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Greek Mythology > People, Places, & Things > Thebe to Thrasymedes
T to Theban Plays Thebe to Thrasymedes Thriambos to Tyrtaeus
A nymph; the daughter of Asopos and the sister of Aegina; Thebe was the wife of Zethos; Zethos and his brother, Amphion, built the foundations and bulwarks of the city, Thebes, that was eventually named after Thebe.
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The city of seven gates; the principal city in the province of Boeotia; founded by the legendary Kadmus (Cadmus) when he was searching for his sister Europa.
After Zeus abducted Europa, Kadmus conducted an unsuccessful search for his sister; finally, in desperation, Kadmus went to the oracle at Delphi for assistance; the Pythia (priestess) told Kadmus to leave the temple and follow a cow until it laid down to rest and to build a city on that site; Kadmus did as he was told and built the city of Thebes.
Kadmus went to a nearby spring and was forced to kill the dragon which protected the spring; he took the teeth of the dragon and, on the advice of the goddess, Athene (Athena), sowed them in the earth; a crop of warriors, called Sparti, sprang from the dragon’s teeth; Kadmus threw a stone in their midst and the Sparti fought amongst themselves until only five remained; these remaining five warriors became the founding families of Thebes.
Approximate east longitude 23.19 and north latitude 38.21.
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A plain in Asia Minor sometimes called Hypoplakian (Hypoplacian) Thebes; located at the foot of Mount Placius in Mysia in Asia Minor.
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An ancient Egyptian city located approximately 450 miles (724 kilometers) south of present day Cairo in Upper Egypt, i.e. southern Egypt, on the eastern side of the Nile river across from the Valley of the Kings; now known as Al-Uqsur.
The Egyptians told the historian Herodotus that two priestesses had been kidnapped from the oracular shrine of the Egyptian Zeus, i.e., Ammon, at Thebes by Phoenicians and that one had been sold to the Libyans and the other had been sold to the Greeks; these two women are reputed to have founded the first centers of prophecy in those countries; the shrine in Greece was founded at the city of Dodona in Epirus in western Greece; the people of Dodona said that the priestess came to them as a black dove and, in a human voice, commanded the inhabitants to establish an oracular shrine to Zeus.
Approximate east longitude 25.68 and north latitude 32.65.
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A Titan, i.e. the daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (the Heavens); with Hyperion, she is the mother of Selene (Moon), Helios (Sun) and Eos (Dawn).
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One of the Titans, i.e. one of the children of Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (the Heavens); the goddess of law and order.
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One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
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(527?-460? BCE) An Athenian statesman and military commander.
His visionary leadership prior to the second Persian invasion (480 BCE) induced the Athenians to build a navy capable of withstanding the Persian fleet; his victory over the Persians near the island of Salamis was decisive and, although Athens had been burned, saved Greece from Persian occupation;
When the Persians were mounting their invasion of Greece, the Athenians asked the oracle at Delphi for guidance; the priestess told the Athenians to retreat from Athens and make their stand on the divine isle, Salamis.
The majority of the Greek commanders wanted to leave Salamis and fight the Persians nearer to the isthmus so they would have a place to retreat if the Persians won the sea battle; the Pan-Hellenic forces were commanded by the Spartan, Eurybiades; the Athenians were organized and commanded by Themistokles.
Themistokles warned Eurybiades that if the Greeks withdrew from Salamis the war would be lost for three reasons: 1) the Persians would have the advantage in open water and the seas around Salamis were confining and therefore not advantageous for the superior numbers of the Persian fleet, 2) if the Greeks moved away from Salamis, the various Greek contingents would not fight as a single force and each individual army and navy would flee to their respective homes and be conquered one by one, and 3) Themistokles warned Eurybiades that if the fleet withdrew from Salamis, the entire Athenian contingent (more than half the naval force) would remove to their colony of Siris in Italy and leave the Greeks of the Peloponnesian Peninsula to defend themselves.
Eurybiades saw the tactical logic of Themistokles’ arguments but the other Greeks were not convinced and still wanted to retreat to the open waters near the isthmus to fight; Themistokles put a clever plan into motion that would end all debate and force the Greeks to stand and fight; he sent his servant secretly to the camp of Xerxes and told the king that the Greeks were planning to flee Salamis and, if the Persians acted quickly, they could surprise the Greeks and defeat them; Xerxes accepted the bait and deployed his navy so as to surround Salamis and block all escape routes; as dawn approached, the Greeks took to their ships and the battle was joined.
