine divinity, and dwelt like her sisters, the 

 Nereids in the depths of the sea. with her father 

 She there received Dionysus (Bacchus) on his 

 {light from Lyeurgus, and the god in his gratitude pre- 

 sented her with a golden urn. When Vulcan was 

 thrown down from heaven, he was likewise received by 

 Thetis. Thetis rejected the offers of Zeus, because she 

 had been brought up byTIera, and the god, to revenge 

 himself, decreed that she should marry a mortal. 



Tli or. In Scandinavian mythology, the eldest son 

 of Odin and Frigga; strongest and bravest of the gods. 

 He launched the thunder, presided over the air and the 

 seasons, and protected man from lightning and evil 

 spirits. His wife was Sif ("love"); his chariot was 

 drawn by two he-goats; his mace or hammer was called 

 Mjolner; his belt was Megingjard, whenever he put it 

 on his strength was doubled; his palace was Thrud- 

 vangr. It contained ")40 halls; Thursday is Thor's day. 

 The word means "Refuge from terror." 



Ti'tans. The enterprises of the Titans are celebrated 

 in the ancient fables of the Greeks. They have been 

 mentioned in the account of Saturn, to whom they were 

 brothers, being generally considered as sons of Uranus or 

 Co3lus and Titaea, or Gaia. The oldest was called Titan, 

 and from him, or their mother, they derived their common 

 name. 



Titho'nus. A son of Laomedon, king of Troy. 

 He was so beautiful that Aurora became enamored of 

 him, and persuaded the gods to make him immortal; 

 but, as she forgot to ask for eternal youth, he became 

 decrepit and ugly, and was, therefore, changed by her 

 into a cicada. 



Tit'yus. A famous giant, son of Jupiter and Terra. 

 His body was so vast that it covered nine acres of ground. 

 He had dared to offer an insult to Juno and in punish- 

 ment was chained like Prometheus while a vulture 

 feasted on his liver. He is mentioned by Virgil. 



Tri'ton. Son of Neptune, who dwelt with his father 

 and mother in a golden palace in the bottom of the sea, 

 or. ace,,rding to Homer, at Agae. Later writers de- 

 scribe him as riding over the sea on sea-horses or other 

 monsters. 



Trolls. Dwarfs of Northern mythology, living in 

 hills or mounds; they are represented as stumpy, mis- 

 shapen, and humpbacked, inclined to thieving, and fond 

 of carrying off children or substituting one of their own 

 offspring for that of a human mother. They are called 

 hill-people, and are especially averse to noise, from a 

 recollection of the time when Thor used to fling his 

 hammer after them. 



Truth. A daughter of Time, because Truth is dis- 

 covered in the course of Time. Democritus says that 

 Truth lies hidden at the bottom of a well. 



Troy. The classic poets say that the walls of this 

 famous city were built by the magic sound of Apollo's 

 lyre. 



Tyr. In Norse mythology, he was e warrior deity, 

 and the protector of champions and brave men; he was 

 al.-o noted for his sagacity. When the gods wished to 

 bind the wolf Fenrir, Tyr put his hand into the demon's 

 mouth as a pledge that the bonds should be removed 

 again. But Fenrir found that the gods had no in ten - 

 ton of keeping their word, and revenged himself in 

 some degree by biting the hand off. Tyr was the son 

 of Odin and brother of Thor. 



t 1\ s'ses. Called "Odysseus" by the Greeks, one of 

 the principal Greek heroes in the Trojan War, was a son 

 of l.ae.rtes, or, according to a later tradition, of Sisyphus, 

 and was married to Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, 

 bv whom he became the father of Telemachus. During 

 the siege of Troy he distinguished himself by his valor, 

 prudence, and eloquence, and after the death of Achilles. 



