Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1199

 THISOA. on one side of the causeway, wliile that on tlie other is cultivated. The ruins of Thisbe are found at Kakosia. " The position is between two great sum- mits of the mountain, now called Karamiiiighi and Paleovund, which rise majestically above tiie vale, cl-.ithed with trees, in the upper part, and covered ■with snow at the top. The modern village lies in a ]ittle hollow surrounded on all sides by low dirt's connected with the last falls of the mount::in. The walls of Thisbe were about a mile in circuit, follow- ing the crest of the cliffs which surround the village; they are chiefly jireseuved on the side towards Dohrend and the Kouth-e:ist. The masonry is for the most part of the fourth order, or faced with equal layers of large, oblong, quadrangular stones on the outside, the interior as usual being filled with loose rubble. On the principal height which lies towards the mountain, and which is an entire mass of rock, appear some reparations of a later date than the rest of the walls, and there are many Hellenic foundations on the face of this rock towards the village. In the cliffs outside the walls, to the north- west and south, there are many sepulchral excava- tions." (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 506.) Leake observed the mole or causeway which Pausa- nias describes, and which serves for a road across the marsh to the port. The same writer remarks that, as the plain of Thisbe is completely surrounded by heights, there is no issue for the river which rises in the Asci'aea and here terminates. " The river crosses the causeway into the marsh by two openings, the closing of which in the winter or spring would at any time cause the upper part of the plain to be in- undated, and leave the lower fit for cultivation in the summer; but as the river is now allowed to flow constantly through them, the western side is alw;tys in a state of marsh, and the ground Las become much higher on the eastern side." The port of Thisbe is now called Vathij. The shore is very rocky, and abounds in wild pigeons, as Strabo and Stephanus have observed; but there is also a considerable number at Kakosia it-elf. The Roman poets also allude to the pigeons of Thisbe. Hence Ovid {Met. xi. 300) speaks of the " This- baeae columbae," and Statius (yAei. vii. 261 ) de- scribes Thisbe as '• Dionaeis avibus circunisona." Thisbe is mentioned both by Pliny (iv. 7. s. 12) and Ptolemv (iii. l.'j. § 20). THISOA. [T'iieisoa.] THIUS. [Megalopolis.] THMUIS (0^oui'r, Herod, ii. 168; Aristides, Aeyypt. vol. iii. p. 610; Ptol. iv. 5. § 51), the modern Tmai, was a town in Lower Aegypt, situ- ated upon a canal E. of the Nile, between its Tanite and iMendesian branches. It was the capital of the Thmuite Nome, in which the Calasirian division of the Aegyptian army possessed lands. At the time of Herodutus's visit to the Delta the Thmuite Nome had been incorporated with the Mendesian. Their incorporation was doubtless owing, partly to the superior size of the latter, and partly to their having a connnon object of worship in the goat Jlendes (P«m), of whom Thmu was in the old Aegyptian language (Hieronym. m /6'azanj, xlvi. l)the appella- tion. In the reigns of Valentinian and Theodosius the Great (a.d. 375, foil.) Thinuis was a town of some consequence, governed by its own magistrates, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the Alexandrian prefect (Amm. Marc. xxii. 16. § 6). It was also an episcopal see, and one of its bishoi)s, Serapion, is mentioned by Heratleanus. {(ip. Photlum, p. 65, ed. THOEICUS. 1175 Bekker.) Kemains of the ancient city are supposed to exist at Tel-etmai or 'Tmai, SW. of Afansoorak. Amonolithal shrine and many sarcophagi of granite have been found there, and a factitious mound at the village of Ternai/, raised above the level of the inundation, is probai)ly an Aegyptian work. (Cham- poUion, E'jypte sous les Pharaons, vol. ii. p. 114.) Th;it dykes were essential to the jire.servation of the city appears from the description of it hy Aris'ides (/. c), who represents Thmuis as standing upon and surrounded by flat and marshy grounds. [W.B.I).] THOAE. [ECHINADES.] THOANA. [Thana ] THO'ARIS or THOA'HIUS (Qiapis or Goapioj), a small coast river in Pontus Polemoniacus (Arriun, Peripl. P. E. p. 16; Anon. Peripl. P. E. p. 11), is now called Ghetireh, Irviak, or perhaps more cor- rectly Thureh Irmak. (Hamilton, Researches, i. p. 279.) [L. S.] THO'CNIA (©oiffi/fa, QcaKviia.: Eth. ewicveiis), a. town of Arcadia in the district Parrhasia, situated upon a height on the liver Aminius, which flows into the Helisson, a tributary of the Alpheius. The town was said to have been founded by Thocnus, the son of Lycaon, and was deserted in the time of Pau- sanias, as its inhabitants had been removed to ile- galopolis. It is placed by Leake in the yjosition of Vromosda. (Paus. viii. 3. § 2, 27. § 4, 29. § 5; Steph. B. S.V.; Leake. Morea, vol. ii. p. 293.) THO.MNA. [Tamna.] THONITIS LACUS. [Thospitis.] THORAE. [Attica, p. 331, a.] THO'RICUS (Go/jiKos: Eth. ©opiVios: Theriko), a town of Attica on the SE. coast, and about 7 or 8 miles N. of the promontory of Sunium, was origi- nally one of the twelve cities into which Attica is said to have been divided before the time of Theseus, and was afterwards a demus belonging to the tribe Acamantis. (Strab. ix. p. 397.) It continued to be a place of importance during the fluuri.shing period of Athenian history, as its existing remains prove, and was hence fortified by the Athenians in the 24th year of the Peloponnesian War. (Xen. Hell. i. 2. § 1.) It was distant 60 stadia from Anaphly.-tus upon the western coast. (Xen. de Vect. 4. § 43.) Thoricus is celebrated in mythology as the residence of Cephalus, whom P^os or Aurora carried off to dwell with the gods. (Apollod. ii. 4. § 7 ; ICurip. II/ppol. 455 ) It has been conjectured by Words- worth, with much probability, that the idea of Tho- ricus w.as a.ssociate(i in the Athenian njind wiih such a translation to the gods, and that the " Thoriciau stone " (0opi/cios Trerpos) mentioned by Sophooles {Oed. Col 1595), respecting wliicdi there has been so nmch doubt, probably has reference to such a migra- tion, as the poet is describing a similar transhition of Oedipus. The fortifications of Thoricus surrounded a sir.all plain, which terminates in the harbour of the city, now called J'orto Mnndri. The ruins of the walls may be tiaced following the crest of the hills on the northern and southern sides of the ])lain, and cross- ing it on the west. The acropolis seems to have stood upon a height rising above the sheltered creek of Frango IJinioiia, which is sepjiratcd only by a cape from Porlo Mandri. Below this height, on the norlhern side, are the ruins of a tlicalrc, of a singular form, being an irregular cun-e, with one of the sides longer than the other. In the phiin,to the westward, are the remains of a quadrangular colon- nade, with Doric columns. (Leake, Demi o/ Attica, 4 F 4