The Persians made several small conquests but the overall movements of the fleet were disorganized and lacked the discipline of the seasoned Greek sailors who soundly defeated the Persians.
Themistokles was later accused of financial mismanagement and was forced to leave Athens.
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The son of the master builder, Rhoikos.
When the Temple of Hera (the Heraion) on the island of Samos was destroyed by the Persians during the reign of Kyrus the Great (559-529 BCE), Rhoikos rebuilt the temple but his work was soon destroyed and Theodoros enlarged and improved his father’s work; when the historian Herodotus was on Samos, he remarked that the Temple of Hera was the largest building in the Greek world.
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One of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).
Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men to lead the new post-war government; these men became known as the Thirty Tyrants; the short lived government they comprised was an oligarchy.
The tyrants immediately began to prosecute Athenians who had been Spartan informers and collaborators during the long, hard war; the punishment of the guilty seemed appropriate to the common citizens and aristocrats alike but it soon became clear that the executions and banishments were going beyond the bounds of necessity or prudence; open hostilities soon developed between members of the Thirty and their authority and rule came to an end after one year.
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One of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).
Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men to lead the new post-war government; these men became known as the Thirty Tyrants; the short lived government they comprised was an oligarchy.
The tyrants immediately began to prosecute Athenians who had been Spartan informers and collaborators during the long, hard war; the punishment of the guilty seemed appropriate to the common citizens and aristocrats alike but it soon became clear that the executions and banishments were going beyond the bounds of necessity or prudence; open hostilities soon developed between members of the Thirty and their authority and rule came to an end after one year.
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A 1,022 line poem attributed to the seventh century BCE poet, Hesiod.
Theogony is the most complete and ancient recounting of the genealogy of the Immortals; a must read for all students of Greek Mythology.
Theogony can be found as part of the Richmond Lattimore book, Hesiod, which includes Works of Days, Theogony and The Shield of Herakles, ISBN 0472081616 (paper bound) or 0472439030 (clothbound); for the complete translations of the Epic Cycle I also recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can find these books at most libraries or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site which is linked to Amazon.com.
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A feast dedicated to the wine god, Dionysus.
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(fl. 270 BCE) A Greek poet from the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily; he has several extant poems commonly called Idylls.
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A festival at Delphi at which the images of Apollon and other Immortals were put on public display.
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The seventh Eurypontidai king of the city of Sparta who ruled circa 720-675 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of king Eurypon and the other was required to be a descendant of king Agis I (respectively known as the Eurypontidai and the Agiadai).
Very little is known about Theopompos and the dates given for his rule are extrapolations and should be used only as approximations.
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The general term for the sacred ships used by the Athenians to carry ambassadors to the oracles at Delphi and Delos; also used to transport athletes to the four greatest sporting competitions, i.e. the Olympian, Nemean, Pythian and Isthmian Games.
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The general term for God.
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A name for Zeus, i.e. the Bull-God.
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A Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea in the Kyklades (Cyclades) group with an area of 30 square miles (78 square kilometers).
The island was magically created from a clod of earth which was presented to one of the Argonauts, Euphemos, by the half-fish, half-man shaped god, Triton.
Triton guided the Argonauts out of the desert wastes of Libya and gave Euphemos a clod of earth as a gift; Euphemos had a divinely inspired dream about the clod of earth and threw it into the sea; an island arose and a descendant of Euphemos, Theras, migrated to the island and named it after himself; when the island first arose from the sea it was called Kalliste (Calliste), i.e. the Most Beautiful; the island is now called Thera.
Approximate east longitude 25.42 and north latitude 36.41.
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The son of Hagnon and, most notably, one of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).
Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men to lead the new post-war government; these men became known as the Thirty Tyrants; the short lived government they comprised was an oligarchy.
The tyrants immediately began to prosecute Athenians who had been Spartan informers and collaborators during the long, hard war; the punishment of the guilty seemed appropriate to the common citizens and aristocrats alike but it soon became clear that the executions and banishments were going beyond the bounds of necessity or prudence; open hostilities soon developed between members of the Thirty and their authority and rule came to an end after one year.
