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Article

Thetis  

Andrew Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Thetis, a sea-*nymph, daughter of *Nereus, wife of *Peleus, and mother of *Achilles. The Cypria (fr. 2 Davies; see epic cycle) accounted for her marriage to Peleus by saying that she refused the advances of *Zeus to avoid offending *Hera and that Zeus, in anger, swore that she must marry a mortal. According to *Pindar, however (Isthm. 8. 26–57), she was desired by both Zeus and *Poseidon, but *Themis revealed that Thetis was fated to bear a son stronger than his father, and for this reason she was married off to Peleus. This version was exploited in the Prometheus plays attributed to *Aeschylus, where *Prometheus knew of the prophecy about Thetis and used the knowledge as a bargaining counter (PV 757–70, 907–27).Before marrying Thetis, Peleus had to capture her while she assumed different forms to escape him (e.g. Ov.

Article

thiasos  

Robert Parker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Thiasos (θίασος), a group of worshippers of a god. Permanent thiasoi are attested epigraphically from the Hellenistic period in much of the Greek world: they are associations centred, at least in theory, on the worship of a particular god or hero, and are not clearly distinguishable from other Hellenistic forms of religious or pseudo-religious club. Earlier, thiasoi appear in literary sources in connection with *Dionysus and with other (cf. Dem. 18. 260) ecstatic cults (see ecstasy). How these earlier thiasoi were organized is unknown; possibly they were brought together for no longer than the duration of a particular rite. However that may be, the members were united by a strong sense of undergoing an experience in common: *Euripides speaks, untranslatably, of θιασεύεσθαι ψυχάν (Bacch. 75), ‘entering the thiasos in soul’.Some and possibly all Attic *phratries were also subdivided into thiasoi by the early 4th cent. (A.

Article

Thrasymedes  

Jenny March

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Thrasymedes, a son of *Nestor with a minor part in Homer's Iliad (10. 255, 16. 321 ff., and elsewhere). He was one of the Greeks in the Wooden Horse (Quint. Smyrn. 12. 319); and later with his father he welcomed *Telemachus at *Pylos (Od. 3. 39).

Article

Thyia  

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Thyia (Θυία), apparently the same word as θυιάς, a Bacchante (see dionysus; maenads). There being a spot so named at *Delphi (Hdt. 7. 178. 2), she is occasionally heard of (in Herodotus) as the *nymph of the place.

Article

Tiresias  

A. Schachter

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Tiresias, legendary seer whose ghost was consulted by *Odysseus (Od. 10. 490–5, 11. 90–9). He was the resident mantis (seer) of the Cadmeans of *Thebes (1), surviving from the time of *Cadmus (when he was, according to *Euripides, Bacchae, already old) to that of the *Epigoni, that is, seven full generations. He was a pivotal figure in the Theban plays of *Sophocles(1) and Euripides, and is presented by *Pindar as an outstanding interpreter of the will of *Zeus (Nem. 1. 60–1).A tradition which goes back at least to *Pherecydes (2) links Tiresias closely to the Theban legendary aristocracy, making him a descendant of Udaeus, one of the *Spartoi (FGrH 3 F 92). This same source tells how he was blinded because he caught sight of *Athena bathing: his mother Chariclo was a favourite of the goddess, and he was with her at the time. At her entreaty, Athena granted Tiresias the gift of prophecy (see divination, Greek) in compensation.

Article

Titan  

Ken Dowden

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Titan, name inherited by *Hesiod for gods of the generation preceding the Olympians (see olympian gods). There is no plausible etymology unless once it meant ‘king’ (Hesychius interprets a word titēnai as ‘queens’). Apart from *Cronus, there is practically no cult. Hesiod seems to have padded them out into a set of twelve (West, Hesiod36): *Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, *Hyperion, *Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, *Themis, Mnemosyne, *Phoebe, *Tethys, *Cronus. (For other Titan names, see RE 6a 1506–8.)Mythologically, it is no less important to have former gods (Titans) than to have former people (*Pelasgians) so that the current order may be defined (Dowden, 135–6), hence the battle between the two sides, the ‘Titanomachy’. Hittite mythology too had its ‘former gods’, usually in a set of twelve, and the imprisonment of the Titans in *Tartarus by *Zeus has its parallel (at least) in Marduk's treatment of the children of Tiamat in the Babylonian creation-epic, Enūma Eliš (cf.

Article

tithe  

Nils Martin Persson Nilsson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Tithe, dekatē, the tenth part of a revenue offered as thank-offering to a god; the sense is often the same as that of *votive offering, *aparchē. For example, a certain Aeschines offered a statue to Athena as dekatē (IG 13. 631). Best known are the tithes which the Athenians brought to the Eleusinian goddesses (see demeter; eleusis; persephone) and in a decree exhorted all Greeks to bring (IG 13.

