THỸRSUS (θύρσος), a pole carried by Bacchus, and by Satyrs, Maenades,
and others who engaged in Bacchic festivities and rites. [DIONYSIA.]
It was sometimes terminated by the apple of the pine, or fir-cone,
that tree (πεύκη) being dedicated to Bacchus in consequence of the
use of the turpentine which flowed from it, and also of its cones,
in making wine. The monuments of ancient art, however, most commonly
exhibit, instead of the pine-apple, a bunch of vine or ivy-leaves,
with grapes or berries, arranged into the form of a cone. The
fabulous history of Bacchus relates that he converted the thyrsi
carried by himself and his followers into dangerous weapons, by
concealing an iron point in the head of the leaves. Hence his thyrsus
is called “a spear enveloped in vine-leaves,” and its point was
thought to incite to madness.
[Illustration: Tiara. (From a Coin in the British Museum.)]
TĬĀRA or TĬĀRAS (τιάρα or τιάρας: _Att._ κυρβασία), a hat with a
large high crown. This was the head-dress which characterised the
north-western Asiatics, and more especially the Armenians, Parthians,
and Persians, as distinguished from the Greeks and Romans, whose hats
fitted the head, or had only a low crown. The king of Persia wore an
erect tiara, whilst those of his subjects were soft and flexible,
falling on one side. The Persian name for this regal head-dress was
_cidaris_.
[Illustration: Tiara. (From a Coin in the British Museum.)]
TĪBĬA (αὐλός), a pipe, the commonest musical instrument of the Greeks
and Romans. It was very frequently a hollow cane, perforated with
holes in the proper places. In other instances it was made of some
kind of wood, especially box, and was bored with a gimblet. When a
single pipe was used by itself, the performer upon it, as well as
the instrument, was called _monaulos_. Among the varieties of the
single pipe the most remarkable were the bagpipe, the performer on
which was called _utricularius_ or ἀσκαύλης; and the ἀυλὸς πλάγιος or
πλαγίαυλος, which, as its name implies, had a mouth-piece inserted
into it at right angles. Pan was the reputed inventor of this kind of
tibia as well as of the _fistula_ or _syrinx_ [SYRINX]. But among
the Greeks and Romans it was much more usual to play on two pipes at
the same time. Hence a performance on this instrument (_tibicinium_),
even when executed by a single person, was called _canere_ or
_cantare tibiis_. This act is exhibited in very numerous works of
ancient art, and often in such a way as to make it manifest that the
two pipes were perfectly distinct, and not connected, as some have
supposed, by a common mouth-piece. The mouth-pieces of the two pipes
often passed through a capistrum. Three different kinds of pipes were
originally used to produce music in the Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian
modes. It appears, also, that to produce the Phrygian mode the pipe
had only two holes above, and that it terminated in a horn bending
upwards. It thus approached to the nature of a trumpet, and produced
slow, grave, and solemn tunes. The Lydian mode was much quicker,
and more varied and animating. Horace mentions “Lydian pipes” as a
proper accompaniment, when he is celebrating the praise of ancient
heroes. The Lydians themselves used this instrument in leading
their troops to battle; and the pipes employed for the purpose are
distinguished by Herodotus as “male and female,” i.e. probably bass
and treble, corresponding to the ordinary sexual difference in the
human voice. The corresponding Latin terms are _tibia dextra_ and
_sinistra_: the respective instruments are supposed to have been so
called, because the former was more properly held in the right hand
and the latter in the left. The “tibia _dextra_” was used to lead
or commence a piece of music, and the “sinistra” followed it as an
accompaniment. The comedies of Terence having been accompanied by
the pipe, the following notices are prefixed to explain the kind of
music appropriate to each: _tibiis paribus_, i.e. with pipes in the
same mode; _tib. imparibus_, pipes in different modes; _tib. duabus
dextris_, two pipes of low pitch; _tib. par. dextris et sinistris_,
pipes in the same mode, and of both low and high pitch. The use
of the pipe among the Greeks and Romans was three-fold, viz. at
sacrifices (_tibiae sacrificae_), entertainments (_ludicrae_), and
funerals. The pipe was not confined anciently, as it is with us, to
the male sex, but αὐλητρίδες, or female tibicines were very common.
[Illustration: Woman Playing on two Pipes, Tibiae. (From a Vase in
the British Museum.)]
TIMĒMA (τίμημα). The penalty imposed in a court of criminal justice
at Athens, and also the damages awarded in a civil action, received
the name of Τίμημα, because they were _estimated_ or _assessed_
according to the injury which the public or the individual might
respectively have sustained. The penalty was either fixed by the
judge, or merely declared by him according to some estimate made
before the cause came into court. In the first case the trial was
called ἀγὼν τιμητὸς, in the second case ἀγὼν ἀτίμητος, a distinction
which applies to civil as well as to criminal trials. Where a man
sought to recover an estate in land, or a house, or any specific
thing, as a ring, a horse, a slave, nothing further was required,
than to determine to whom the estate, the house, or the thing
demanded, of right belonged. The same would be the case in an action
of debt, χρέους δίκη, where a sum certain was demanded. In these
and many other similar cases the trial was ἀτίμητος. On the other
hand, wherever the damages were in their nature _unliquidated_, and
no provision had been made concerning them either by the law or
by the agreement of the parties, they were to be assessed by the
dicasts. The following was the course of proceeding in the τιμητοὶ
ἀγῶνες. The bill of indictment (ἔγκλημα) was always superscribed
with some penalty by the person who preferred it. He was said
ἐπιγράφεσθαι τίμημα, and the penalty proposed is called ἐπίγραμμα.
If the defendant was found guilty, the prosecutor was called upon to
support the allegation in the indictment, and for that purpose to
mount the platform and address the dicasts (ἀναβαίνειν εἰς τίμημα).
If the accused submitted to the punishment proposed on the other
side, there was no further dispute; if he thought it too severe,
he made a counter proposition. He was then said ἀντιτιμᾶσθαι, or
ἑαυτῷ τιμᾶσθαι. He was allowed to address the court in mitigation
of punishment. After both parties had been heard, the dicasts were
called upon to give their verdict. Sometimes the law expressly
empowered the jury to impose an additional penalty (προστίμημα)
besides the ordinary one. Here the proposition emanated from the jury
themselves, any one of whom might move that the punishment allowed by
the law should be awarded. He was said προστιμᾶσθαι, and the whole
dicasts, if (upon a division) they adopted his proposal, were said
προστιμᾷν.
TINTINNĀBŬLUM (κώδων), a bell. Bells were of various forms among the
Greeks and Romans, as among us.
TĪRO, the name given by the Romans to a newly enlisted soldier, as
opposed to _veteranus_, one who had had experience in war. The mode
of levying troops is described under EXERCITUS. The age at which the
liability to military service commenced was 17. From their first
enrolment the Roman soldiers, when not actually serving against an
enemy, were perpetually occupied in military exercises. They were
exercised every day, the tirones twice, in the morning and afternoon,
and the veterani once. The state of a tiro was called _tirocinium_;
and a soldier who had attained skill in his profession was then
said _tirocinium ponere_, or _deponere_. In civil life the terms
_tiro_ and _tirocinium_ were applied to the assumption of the toga
virilis, which was called _tirocinium fori_ [TOGA], and to the first
appearance of an orator at the rostrum, _tirocinum eloquentiae_.