Theramenes and Kritias became the two most outspoken tyrants and they clashed openly over matters of public policy; Kritias clearly had the support of the other tyrants and Theramenes stood alone in his call for restraint in the punishment of citizens and aristocrats who were accused of collaborating with the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War.
The conflict between Theramenes and the other tyrants was a deciding issue in the collapse of the oligarchy; in his criticism of Theramenes, Kritias called him a political buskin, i.e. a man willing to accommodate any personally advantageous political ideas.
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The son of Autesion and a descendant of the Argonaut, Euphemos.
The island of Kalliste (Calliste) was magically created from a clod of earth which was presented to Euphemos by the half-fish, half-man shaped god, Triton.
Theras was the regent of Sparta until his nephews were of sufficient age to claim the throne; after having tasted the sweetness of power he was no longer satisfied to be a common citizen so he took part of his family and a few other followers and settled on the island of Kalliste; the island was thus renamed Thera.
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The Summer solstice, i.e., June twenty-first.
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A seaport in south-central Makedon (Macedon) on the Gulf of Salonika which is an inlet to the Aegean Sea.
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The narrow pass on the east coast of ancient Thessaly between Mount Oeta and the Gulf of Lamia.
When the Persians invaded Greece in 480 BCE a decisive battle was fought at Thermopylae between the Spartans and the Persians in which 4,000 Spartans, led by Leonidas, fought to the death against 310,000 Persians; Thermopylae was also successfully defended by the Athenians against Philip of Makedon (Macedon) in 353 BCE; the name literally means Hot-Gates; in ancient times Thermopylae was a narrow pass but the sea has receded and the now the “gates” are a level plain.
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The son of Polynikes (Polynices) and Argeia; he was one of the Epigoni.
His father had been killed in a failed attempt to capture the city of Thebes but Thersandros and six other captains led a successful assault on the city ten years later; Thersandros was the grandson of king Oedipus.
When the Greeks sailed from the island of Aulis to capture Troy, the fleet became lost and they attacked the city of Teuthrania instead; Thersandros was killed in the assault by a man named Telephus.
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The life and exploits of Theseus are eclipsed only by those of Herakles (Heracles); whereas Herakles was a hero for all of Greece, Theseus was more of an Athenian hero.
Theseus was the son of the legendary Athenian king, Aegeus and his consort, Aethra of Troezen; Aegeus left Aethra before Theseus was born and instructed her to place a sword and a pair of sandals under a boulder so that if and when Theseus was strong enough to move the boulder and remove the sword and sandals he would be manly enough to join his father in Athens and claim his royal inheritance; the sword and sandals were referred to as the gnorismata, i.e., the token by which a lost child is identified.
When Theseus left his mother he traveled by land instead of taking the easier sea route to Athens; his journey was punctuated by encounters with mortal and magical beings; he first encountered a son of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) named Periphetes near the coastal city of Epidauros; Periphetes would attack and kill travelers with his iron club; Theseus fought and killed Periphetes and kept his club as a symbol which mimics Herakles’ weapon of choice.
When Theseus reached the Isthmus of Korinth (Corinth) he was confronted by a man named Sinis; also called the Pine-Bender, Sinis would bend pine trees to either hurl or quarter travelers; Theseus dispatched Sinis in the same manner that the villain used to kill the innocent travelers who fell into his clutches.
Also near Korinth, Theseus killed a fierce sow that was the offspring of the nymph-serpent Ekhidna (Echidna) and the snake-like Typhaon; the sow was named after her keeper, Phaia, and it appears that Theseus killed the beast for sport rather than necessity.
When Theseus came to the coastal city of Megara, he met the semi-divine man, Skiron (Sciron), who would force travelers to wash his feet and then kick them from a cliff into the sea to be eaten by a giant sea-turtle which waited on the rocky shore; Theseus threw Skiron to his death from the cliff.
At the city of Eleusis, Theseus was forced to wrestle a brutish man named Kerkyon (Cercyon); no one had ever survived a wrestling match with Kerkyon because of his imposing physical strength but Theseus overpowered him and beat Kerkyon to death.
