Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/668

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TERAPHIM—TEREDO
637

style. Under the church of S. Anna dei Pompetti remains of Roman houses and of the original cathedral have been discovered (F. Savini in Notizie degli scavi, 1898, 137). In the Communal Gallery is an altarpiece from the cathedral by the Venetian Jacobello del Fiore (1400–1439). The antiquities include remains of a gateway, a theatre and baths, as well as numerous inscriptions. There are manufactures of wool and silk, and of straw hats and pottery.

The ancient Interamna Praetuttiorum (so called to distinguish it from Interamna Lirenas and Interamna Nahars) was the chief town of the tribe of the Praetuttii. Its pre-Roman necropolis was discovered in 1905 (F. Savini in Notizie degli scavi, 1905, 267). Of its municipal constitution little is known, indeed in an inscription of the end of the Republic it is spoken of both as a colonia and a municipium. It was situated on a branch of the Via Caecilia (q.v.). Remains of an amphitheatre still exist. In the valley of the Vomano near Montorio was a Roman village, probably dependent on Interamna, with a temple of Hercules (Corp. inscr. Lat., ix. p. 484).

See V. Bindi, Monuntenti degli Abruzzi (Naples, 1889), 1 sqq.


TERAPHIM (A.V. sometimes transcribes, e.g. Judges xvii. 5; xviii. 14 seq.; Hosea iii. 4; sometimes translates “image,” 1 Sam. xix. 13; “idols,” Zech. x. 2; “idolatry,” 1 Sam. xv. 23: R.V. renders consistently “teraphim”), a Hebrew word, found only in the plural, of uncertain etymology. The name appears to be applied to some form of idol (cf. Gen. xxxi. 19 and 30), but details as to its precise configuration, &c., are lacking. From 1 Sam. xix. 13, 16 it would seem that in the early monarchical period a regular place in every household was still reserved for the teraphim; while in the 8th century Hosea (iii. 4) speaks of “ephod and teraphim” as essential elements in the national worship. Later the teraphim with other adjuncts of heathenish worship were banned by the prophets. The meaning of the Elohistic story in Gen. xxxv. 2–4 clearly is that the employment of teraphim and of other heathen practices of Aramean paganism was given up by Israel in order that they might serve Jehovah alone at Bethel. In Judges and Hosea the teraphim are closely associated with the ephod; both are mentioned in connexion with divination (cf. 2 Kings xxiii. 24; Ezek. xxi. 21 [26]; Zech. x. 2). Whether the teraphim were “consulted” by lot or not is uncertain. In view of Ezek. xxi. 21 and Hosea iii. 4 it is difficult to suppose that the teraphim were purely household idols. The Rabbinical conjectures on the subject can be found in Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. (ed. Fischer), 1315 seq. One of the most curious is that the teraphim consisted of a mummified human head (see also Ephod).  (W. R. S.; G. H. Bo.) 


TERBIUM [symbol Tb, atomic weight 159.2 (O=16)], a metallic chemical element belonging to the rare earth group; it was originally called erbia by its discoverer Mosander (see Rare Earth). Pure terbium compounds were obtained by G. Urbain (Compt. rend., 1904 seq.) by fractional crystallization of the nickel double nitrates, the ethyl sulphates, and the bismuth double nitrates of the terbium earths. Terbium appears to be trivalent. The oxide is a black or brown powder according as it is prepared from the exalate or sulphate, and when pure it is non-fluorescent, but mixed with gadolinia or alumina it possesses this property. It yields colourless salts; the crystallized sulphate has the formula Tb2(SO4)3·8H2O.


