TIREE. 305 TIRYNS. Scotland, B 3). It is 13 miles long, and over 6 miles in extreme breadtli. The suifafe is low and destitute of trees; but the soil is fertile. There are interesting antiquities, which include Scandinavian forts, standing stones, ruined churches, and ancient graves. The inhabitants support themselves by rearing cattle, fishing, and exporting poultrv and eggs. Population, in I'JOl, 2l;i.5. TIKEH, te're. A town of the Turkish Vilayet of Smyrna, Asia Minor, 25 miles southeast of the city of Smyrna, with which it has railway connection (Map: Turkey in Asia, B 3). It is the ancient Tijrrha of the Kingdom of Lydia. Tapestry and cotton manufacturing constitute the chief industries. Population, estimated at from 13,000 to 20,000. TIRE'SIAS {Lat., from Gk. Teipeofas, Teire- sias). In Greek legend, a famous Theban seer. He is called son of Eueres and Chariclo. and was blind from early youtli, because he had seen Athena bathing. To recompense him for his loss of sight, the goddess gave him power to under- stand the voices of birds. Another legend rep- resents Hera as depriving him of his sight be- cause, being made arbiter in a dispute between her and Zeus, he had decided in favor of the latter; when Zeus as a compensation gave him imcrring power in interpreting omens, and pro- longed life. He appears prominently in the Thi'lian cycle of legends, and was said to have died from a draught of water from the prophetic spring Tilphusa. after the capture of Thebes by the Epigoni, while accompanying some of the vanquished Thebans to another home. In the Odyssey (book xi.) we are told how Odysseus went to the lower world to consult him. TIRHAKAH, ter-hii'ka. A king of ancient Ethiopia. See Taiiark.. TIRLEMONT, terl'mux' (Flem. Tienrn or Th ienen ) . A town in the Province of Brabant, Belgium, 29 miles east by south of Brussels, on the Geete River (Map: Belgium, C 4). Its walls, which had a circumference of about six miles, were dismantled early in the nineteenth century. The chief objects of interest are the recently re- stored churches of Saint Germain and Notre Dame du Lac. The former is a composite of the Roman- esque and early Gothic, and was begun in the ninth century. Its most striking feature is the altar-piece by Wappers. The Churcli of Xotre Dame du Lac dates partly from the thirteenth and partly from the fifteenth century. There are manufactures of engines, leather, cotton and woolen goods, etc. Population, in 1900, 17,855. TIKNAU. See Tyrxau. TIRNOVA, ter'no-va (Bulgarian Tniora)- A district town in the Principality of Bulgaria, situated on the Yantra and the Sofla-Varna Rail- way. 124 miles northeast of Sofia (Map: Balkan Peninsula. E 3) . It contains a number of niediop- val churches. The chief industries are dyeing and the manufacture of copper ware. Tirnova was the capital of Bulgaria for about two centuries until 1393. when it was taken by the Turks. Pop- ulation, about 13.000. TI'RO, Marcus Ti'LLIUS. Slave, pupil, and subsequently amanuensis of Cicero, whose life he wrote and whose letters he collected. He is known chiefly as the inventor of the ancient stenography (see Shorthand), called after him iiol<r Tiroiiiancc. He died at almost a hundred years of age. TIROL, te-rol'. A crownland of Austria. See TvHOL. TIRSO DE MOLINA, ter'so dH m6-le'na. The pseudonym of the Spanish dramatist Ga- briel I'ellez (q.v.) . TIRURAYE, to'roo-ril'ya. A Malay people in ( (italiato Province, southwestern Mindanao. See PiiiLipriNE Islands. TI'RYNS (Lat., from Gk. Tlpu^s)- An an- cient city of -irgolis, in the Peloponnesus, situ- ated a sliort distance southeast of Argos, near the head of the Argolie gulf. According to tradition it was founded by Prcetus, a mythic king of Argo- lis; and its massive walls, like other rude massive structures in Greece of unknown antiquity, were reputed to be the work of the Cj'clopes. Later, Perseus was said to have ruled here, and the place was the residence of Hercules wliile in servitude to Eurysthcus. At the time of the Dinian con- quest Argos seems to have secured the supremacj' over the plain, though during the Persian Wars Tiryns appears independent and sent troops to Platsea. Some time subsequently, probably about the year B.C. 468, the city was taken by the Ar- gives; after this period Tiryns remained unin- habited, the walls of the citadel only being left standing, the wonder and admiration of later ages. The acrojjolis or citadel of Tiryns was built on the summit of a low, flat, rock}' hill, about 9S0 by 330 feet in extent, which rises abruptly out of the dead level of the plain of Argos to a height of from 30 to GO feet. It consists of three terraces of which the higliest was occupied by a prehistoric palace, the middle by lesser buildings, while the lowest has been scarcely explored, but seems to have contained only small structures. This hill was surrounded by a massive wall of huge blocks of limestone of irregular shape, laid in a clay mortar. The original height is uncertain, though in some places it is still nearly 25 feet. The thickness around the lower terrace is not quite uniform, but does not exceed 20 feet ; around the upper terrace it varies from 16 to the prodigious figure of 57 feet. A part of this wall was occupied by galleries and chambers probably for the storing of provisions. The main entrance was on the east, and was reached by a ramj) ; on the west was a postern gate with a stairway in the rock. The palace on the summit was ex- cavated by Schliemann and Dorpfeld in 1884- 85, and until the recent discoveries in Crete was the most complete example of the home of a Myceniean king. After passing the en- trance gate, the way leads to a large propyloea, which opens into a great open court: from this a seconil gateway leads to another paved court (auX^, aiilO) , surrounded by colonnades. On one side low steps and a door lead to a vestibule, which again opens into the great hall (iiiyapov, iiier/riron) , with a circular hearth in the centre. Around this central structure is a complex of passages and lesser rooms, including a bath, and a smaller court with its own megaron, possibly the women's apartments. The essential identity of this palace with that described in the Homeric pnenis lends peculiar interest to the discovery. Consult: Schliemann, Tiri/ns (London, 1886) ; Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Excavations, trans, by