Article

Tityus  

Herbert Jennings Rose

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Tityus, a son of Earth (*Gaia), whom *Odysseus saw in *Hades, covering nine acres of ground, while two vultures tore at his liver, as a punishment for assaulting *Leto (Od. 11. 576–81). The seat of desire is appropriately punished. He was killed by *Zeus (Hyg.

Article

Tlepolemus  

Herbert Jennings Rose and Emily Kearns

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Tlepolemus, son of *Heracles (by Astyoche or Astydamia) and founder of the Rhodian cities (see rhodes). On reaching maturity he killed his father's uncle *Licymnius(1), either accidentally or in a quarrel, and fled to Rhodes (Il. 2.661 ff.; by oracular instruction, Pind. Ol. 7. 31 ff.). He led troops to *Troy, and was killed by *Sarpedon, though wounding him severely (Il.

Article

Tmolus  

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Tmolus (Τμῶλος), the deity of the Lydian mountain so named (see lydia). He appears, with *Midas(1), as judge of the contest between *Apollo and *Pan (Ov.Met. 11. 156 ff.), and as a coin-figure.

Article

torch-race  

Robert Parker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Torch-race (lampadedromia), a spectacular ritual race, normally a relay, in which fire was taken from one altar to another. Most of the evidence comes from Athens, where lexicographers say three torch-races were held, at the *Panathenaea, the Hephaestea, and the Promethea (see prometheus); three more are in fact attested before the end of the 4th cent., for *Pan, for *Bendis (on horseback—a great novelty), and for *Nemesis of *Rhamnus, and several others emerge in the Hellenistic period. It was the form of ritual activity most distinctively associated with the *ephēboi (Xen.Poroi 4. 52; BCH1877, 11), a matchless competitive display of dexterity and speed.

Article

transvestism, ritual  

Fritz Graf

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

The wearing of a dress of the opposite gender during *ritual. Ritual transvestism belongs to rituals of reversal where the values of ordinary life are temporarily abandoned; it is often combined with functionally similar rites, as in Dionysiac rituals (see dionysus). It is a special case of ritual change of dress; a structural equivalent is the taking up of freedmen's dress by Roman citizens during the Saturnalia (see saturnus). In Greece it occurs in many rituals, among them those which were understood as transformations from initiatory rituals (e.g. *Oschophoria; see initiation) where a temporary role reversal was characteristic for marginality. Persons who perpetually live on the margins of society might perpetually wear transvestite attire, as did the eunuch priests of *Cybele (see eunuchs, Religious).

Article

trees, sacred  

Sam Eitrem, Johan Harm Croon, B. C. Dietrich, and Alan A. D. Peatfield

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Trees have been involved in cult in the Aegean world since the bronze age (see religion, minoan and mycenaean). They perhaps symbolized the renewal of life, appearing as central features in a sanctuary or associated with anthropomorphic deities. The (probably genuine) ring of Nestor shows a Tree of Life (for which notion see G. Zuntz, Persephone (1971), 386 ff.). Sometimes single boughs stand inside the horns of consecration (e.g. Psychro plaque). The tree continued in Classical cult: *Dionysus stands before a Minoan-type tree sanctuary on a red-figure vase from *Gela. He received cult as Dendritēs, Endendros (both names derived from the Greek for ‘tree’) throughout Greece (Plut.Quaest. conv.675), although he specialized in the cultivation of the vine. At Symi in Crete *Hermes Kedrites emerged from bronze age cult: he is shown sitting in a tree which represented the force of life and vegetation. The same significance may in part lie behind the curious myths of *Helendendritis, who was hanged from a tree in *Rhodes (Paus.

Article

Triopas  

Richard Hunter

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Triopas, a *Dorian culture-hero, usually the son of *Helios, but sometimes of *Poseidon, and associated with *Cnidus. ‘Concerning the genealogy of Triopas many historians and poets disagree’ (Diod. Sic. 5. 61. 3), which is certainly true. Strong links with *Thessaly perhaps reflect the pre-Dorian population of the islands. According to *Diodorus(3), he fled to Cnidus after cutting down a grove of *Demeter at Dotium in *Thessaly and there founded the Triopion, a temple of *Apollo and site of an important Dorian festival (cf.

Article

Triptolemus  

Nicholas J. Richardson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Triptolemus, one of the princes of *Eleusis in the Homeric*Hymn to Demeter (153, 474), to whom the goddess teaches her *mysteries. Athens claimed that he was given corn and the arts of agriculture by *Demeter, and then taught these to other nations. He is frequently portrayed in Attic art from the mid-6th cent. bce onwards receiving Demeter's gifts and setting out on his travels on a wheeled car, which is sometimes winged. *Sophocles'(1)Triptolemus (frs. 596–617 Radt) perhaps contributed to his popularity. He was worshipped at Eleusis, was regarded as a lawgiver (Xenocrates fr. 98 Heinze), and became one of the judges in the underworld (Pl.Ap. 41a).