TER BORCH (or Terburg), GERARD (1617–1681), Dutch subject painter, was born in 1617 at Zwolle, in the province of Overyssel, Holland. He received an excellent education from his father, also an artist, and developed his talent very early. The inscription on a study of a head proves that Ter Borch was at Amsterdam in 1632, where he studied possibly under C. Duyster or P. Codde. Duyster's influence can be traced in a picture bearing the date 1638, in the Ionides Bequest (Victoria and Albert Museum). In 1634 he studied under Pieter Molyn in Haarlem. A record of this Haarlem period is the “Consultation” (1635) at the Berlin Gallery. In 1635 he was in London, and subsequently he travelled in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. It is certain that he was in Rome in 1641, when he painted the small portraits on copper of “Jan Six” and "A Young Lady" (Six Collection, Amsterdam). In 1648 he was at Miinster during the meeting of the congress which ratified the treaty of peace between the Spaniards and the Dutch, and executed his celebrated little picture, painted upon copper, of the assembled plenipotentiaries—a work which, along with the “Guitar Lesson” and a portrait of a “Man Standing,” now represents the master in the national collection in London. The picture was bought by the marquess of Hertford at the Demidoff sale for £7280, and presented to the National Gallery by Sir Richard Wallace, at the suggestion of his secretary, Sir John Murray Scott. At this time Ter Borch was invited to visit Madrid, where be received employment and the honour of knighthood from Philip IV., but, in consequence of an intrigue, it is said, he was obliged to return to Holland. He seems to have resided for a time in Haarlem; but he finally settled in Deventer, where he became a member of the town council, as which he appears in the portrait now in the gallery of the Hague. He died at Deventer in 1681.

Ter Borch is excellent as a portrait painter, but still greater as a painter of genre subjects. He depicts with admirable truth the life of the wealthy and cultured classes of his time, and his work is free from any touch of the grossness which finds so large a place in Dutch art. His figures are well drawn and expressive in attitude; his colouring is clear and rich, but his best skill lies in his unequalled rendering of texture in draperies, which is seen to advantage in such pictures as the “Letter” in the Dutch royal collection, and in the “Paternal Advice” (known as the “Satin Gown”) — engraved by Wille — which exists in various repetitions at Berlin and Amsterdam, and in the Bridgewater Gallery. Ter Borch's works are comparatively rare; only about eighty have been catalogued. Six of these are at the Hermitage, six at the Berlin Museum, five at the Louvre; four at the Dresden Museum, and two at the Wallace Collection.

See Gerard Terburg (Ter Borch) et sa familte, by Emile Michel (Paris, 1887); Der künstlerische Entwickelungsganedes G. Ter Borch, by Dr W. Bode; Maîtres d'autrefois, by E. Fromentin (4th ed., Paris, 1882).


TERCEIRA, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, belonging to Portugal, and forming part of the Azores archipelago. Pop. (1900) 48,770; area, 224 sq. m. Terceira, i.e. “ the third,” was so called as being the third island of the archipelago to be discovered by the Portuguese. From its central position it was long the seat of administration, but its capital, Angra (q.v.) or Angra do Heroismo (pop. 10,788), has lost much of its cornmercial importance. The other chief towns are Ribeirinha (3090), and Praia da Victoria (3236). Unlike the neighbouring islands, Terceira exhibits few extensive traces of volcanic action; and the summits of its mountains are generally level. It abounds in grain and cattle; but the wines are inferior, and fruits are raised merely for internal consumption. (See also Azores.)


TEREBINTH, botanical name Pistacia Terebinthus, a member of the natural order Anacardiaceae, usually a small tree common in the south of Europe and the whole Mediterranean area. It has a purplish grey bark and compound leaves with two to four pairs, and an odd terminal one, of smooth dark green oval blunt leaflets, which when young are thin, translucent and strongly tinged with reddish purple. The very small numerous uni sexual flowers are borne on panicles which spring from just above the scars of last year's leaves. The fruit is a small roundish bright red drupe with a scanty pulp. The plant has been long known in English gardens. A liquid oleo-resinous exudation, known as Chian, Scio or Cyprus turpentine, is obtained by cutting the stem. The Chian turpentine of commerce is obtained exclusively from the island of Scio; the produce is very small, a large tree yielding only 10 or 11 ounces in one year. An allied species, P. Lentiscus, is the mastich tree.


TEREDO, a genus of Lamellibranchiate Mollusca, of the order Eulamellibranchia, sub-order Adesmacea, family Teredinidae. The animals included in this genus are commonly