Thyrsus
(Θύρσος), a freedman of Octavian, whom the latter sent to Cleopatra at Alexandria, after the battle of Actium. Dio Cassius relates that Octavian made love to Cleopatra by means of Thyrsus, to induce her to betray Antony; but Plutarch simply states that Thyrsus, through his frequent interviews with Cleopatra, excited the suspicions of Antony, who seized and whipped him, and sent him back to Octavian. (D. C. 51.8, 9; Plut. Ant. 73.)
THYRSUS or TYRSUS (Θύρσος ποταμός, Ptol.; Θόρσος, Paus.: Tirso), the most considerable river of Sardinia, which still retains its ancient name almost unaltered. It has its sources in the mountains in the NE. corner of the island, and flows into the Gulf of Oristano on the W. coast, after a course of above 75 miles. About 20 miles from its mouth it flowed past Forum Trajani, the ruins of which are still visible at Fordungianus; and about 36 miles higher up are the Bagni di Benetutti, supposed to be the Aquae Lesitanae of Ptolemy. The Itineraries give a station ad Caput Tyrsi( itin. Ant. p. 81), which was 0 M.P. from Olbia by a rugged mountain road: it must have been near the village of Beudusò. (De la Marmora, Voy. en Sardaigne, vol. 2. p. 445.) Pausanias tells us that in early times the Thyrsus was the boundary between the part of the island occupied by the Greeks and Trojans and that which still remained in the hands of the native barbarians. (Paus. 10.17.6.)
[E.H.B]- Paus. 8.31.4
- cp. Paus. 4.36.7