Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/763

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THARRAWADDY—THASOS
727

part of a supplicatory service. On the second day choruses of men and boys took part in musical contests, the prize for which was a tripod. Further, on this day adopted persons were solemnly received into the genos and phratria of their adoptive parents (see Apaturia).

See Preller-Robert, Griechische Mythologie, i. (1894); G. F. Schömann, Griechische Alterthümer (4th ed. by J. H. Lipsius, 1897–1902); P. Stengel, Die griechischen Kultusalterthümer (1890); article in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, revised by L. C. Purser (3rd ed.. 1891); A. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen (1898); L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv. (1906), pp. 268-283; J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough (2nd ed., 1900), ii. appendix C, “Offerings of First-Fruits,” and iii. p. 93, § 15, “On Scapegoats”; W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte (2nd ed. by W. Heuschkel, 1904–5).

THARRAWADDY, a town and district in the Pegu division of Lower Burma. The town has a station on the railway, 68 m. N.W. from Rangoon. Pop. (1901) 1643. The district has an area of 2851 sq. m. The Pegu Yoma range separates it from Toungoo district, and forms the water-parting between the rivers Irrawaddy and Sittang; there are also many small elevations. The Irrawaddy is the principal navigable river. Another important river is the Hlaing, which runs through the district from north to south, receiving from the east, through numerous channels, the drainage of the Pegu Yoma Mountains, which fertilizes the plain on its eastern bank. There are teak forests and fuel reserves, covering an area of 732 sq. m. Among the wild animals found in the mountains are elephant, rhinoceros, bison and various kinds of feathered game. The rainfall in 1905 was 91.65 in. Pop. (1901) 395,570, showing an increase of 17 per cent. in the decade. The railway runs through the centre of the district, with ten stations. The chief towns are Gyobingauk (6030) and Thonzé (6578). The staple crop is rice, but orchards and gardens are also common. The history of the district is identical with that of Henzada (q.v.). Tharrawaddy was formed in 1878 out of that portion of Henzada lying east of the Irrawaddy.


THARROS, an ancient town of Sardinia, situated on the west coast, on the narrow sandy isthmus of a peninsula at the north extremity of the Gulf of Oristano, now marked by the tower of S. Giovanni di Sinis. It was 12 m. W. of Othoca (Oristano) by the coast road, which went on northward to Cornus (a milestone of it is given in Corp. Instr. Lat. x. 8009), and thence to Turris Libisonis. It was of Phoenician origin, but continued to exist in Roman times, as the inscriptions show, though they give but little information (Mommsen in Corp. Instr. Lat. x. 822). It was destroyed by the Saracens in the 11th century. Scanty traces of Roman buildings may be seen, and an ancient road paved with large blocks of stone. A part of the site of the town is now invaded by the sea. The church of S. Giovanni di Sinis is a heavy building of the 8th (?) century A.D. originally cruciform, with a dome over the crossing; the transept sand dome are still preserved, but the nave with its two aisles is later. It is naturally built of materials from the old town. Close to it is a watch-tower and a spring of fresh water. The importance of Tharros may be inferred from the extent of its necropolis, which lies on the basaltic peninsula of S. Marco to the S.; on the summit of it are the remains of a nuraghe. Casual excavations are mentioned under the Spanish viceroys, but regular exploration only began in 1838, when the Roman tombs were examined. In 1850 Spano excavated many Phoenician tombs; they are rectangular or square chambers cut in the rock, measuring from 6 to 9 ft. each way, in which inhumation was the rule. The objects found—pottery, scarabs, jewelry, amulets, &c.—were of considerable interest. In 1851 Lord Vernon opened fourteen tombs, and after /that the whole countryside ransacked the necropolis, without any proper records or notes being taken, and with great damage to the objects found. Some of these objects are in the museum at Cagliari, others in private collections, and many scarabs are in the British Museum, all of which by the coins found with them are dated later than the Roman occupation (Catalogue of Gems, London, 1888, pp. 13 sqq.). In 1885–86 regular excavations were made, the results of which may be seen in the museum at Cagliari. One tomb contained some fine gold ornaments, with Roman coins of the 1st to 3rd century A.D. (F. Vivanet in Notizie degli Scavi, 1886, 27; 1887, 46, 124). The objects, like those found at Sulcis, show considerable traces of Egyptian influence, but are probably all of Phoenician importation—the theory of the existence of Egyptian colonies in Sardinia being quite inadmissible. Some 3 m. to the N. is the church of S. Salvatore, with underground rock-cut chambers below it, used as a baptistery (?) by the early Christians, though the walls are decorated with paintings of a decidedly pagan nature.  (T. As.) 