Before he reached Athens, Theseus encountered the villain, Prokrustes (Procrustes), who had a home near Eleusis and would entice travelers with his hospitality and then bind them to his bed where he would then amputate or stretch them to fit the bed; Theseus turned the tables and forced Prokrustes to lie in his own bed, i.e. his death bed.
When Theseus arrived in Athens, his father, Aegeus did not immediately recognize him; in the intervening years, Aegeus had married the sorceress, Medea; she knew exactly who Theseus was and began devising plans to dispose of him; she persuaded Aegeus to send Theseus to the plains of Marathon to capture a fierce bull which had been ravaging the countryside; Theseus successfully captured the bull and sacrificed it to Apollon; Medea then tried to poison Theseus but Aegeus finally recognized the sword that Theseus carried and saved him from Medea’s plotting.
For reasons that are variously given, the city of Athens was required to send seven boys and seven girls to king Minos on the island of Crete as payment of a war-debt; each year the Athenians would send the fourteen youths to be placed in the labyrinth where Minos kept the bull-man known as the Minotaur; each year the Minotaur would kill the sacrificial youths; Theseus was either chosen or volunteered to face the Minotaur and sailed to the island of Crete with the other sacrificial victims; on the voyage to Crete, king Minos was bragging about his divine heritage and Theseus said that he was also descended from the Immortals; Minos took a ring from his finger and threw it overboard; Theseus jumped into the sea and, with the assistance of Poseidon’s wife Amphitrite, retrieved the ring.
When Theseus and Minos arrived on the island of Crete, Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus; when Theseus and the other sacrificial youths were put into the labyrinth, Ariadne gave Theseus a roll of twine so that he could unroll the string and find his way out of the maze; Theseus fought and killed the Minotaur and escaped the labyrinth with the other Athenian youths.
After Theseus left Crete, Ariadne went with him but before they could reach Athens, the two were separated either because Theseus deserted her or because Dionysus desired Ariadne.
Theseus and his father had devised a signal by which Aegeus would be able to tell by the color of the ship’s sails whether Theseus had defeated the Minotaur and was returning safely to Athens; Aegeus saw the ship in the distance and misinterpreted the signal; thinking that Theseus was dead, he threw himself into the sea and drowned; Theseus was now the king of Athens.
The remainder of Theseus’ life is as convoluted that of Herakles; Theseus’ marriage to the Amazon, Antiope, started a war with the Amazons which the Athenians won; Theseus and Antiope had a son named Hippolytus who became the subject of sorrow in Theseus’ later life; the fate of Antiope is unclear but Theseus went on to marry another woman named Phaedra; she was also a daughter of king Minos and the sister of Ariadne.
Phaedra and Theseus had two sons named: Akamas (Acamas) and Demophon; Phaedra became infatuated with her step-son, Hippolytus, and tried to seduce him; when he rejected her, Phaedra told Theseus that Hippolytus had tried to force himself upon her; Theseus was enraged and prayed to Poseidon (lord of the Sea) to avenge the insult his son had perpetrated against his wife; Poseidon sent a bull from the sea and frightened the horses that drew Hippolytus’ chariot; the chariot overturned and killed Hippolytus; Phaedra was horrified and hanged herself.
The years following Phaedra’s suicide were perhaps less exciting than Theseus’ youthful adventures but he still managed to become involved in some of the most interesting adventures that defined the development of Attika (Attica); he was the last man to see the cursed king of the city of Thebes, Oedipus, alive; he gave asylum to Oedipus and accompanied him to his final resting place; his friendship with the king of the Lapithae, Pirithous, made him a participant in the war with the Centaurs; he also accompanied king Pirithous to the House of Hades in order to kidnap Persephone but was rescued by Herakles and escaped eternal imprisonment in the Underworld; he also became involved in the kidnapping of Helen when she was a young girl; her brothers, Kastor (Castor) Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux) rescued her; Theseus was soon driven from Athens and forced to take refuge on the island of Skyros (Scyros) where he died.
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A sculpture accredited to Euphranor as part of the Colonnade of Zeus at the city of Athens.
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A woman’s festival of ancient Athens held the autumn in honor of the goddess, Demeter.
