Thalia
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Thalia. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
One of the Muses who presided over festivals and comic poetry. Thalassius, Talassius, or Talassio. A Roman senator of the time of Romulus . At the time of the rape of the Sabine women, when a maiden of surpassing beauty was carried off for Thalassius, the persons conducting her, in order to protect her against any assaults from others, exclaimed, "For Thalassius." Hence, it is said, arose the wedding shout with which a bride at Rome was conducted to the house of her bridegroom. Thamyris or Thamyras. An ancient Thracian , who was a son of Philammon and the nymph Argiope. In his presumption he challenged the Muses to a trial of skill, and, being overcome in the contest, was deprived by them of his sight and of the power of singing. He was represented with a broken lyre in his hand. Thebre (Great City of Jove). The capital of Thebais or Upper Egypt, and for a long time of the whole country. The Egyptians believed it to have been the first city founded upon the earth; and we have no account at the present day of any of earlier origin. Thebae (in Europe). The chief city in Boeotia . It is said that the fortifications of the city were constructed by Amphion and his brother Zethus; and that, when Amphion played his lyre, the stones moved of their own accord, and formed the wall. No city is more celebrated in the mythical ages of Greece than
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
tha-li'a, in Greek mythology, the muse of comedy. She was called at an earlier period the Joyful Muse, for she was supposed to inspire gaiety and rural pleasures. She presided at banquets where music and song accompanied the festivities. Later she became the muse of comedy. She was the mother, by Apollo, of the Corybantes, priests of Cybele, who worshiped that goddess with dancing, to the accompaniment of drum and cymbal. Thalia is represented in art crowned with ivy. She carries a shepherd's crook and has a comic mask in one hand. See Muses
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the nine Muses. She was the patron of comedy, and is usually represented with the comic mask and the shepherd's crook in her hand. One of the Graces was also called Thalia.