contended for his armor with the Telamonian Ajax. and 

 gained the prize. He is said by some to have devised 

 the stratagem of the wooden horse. The most celebrated 

 {art of his storv comes after the Trojan War. Among 

 his adventures he entered the cave of the Cyclops and 

 escaped with some sheep. One of the gods gave to him 

 a bag of winds which should carry him home, but the 

 winds were let loose and his ships driven to an island 

 inhabited by the sorceress Circe. After many wander- 

 ings and strange adventures, a ship was provided to con- 

 vey him to Ithaca, from which he had been absent twenty 

 years. I hiring his absence his father Laertes, in grief and 

 old age, had withdrawn into the country; his mother An- 

 ticlea had died; his son Telemachus grown to manhood*, 

 and his wife Penelope had rejected all the offers that 

 had been made to her by the importunate suitors from 

 the neighboring islands. In order that he might not be 

 recognized, Athena metamorphosed Ulysses into an 

 unsightly beggar. He was kindly received by Kum;eus, 

 the swineherd, made himself known to him. and a plan 

 of revenge was resolved on. Penelope, with treat dif- 

 ficulty, was made to promise her hand to him who should 

 conquer the others in shooting with the bow of Ulysses. 

 As none of the suitors were able to draw this bow, Ulysses 

 himself took it up, and, directing his arrows against the 

 suitors, slew them all. Ulysses now made himself known 

 to Penelope. The people rose in arms against Ulysses; 

 but Athena, who assumed the appearance of Mentor, 

 brought about a reconciliation 



Valhal'la. In Scandinavian mythology the palace 

 of immortality wherein are received the souls of heroes 

 slain in battle. 



Val'kyrs. The battle-maidens of Scandinavian 

 mythology. They were mounted on swift horses and 

 held drawn swords. They rushed with battle and se- 

 lected those destined to death and conducted them to 

 Valhalla. The number of Valkyrs differs greatly ac- 

 cording to the various mythologists, and ranges from 

 three to sixteen, the greater part of them, however, 

 naming only nine. 



Ve'nus. The goddess of beauty, and mother of love. 

 She is said to have sprung from the foam of the sea, and 

 was immediately carried to the abode 9f the gods on 

 Olympus, where they were all charmed with her ex I reme 

 beauty. According to other legends she was the daugh- 

 ter of Jupiter and Dione. She bore as many names 

 as there are aspects of love, and finally they were re- 

 garded as the names of different deities. Sparrows and 

 doves were customarily yoked to her chariot; her girdle 

 inspired all hearts with passion for the wearer; and her 

 son, Cupid, was her attendant and minister. The myrtle 

 was sacred to her. Her favorite residence was at 

 Cyprus. 



Ves'ta. The ancient goddess of fire. ^Eneas was 

 believed to have brought the eternal fire of Vesta from 

 Troy, along with the images of the Penates; and the 

 praetors, consuls, and dictators, before entering upon 

 their official functions, sacrificed, not only Jo the Penates, 

 but also to Vesta at Lavinium. In the ancient Roman 

 house, the hearth was the central part, and around it all 

 the inmates daily assembled for their common meal 

 (coena); every meal thus taken was a fresh bond of 

 union and affection among the members of a family, and 

 at the same time an act of worship of Vesta, combined 

 with a sacrifice to her and the Penates. 



Vish'nu. In Hindu mythology one of the great deities 

 of the Hindu triad, ranking as the "Preserver," after 

 Brahma, the "Creator," and before Siva, the "Destroyer." 

 It is believed that he has appeared on earth nine times, 

 his tenth "avatar," or incarnation, having yet to come. 



Vul'can. The god of fire. Traces of the worship of 

 fire are found in the earliest times. 



Wo'den. The Anglo-Saxon form of the Scandinavian 

 god Odin; Wednesday is called after him. 



Zem. The sacred well of Mecca. According to Arab 

 tradition, this is the very well that was shown to Hagar 

 when with Ishmael in the desert. It is supposed to be 

 in the heart of the city of Mecca. 



Zeus. Called "Jupiter" by the Romans, the greatest 

 of the Olympian gods, was a son of Cronu.s (Saturnus), 

 and Rhea. When Zeus and his brothers distributed 

 among themselves the government of the world by lot, 

 Poseidon obtained the sea, Hades the lower world, and 

 Zeus the heavens and the upper regions, but the earth 

 became common to all. According to Homer, Zeus dwelt 

 on Mount Olympus in Thessaly, which was believed to 

 penetrate into heaven itself. He is called the father of 

 gods and men. He is the supreme ruler, who with his 

 counsel manages everything ; the founder of law and 

 order, whence Dice, Themis, and Nemesis are his as- 

 sistants. Everything good, as well as bad, comes from 

 Zeus; according to his own choice he assigns good or evil 

 to mortals; fate itself was subordinate to him. 