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A comic play by Aristophanes produced in 411 BCE at Athens; usually called The Poet and the Woman but the Greek name was Thesmophoriazusae, which might be rendered as Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria, i.e. the Women’s Festival of the goddess, Demeter.
This is one of Aristophanes’ more ribald plays and might not be suitable for younger readers.
It seems that the women of the city of Athens have decided to kill the poet, Euripides, because of the demeaning way in which he portrays women in his plays; the women put Euripides in the same category as the accursed Persians and declare him an enemy of the state; Euripides persuades his father-in-law, Mnesilokhos (Mnesilochus), to dress like a woman and attend the Women’s Assembly in order to speak out on Euripides’ behalf; at first, Mnesilokhos speaks well for Euripides and seems to be generating some sympathy for the doomed poet but an informant arrives and tells the women that a male spy has invaded their assembly; it doesn’t take long for the women to deduce that the only woman to speak out for Euripides is the intruder.
At this point the play takes a unique turn; I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised when Mnesilokhos snatched up a baby from a woman in the assembly and threatened to kill it unless he was allowed to leave the hall unharmed; I won’t tell you how the situation is resolved but I will say that it’s scenes like this which demonstrate Aristophanes’ true comic genius.
After Mnesilokhos is taken prisoner and restrained, Euripides enters the scene to save his father-in-law from the wrath of the women; the comic banter between Mnesilokhos and Euripides is dialogue taken from Euripides’ tragedies and turned into farcical parodies.
Although the play mocks Euripides, there is an element of respect for his work laced throughout the puns and jokes; the net result of reading this play is that I wanted to read more plays by Euripides and Aristophanes.
Aristophanes’ plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet’s words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don’t blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy; when trying to find a readable translator, I suggest Patric Dickinson; you may find his books at your local library in the 882 section but his books are out of print and sometimes difficult to find.
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An ancient city at the foot of Mount Helikon (Helicon) where the Muse performed their contests.
When the Persian army of king Xerxes invaded Greece in 480 BCE, Thespiae and Plataea were the only two cities in Boeotia to refuse to give earth and water, i.e., surrender, to the Persians.
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The legendary Greek innovative poet of the mid-fifth century BCE who is credited with the invention of tragedy; his contributions to the presentation of tragedy are perhaps exaggerated or fanciful but the subtle transformations of Greek theatrics were changed in a positive and lasting way due to his influence.
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The founder of the city of Thespiae in Boeotia; Thespius and Megamede were the parents of fifty daughters, all of whom bore sons to Herakles (Heracles).
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An ancient coastal district in southwestern Epirus.
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A district on the Greek mainland located on the northeastern coast and bounded on the east by the Aegean Sea and on the west by the mountain range that includes Mount Olympos (Olympus); the largest independent territory in ancient Greece.
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The king of Aetolia and the father of Leda (the mother of Helen) and the Argonaut, Iphiklos (Iphiclos).
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The father of the seer, Kalkhas (Calchas).
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The eight letter of the Greek alphabet; upper case: Θ; lower case: θ.
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Literally, hired farm workers.
When the noted statesman, Solon, reorganized the Athenian society (circa 594 BCE) he divided the citizens into four specific groups; the four classes under Solon’s constitution were:
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One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris; the wife of Peleus and the mother of Akhilleus (Achilles).
Thetis was wedded to Peleus (a mortal) as punishment for not entering the bed of Zeus; Thetis was taken by Peleus near Sepias, therefore, the entire shoreline near Sepias belongs to Thetis and the other Nereids.
Hera respected Thetis for her resistance to Zeus’ advances and protected Thetis’ son, Akhilleus, throughout the Trojan War; after Akhilleus was born, Thetis tried to make him immortal by cleansing him with nektar (nectar) and bathing him in fire but Peleus caught her putting the infant Akhilleus in the fire and, in his ignorance of Immortal affairs, went into a rage; Thetis, in frustration, threw Akhilleus to the ground, deserted Peleus and returned to her home under the Aegean Sea.
Thetis came to Akhilleus many times during the Trojan War and after the death of Akhilleus’ companion, Patroklos (Patroclus), compelled Hephaistos (Hephaestus) to forge new armor for Akhilleus.
For more detailed information on Thetis I suggest that you consult the Immortals section.
