Plymouth colony celebrated the first thanksgiving day after the harvest in 1621, four young men being sent out hunting to make provision for the feast. Such days were appointed after this at different intervals and for various objects in New England and New York. Congress recommended a thanksgiving day yearly during the Revolutionary War, but from 1784 to 1789 there was no national appointment of the festival. In 1784 a day of thanksgiving for the adoption of the Constitution was recommended, and one in 1796 because of the suppression of a riot. For years the festival was almost exclusively a New England institution, celebrated by religious services in the churches, the sermon being often a political address, and by the gathering at the old home of the scattered members of the family. The day gradually became a custom in the western and some of the southern states, each appointing its own day. During the Civil War proclamations for public thanksgiving were issued in 1862, 1863 and 1864, and since that time the day has been regularly appointed by the president of the United States. It usually is observed on the last Thursday in November.
Thayer (thâr), Abbott Handerson, an American artist, was born at Boston in 1849. He studied chiefly under Gérôme at Paris. His subjects are animals, genre and landscapes, but he has done some wall-painting.
The′ater. The first theater in Greece, the birthplace of the drama, is said to have been a wagon. The plays of Æschylus were represented on a wooden scaffold. About 500 B. C. one of these scaffolds gave way, and the inventive Athenians at once set about building the famous stone theater of Dionysus. Similar theaters were built in every Greek city, and the ruins of many may be seen to-day. The largest is at Ephesus, and was 660 feet across. These theaters were built with seats in semicircular rows rising one behind and above the other, and were often cut out of solid rock. In the center, at the lowest point, stood the orchestra, in front of the proscenium or stage, back of which was a solid wall, called the scene, ornamented with pillars and cornices. There was no roof, but an awning kept off the sun's rays, for the plays were always given in daytime. The Romans, who took the best of everything the Greeks had, built similar theaters of the greatest magnificence, besides their huge amphitheaters. Both in Athens and Rome the theaters were built large enough to seat almost all the citizens, who generally attended in a mass at the expense of the government, for from the time of Pericles plays were made free to all. To enable these audiences of 80,000, 100,000 or more to hear, the actors wore masks with mouthpieces which answered the purpose of speaking-trumpets. Female characters were represented by boys, and it was not till the 17th century that actresses were allowed on the French and English stages. In the middle ages the miracle-plays were played in cathedrals.
THEATER OF SEGESTA, SICILY — RESTORED
The modern theater dates from the 16th century, the first ones being built at Vicenza and Venice. The famous Palais Royal at Paris was built by Cardinal Richelieu in 1639. The first English playhouse was the London theater, built in 1576. About the same time were built the Curtain, Blackfriars and Whitefriars. The first theater in America was opened at Williamsburg, Va., in 1752. The largest and finest theater in the world is the Grand Opera-House of Paris. In China and Japan every little village has its theater. See Amphitheater, Drama and Miracle-Plays.
Thebes (thēbz), a celebrated Egyptian city, stands on the Nile, and anciently was the capital of upper Egypt. Its great ruins fill nine townships. The Nile flows through the city and divides it into four quarters. Thebes was at its height from 1500 to 1000 B. C., when it had supplanted Memphis, the ancient capital of the Pharaohs. This City-of-a-Hundred-Gates, as Homer called it, sent out 20,000 war-chariots, was filled with palaces and temples, and contained the cemeteries of the Theban monarchs. Later the capital was moved to Sais and then to Memphis, and Cambyses, the Persian plundered it of $10,000,000. Alexandria was founded, and so its splendor departed. There are now only a few Arab families of fellahin, who gain a living by guiding travelers about the ruins or by selling articles rifled from the tombs. The ruins are the most famous in Egypt. Among them are the temple of Karnak (q. v.), a mass of obelisks, courts and halls; the Ramesseum (q. v.), built by Rameses II, with a broken colossal statue, the largest in Egypt, of that king, weighing 887½ tons; the vocal statue of King Memnon, supposed in early times to make a sound at sunrise; the cemeteries of the sacred apes; and the Valley of the Tombs of the Queens. See Rawlinson's Story of Ancient Egypt.
Thebes, the chief city of Bœotia in Greece stood on a mountain-slope between two streams in the southern part of Bœotia.
