on the navigable Béga canal and on the river Béga, and consists of the inner town formerly strongly fortified, and of four outlying suburbs. Several parks have been laid out on the site of the broad glacis which formerly separated Temesvár from its suburbs, which are now united with it by broad avenues. Temesvár is the seat of a Roman Catholic and a Greek Orthodox bishop. Amongst its principal buildings are the Roman Catholic cathedral, built (1735–57) by Maria Theresa; the Greek Orthodox cathedral; a castle built by Hunyady Janos in 1442, now used as an arsenal; the town and county hall, the museum and large barracks. In the principal square rises a Gothic column, 40 ft. high, erected by the Emperor Francis Joseph in 1851 to commemorate the successful resistance of the town to the siege of 107 days laid by the Hungarian revolutionary army in 1849. Temesvár is the most important centre of commerce and industry of south Hungary, and carries on a brisk trade in grain, flour, spirits and horses. Its industrial establishments include factories for tobacco, cloth, matches, leather, artificial manure, besides breweries and distilleries.
Temesvár is an old town, and although destroyed by the Tatars in 1242, it was a populous place at the beginning of the 14th century, and was strongly fortified by King Charles Robert of Anjou, who resided here several years. The Hunyady family had also their residence here. In 1514 the peasant leader, Stephan Dozsa, was defeated by the Transylvanian voivod, John Zápolya, near Temesvár, captured and executed. Unsuccessfully besieged by the Turks in 1552, it was captured by them in the following year after a heroic resistance. It remained in their hands until 1716, when it was liberated by Prince Eugene of Savoy. New strong fortifications were erected, and the town grew steadily in importance, serving as the capital of the whole Banat. Itendured another siege in 1849, when it resisted successfully the attacks of a Hungarian revolutionary army.
TEMPE, VALE OF the ancient name (i.e. “ cleft,” from Gr.
τέμνειν, to cut) of a narrow valley in N. Thessaly, through which
the river Peneus (mod. Salambria) reaches the sea. The valley,
which the Greeks were accustomed to associate with rural
delights, is a chasm, cloven in the rocks, the fable tells us, by
the trident of Poseidon, between Olympus and Ossa; but
though it possesses every element of the sublime, yet its features
are soft and beautiful, from the broad winding river, the
luxuriant vegetation, and the glades that at intervals open out
at the foot of the clifis. It is about four miles and a half long,
and towards the middle of the pass, where the rocks are highest,
the precipices in the direction of Olympus fall so steeply
as to bar the passage on that side; but those which descend
from Ossa are the loftiest, for they rise in many places not less
than 1500 ft. from the valley. Owing to the length and narrowness
of the ravine, it was a position easily defended, but still it
offered a practicable entrance to an invading force; a number
of castles (of which the ruins still exist) were built at different
times at the strongest points. Tempe was sacred to Apollo,
to whom a temple was erected on the right bank. Every ninth
year a sacred mission proceeded to the valley to pluck the laurel
for the chaplets for the Pythian games. Owing to its widespread
fame, the name Tempe was given also to the valley of
the Velinus near Reate (Italy) and that of the Helorus in Sicily.
TEMPER (from Lat. temperare, to mingle or compound in due proportion, to qualify, rule, regulate, to be moderate,
formed from tempus, time, fit or due season), to blend, modify, or qualify by mixing, to combine in due proportions, hence to
restrain, calm. A specific application of the word is to the
bringing of steel or other metal to a proper hardness and
elasticity (see Metal and Iron and Steel). The word is also
used as a substantive, especially in the transferred sense of
disposition or frame of mind, generally with some qualifying
epithet, but when used absolutely signifying a hasty, passionate
temper, or display of such.
TEMPERA (the Italian term), or Distemper, a method of painting in which solid pigments are employed, mixed with a
water medium[1] in which some kind of gum or gelatinous substance is dissolved to prevent the colours from scaling off.
Tempera is also called in Italy fresco a secco, as distinguished
from fresco buono, or true fresco, painted on freshly laid patches
of stucco. Various media have been used for tempera work,
such as the glutinous sap of the fig and other trees, various
gums which are soluble in water, and size made by boiling down
fish-bones, parchment and animals' hoofs. A mixture of egg
and vinegar has also been found to make a good medium,
especially when it is desirable to apply the colours in considerable
body or impasto. For the nature and history of painting
in tempera and fresco, see Painting.
TEMPERANCE. The word “ temperance, ” which strictly means. moderation, has acquired a particular meaning in connexion
with intoxicating liquor, and it is here used in that
limited sense. The “ temperance question ” is the equivalent
in English of Valcoolisme and Alkoholismus in French and Germanspeaking
countries respectively; it embraces all the problems
that arise in connexion with the use or abuse of alcoholic drink.
This usage has arisen from the practice of societies formed for
the purpose of suppressing or reducing the consumption of such
liquors, and calling themselves Temperance Societies. Their
activity is often spoken of as the Temperance Movement,
though that term properly covers very much wider ground.
Historical.-Ever since man in some distant age first discovered that process of fermentation by which sugar is converted into alcohol and carbonic acid, and experienced the intoxicating effects of the liquor so produced, there has been, in a sense, a temperance question. The records of the ancient Oriental civilizations contain many references to it, and from very remote times efforts were made by priests, sages or law-givers in India, Persia, China, Palestine, Egypt, Greece and Carthage to combat the vice of drunkenness. But the evil appears never to have been so great or the object of so much attention in the ancient world as in Western countries and our own era. Two circumstances mainly differentiate the modern problem; one is the use of distilled waters or spirits as a beverage, and the other the climatic conditions prevailing in the more northern latitudes which are the home of Western civilization. The intoxicating drinks used by the ancients were wines obtained from grapes or other fruits and beers from various kinds of grain. These products were not confined to the East, but were known to the ancient civilizations of Mexico and Peru and even to primitive peoples who used the sugar-containing juices and other substances indigenous in their country. In the time of the Romans the barbarians in the north of Europe used fermented liquors made from honey (mead), barley (beer) and apples (cider) in place of grape-wine. All such drinks produce intoxication if taken in sufficient quantity; but their action is so much slower and less violent than that of distilled spirits that even their abuse did not give rise to any opposition that can properly be called a movement, and the distinction has repeatedly formed the basis of legislation in several countries down to this day. Extremists now place all alcohol-containing drinks under the same ban, but fermented liquors are still generally held to be comparatively innocuous; nor can any one deny that there is a difference. It is safe to say that if spirits had never been discovered the history of the question would have been entirely different. The distillation of essences from various substances seems to have been known to the ancients and to have been carried on by the Arabians in the dark ages; but potable spirits were not known until the 13th century. The distilled essence of Wine or aqua vitae (brandy) is mentioned then as a new discovery by Arnoldus de Villa Nova, a chemist and physician, who regarded it, from the chemical or medical point of view, as a divine product. It probably came into use very gradually, but once the art of distillation had been mastered it was extended to other alcoholic substances in countries where wine was not grown. Malt, from which beer had been made from time immernorial, was naturally used for the
- ↑ Hence it used to be called “ water-work "; see Shakespeare, Hen. IV., part ii. act ii. sc. 1.