THASOS, an island in the north of the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Thrace and the plain of the river Nestus (now the Kara-Su). The island was colonized at an early date by Phoenicians, attracted probably by its gold mines; they founded a temple of Heracles, which still existed in the time of Herodotus. Thasus, son of Phoenix, is said to have been the leader of the Phoenicians, and to have given his name to the island. In 720 or 708 B.C. Thasos received a Greek colony from Paros. In a war which the Parian colonists waged with the Saians, a Thracian tribe, the poet Archilochus threw away his shield. The Greeks extended their power to the mainland, where they owned gold mines which were even more valuable than those on the island. From these sources the Thasians drew great wealth, their annual revenues amounting to 200 or even 300 talents. Herodotus, who visited Thasos, says that the best mines on the island were those which had been opened by the Phoenicians on the east side of the island facing Samothrace. The place was important during the Ionian revolt against Persia. After the capture of Miletus (494 B.C.) Histiaeus, the Ionian leader, laid siege to Thasos. The attack failed, but, warned by the danger, the Thasians employed their revenues to build war ships and strengthen their fortifications. This excited the suspicions of the Persians, and Darius compelled them to surrender their ships and pull down their walls. After the defeat of Xerxes the Thasians joined the Delian Confederacy; but afterwards, on account of a difference about the mines and marts on the mainland, they revolted. The Athenians defeated them by sea, and, after a siege that lasted more than two years, took the capital, Thasos, probably in 463, and compelled the Thasians to destroy their walls, surrender their ships, pay an indemnity and an annual contribution (in 449 this was 21/2 talents, from 445 about 30 talents), and resign their possessions on the mainland. In 411 B.C., at the time of the oligarchical revolution at Athens, Thasos again revolted from Athens and received a Lacedaemonian governor; but in 407 the partisans of Lacedaemon were expelled, and the Athenians under Thrasybulus were admitted. After the battle of Aegospotami (405 B.C.), Thasos again fell into the hands of the Lacedaemonians under Lysander who formed a decarchy there; but the Athenians must have recovered it, for it formed one of the subjects of dispute between them and Philip II. of Macedonia. In the embroilment between Philip III. of Macedonia and the Romans, Thasos submitted to Philip, but received its freedom at the hands of the Romans after the battle of Cynoscephalae (197 B.C.), and it was still a “free” state in the time of Pliny. After a period of Latin occupation, it was captured by the Turks in 1462; it was given by the Sultan Mahmud II. to Mehemet Ali of Egypt, and still remains the property of the khedive. Thasos, the capital, stood on the north side of the island, and had two harbours, one of which was closed. Archilochus described Thasos as “an ass’s backbone crowned with wild wood,” and the description still suits the mountainous island with its forests of fir. The highest mountain, Ipsario, is 3428 ft. high. Besides its gold mines, the wine, nuts and marble of Thasos were well known in antiquity. The mines and marble quarries are no longer worked; and the chief exports are now fir timber for shipbuilding, olive oil, honey and wax. The imports consist of manufactured goods, beasts of burden and corn, for the island is too mountainous to grow enough corn for the inhabitants.

The population, distributed in ten villages, is estimated at