Thermopyle
a famous pass leading from Thessaly into Locris, and the only road by which an invading army can penetrate from Northern into Southern Greece. It lies S. of the present course of the river Spercheius, between Mount Œta and what was anciently an impassable morass bordering on the Maliac Gulf. In the pass are several hot springs, from which Thermopylæ probably received the first part of its name. Thermopylæ has won an eternal celebrity as the scene of the heroic death of LEONIDAS (q. v.) and his 300 Spartans in their attempt to stem the tide of Persian invasion (480 B. c.). Again in 279 B. c. Brennus, at the head of a Gallic host, succeeded, through the same treachery that had secured a victory to Xerxes, in forcing the united Greeks to withdraw from the pass.
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Thermopyle of America
a phrase applied to Fort Alamo, Tex.; in allusion to the heroic defense of it, made in 1836, by a small body of Texans against a force of Mexicans 10 times their number. During the subsequent struggle for independence the Texan war cry was "Remember the Alamo!" the Mexicans having murdered the six defenders of the fort whom they found alive on its surrender.
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Thermoscope
an instrument for indicating relative differences of temperature. The term was applied by Count Rumford to an instrument invented by him, and similar in principle to the differential thermometer of Professor Leslie.
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Theroid
animal; having animal propensities or characteristics; specifically applied to idiots, who in habits or appearance resemble any of the lower animals. Cyc. Vol. IX The word is of recent introduction, but the extraordinary resemblances presented by some of the weak-minded to certain birds and mammals have attracted attention for a very long period. Pinel speaks of "a young female idiot * * * who, in the form of her head, her tastes, her mode of living, seemed to approach to the instincts of a sheep."
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Theropoda
in paleontology, an der of Cope's sub-class Dinosauria, consisting of carnivorous forms, which are believed to have preyed on the weaker herbivorous members of the class. Feet digitigrade, digits with prehensile claws; vertebræ, more or less cavernous; fore limbs very small, limb bones hollow. The order comprises four families (Megalosauridœ, Zanclodontide, Amphisauride, and Labrosauride) and two groups or sub-orders (Cœluria and Compsognatha).
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Theseum
a noted temple of Athens. It was built in Doric style of Pentelic marble. It still stands in Athens at the foot of the Acropolis although the sculpture has suffered much from the ravages of time and at the hand of man. The Theseum is yet regarded as the most perfect surviving example of the Greek temple. It ranks next to the Parthenon in beauty.
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Thesium
in botany, the bastard toadflax, a genus of Santalacex. Flowers small, green; perianth four or five-cleft, persistent; stamens with a small fascicle of hair at their base; drupe ribbed, crowned with the persistent perianth. Known species about 60, all from the Eastern Hemisphere. T. linophyllum is a perennial parasite on roots, with diffuse stems, minute flowers, green outside, white inside, with green ovoid fruit.
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Thesmophoria
an ancient festival held exclusively by women in several districts of Hellas, especially Athens and Arcadia, in honor of Demeter Thesmophoros ("the lawgiver") as the foundress of agriculture, and thereby of ordered civil life, with the institution of marriage. At Athens the festival extended to three days, beginning with Oct. 24. On the first day there was a procession to the temple of Demeter at Halimos, S. E. of the city; on the second a strict fast; and on the third day, called Kalligeneia ("the bearer of a fair offspring") a joyous and unrestrained carousal. The licentiousness of the Thesmophoria is caricatured in the "Thesmophoriazouzai" of Aristophanes.
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Thesmothete
in Greek antiquity, a lawgiver; a legislator; one of the six inferior archons at Athens who presided at the election of the lower magistrates, received criminal informations in varicauses on arous matters, decided civil bitration, took the votes at elections, and performed a variety of other offices.
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Thespesia
in botany, a tribe of Hibisceæ. Trees with large entire leaves; involucre three-leaved, deciduous; calyx truncate; style simple; stigmas five; fruit almost woody; capsule with five cells, each with about four seeds. T. populnea is a tree 40 or 50 feet high, with the foliage so dense at the top that it has been called the umbrella tree. It has roundish, cordate, pointed, five to seven-veined leaves; the flowers, which are large, are yellow, with a dark-red center. The tree is very common along the seacoast of South America, the West Indies, the Pacific Islands, part of Africa, India and Burma. It has been planted along roadsides throughout India, and especially in Madras city. It yields a gum, a deep-red, somewhat thick oil, used in cutaneous affections. The capsule and flowers furnish a yellow dye, and the bark a good fiber. T. lampas is a small bush, common in the tropical jungles of India, with a good fiber, as has T. populnea. of tas name THESPIAN (from the Thespis, the reputed founder of the Greek drama, who was born in Xarca, Attica, and flourished about 550 B. c.), pertaining or relating to the representation of dramatic tragedy, or to the Tragic Muse; as the Thespian art.
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Thespius
in mythology, a king of the Thespiades, and father of 50 daughters, all of whom bore children to Hercules. The Thespiades were conducted to Sardinia by Iolaus.
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Thessalia
The largest division of Greece, it was bounded on the north by the Cambunian Mountains, which separated it from Macedonia; on the west by Mount Pindus, which separated it from Epirus; on the east by the Aegean Sea ; and on the south by the Maliac Gulf and Mount Oeta, which separated it from Locris, Phocis, and Aetolia .
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Theurgia Goetia
(See Key of Solomon the King .) Thian-ti-hwii-or Heaven and Earth League; an ancient esoteric society in China , said to have still been in existence in 1674. The candidate before reception had to answer 333 questions. It professed to continue a system of brotherhood derived from ancient customs. 66 66 دو 66
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