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After the end of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), the city of Athens renounced its democratic government and elected Thirty Tyrants to rule the city; the traditional elected leader, the Archon, was replaced by the Thirty Tyrants in the form of an oligarchy.
The Tyrants appointed three thousand citizens to serve as advisors but the true democratic nature of the Athenian government was lost; to appease the Spartan victors of the war and allow Athens to govern its own affairs without too much direct interference from Sparta, the city’s protective walls were torn down and the populace, with the exception of the Thirty Tyrants and their immediate supporters, were disarmed.
Citizens and aristocrats who were accused of collaborating with the Spartans during the long, hard war were rigorously sought out and severely punished, some were banished from the city but most were simply executed; the tyrants were dominated by one man, Kritias (Critias), who had the support of all but one of the other tyrants, Theramenes.
Theramenes accused the Thirty of punishing innocent men and using their authority for personal gain instead of for the good of the city; the open hostilities between these two men, Kritias and Theramenes, eventually caused the failure of the oligarchy.
The Thirty Tyrants were:
Aeskhines (Aeschines);
Anaetius;
Aresias;
Aristoteles;
Diokles (Diocles);
Drakontides (Dracontides);
Erasistratus;
Eratosthenes;
Eukleides (Eucleides);
Eumathes;
Hieron;
Hippolokhos (Hippolochos);
Hippomakhos (Hippolochos);
Khaereloes (Chaereloes);
Kharikles (Charicles);
Khremon (Chremon);
Kleomedes (Cleomedes);
Kritias (Critias);
Melobios;
Mnesilokhos (Mnesilokhos);
Mnesitheides;
Onomakles (Onomacles);
Peison;
Phaedrias;
Pheidon;
Polykhares (Polychares);
Sophokles (Sophocles);
Theogenes;
Theognis; and
Theramenes.
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The son of Dionysus and the father of Hypsipyle.
When the women of the island of Lemnos rose in a frenzy and killed all the men on the island, Hypsipyle put her father, Thoas, in a chest and cast him adrift in the sea; fishermen dragged him to shore at the island of the nymph, Oinoie, which was later called Sikinos (Sicinos) after the son of Oinoie and Thoas.
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One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
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An Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys.
Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping.
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The nymph who was a consort of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and was the mother of the cyclops, Polyphemos (Polyphemus).
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An ancient region in the eastern part of what we call the Balkan Peninsula; bordering the northern-most part of the Aegean Sea and the largest province in ancient Greece.
The historian Herodotus asserts that if the Thrakians were to unite, they could have easily become the most powerful nation of the ancient world.
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The inhabitants of Thrake (Thrace).
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The oarsmen on a trireme (warship) occupying the uppermost of the three tiers of rowers; they had the longest oars and thus had the hardest job.
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An Athenian patriot and general; died circa 389 BCE.
See Thrasybulus (1) by itself with citation tips (best for bookmarking).
The prince of Miletus who ended the hostile, yearly invasions by the Persian ruler, Alyattes, and his army.
The Milesians were no match for the powerful army of Alyattes and suffered year after year of deprivation; in the twelfth year of the war, the army of Alyattes accidentally set fire to the temple of Athene (Athena) at Assesos and it was utterly destroyed; the barbarians gave little thought to the destruction of the temple until Alyattes was afflicted with a lingering illness; he sent an emissary to the oracle at Delphi seeking a cure for his illness and was told that until he rebuilt the temple of Athene at Assesos he would suffer ill health.
The prince of Miletus, Thrasybulus, heard what the oracle had told Alyattes and contrived a way to end the yearly invasion of his country; when Alyattes sent a herald to Miletus seeking a truce so that the temple could be rebuilt, Thrasybulus had the people of Miletus gather all their meager stores of food and wine and stage a mock celebration; the herald of Alyattes saw the display of affluence and dutifully reported the scene to his master; Alyattes was convinced that the years of war against Miletus were in vain and negotiated a truce that included the construction of two temples for Athene.
See Thrasybulus (2) by itself with citation tips (best for bookmarking).
One of the sons of Nestor and Eurydike (Eurydice).
See Thrasymedes by itself with citation tips (best for bookmarking).
T to Theban Plays Thebe to Thrasymedes Thriambos to Tyrtaeus
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