Article

Triton  

Karim Arafat

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
The meaning of the name is unknown. Tritons sometimes play a subordinate part in a legend: a triton in human form appears to the *Argonauts at Lake Tritonis and gives them a clod of earth which was the pledge of future possession of *Cyrene; *Virgil (Aen. 6. 171–4) tells of a triton who, furious at the presumption of the human trumpeter Misenus (see misenum) in daring to challenge him to a contest playing the conch, drowns him. *Pausanias(3) (9. 20. 4, 21. 1) had seen what were represented as bodies of tritons.In art, the fish-tailed Triton wrestles with *Heracles, assuming the iconography of *Nereus around the mid-6th cent. bce; the scene is rare after c.510. J. Boardman (Rev. Arch.1972) suggests that the story, unknown in literature, alludes to Athenian maritime success under the Pisistratids (see imagery; pisistratus).

Article

tritopatores, tritopatreis  

Michael H. Jameson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

The spirits of the collective ancestors of a gentilitial group (such as a *genos, ‘clan’) or of a community, they were concerned with its propagation and continuation. Known from *Attica, *Delos, *Troezen, *Selinus, and *Cyrene, they corresponded to the unnamed body of ancestors elsewhere. The most important source is the Attic historian *Phanodemus, FGrH 325 F 6, with Jacoby's commentary (cf. *Demon, FGrH 327 fr. 2, and *Philochorus, FGrH 328 fr. 12). Their generative force is indicated by Athenian sacrifice and prayers to them at marriage and by Philochorus' description of them as the ‘parents of mankind’. Demon identified them with the impregnating winds. In the Orphic Physikos (fr. 318 Kern; see orphic literature, bibliog.) they are given names and called guardians of the winds.

Article

Troezen  

Michael H. Jameson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Troezen, a city-state at the eastern end of the Argolic peninsula (see argos(1)). The town (Geometric to early Byzantine) lay inland from the large anchorage, Pogon, where the Greek fleet assembled in 480 bce (see salamis, battle of). Though Doric in dialect (see dialects, greek), it had links through myth and cult with Athens (see theseus) and gave refuge to Athenians during *Xerxes' invasion (see persian wars). Athens attacked and at times occupied Troezen in the First and Second *Peloponnesian Wars. Thereafter it was in the Spartan alliance and, later, the *Achaean Confederacy. Extramural sanctuaries have been excavated.

Article

Troilus  

Jenny March

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Troilus (Τρωΐλος), in mythology son of *Priam and *Hecuba, though sometimes said to be son of *Apollo (Apollod. 3. 12. 5). In Homer's Iliad he is mentioned only as being dead (24. 257). Later accounts, however, starting with the Cypria (see epic cycle; proclus), specify that he was killed by *Achilles. This was clearly a popular story, for Achilles' ambush of Troilus (accompanied by *Polyxena) at the fountain, the pursuit, the slaughter of the boy on the altar of Apollo, and the battle over the mutilated body, are favourite subjects in Archaic art from the early 6th cent. and found occasionally later (see A. Kossatz-Deissmann in LIMC I/1. 72–95). From Homer on, Troilus tends to be associated with horses: Homer gives him the epithet ἱππιοχάρμης, ‘delighting in horses fighting from a chariot’; in art he is often shown fleeing on horseback from Achilles pursuing on foot; in *Sophocles(1)'s lost Troilus he was exercising his horses when Achilles ambushed him (TrGF 4 Radt, 453); in *Virgil (Aen.

Article

Trophonius  

A. Schachter

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Trophonius, son of Erginus, was with his brother Agamedes a renowned master-builder whose work included the lower courses of *Apollo's first temple at Delphi (Homeric Hymn to Apollo295–7), the treasury of Augeas (Telegonia Argumentum 1 fr. 2 Bernabé, p. 72 Davies), and the treasury of Hyrieus (Paus. 9. 37. 5–7). The last, a variation of the story of *Rhampsinitus told by *Herodotus(1) (2. 121), provides the connection with Trophonius as cult figure and son of Apollo (Hes., see M. L. West, ZPE 61 (1985), 6, cf. Schachter 72 n. 3; Paus. 9. 37. 5). While building the treasury, the brothers left a stone loose, so that they could make off with the treasure bit by bit. Hyrieus set a trap, which caught Agamedes. Trophonius cut off his brother's head, and ran off with it, pursued by Hyrieus. At Lebadea, the ground opened up and swallowed Trophonius. He lived on underground as an oracular god (a fate similar to that of *Amphiaraus: in both cases an underground oracular god—the ritual of consultation is basically identical—is identified with a figure of heroic tradition; see oracles).