TARNOPOL (26), a town of Galicia, Austria, on the Sereth, 80 m. SE. of Lemberg; does a good trade in agricultural produce; inhabitants chiefly Jews.
TARNOV (25), a town of Galicia, Austria, on the Biala, 48 m. SE. of Cracow; is the see of a bishop, with cathedral, monastery, etc.; manufactures linen and leather.
TARPEIAN ROCK, a precipitous cliff on the W. of the Capitoline Hill at Rome, from which in ancient times persons guilty of treason were hurled; named after Tarpeia, a vestal virgin, who betrayed the city to the Sabine soldiers, then besieging Rome, on condition that they gave her what they wore on their left arms, meaning their golden bracelets; instead the soldiers flung their shields (borne on their left arms) upon her, so keeping to the letter of their promise, but visiting perfidy with merited punishment; at the base of the rock her body was buried.
TARQUINIUS, name of an illustrious Roman family of Etruscan origin, two of whose members, according to legend, reigned as king in Rome: LUCIUS TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, fifth king of Rome; the friend and successor of Ancus Martius; said to have reigned from 616 to 578 B.C., and to have greatly extended the power and fame of Rome; was murdered by the sons of Ancus Martius. LUCIUS TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, seventh and last king of Rome (534-510), usurped the throne after murdering his father-in-law, King Servius Tullius; ruled as a despot, extended the power of Rome abroad, but was finally driven out by a people goaded to rebellion by his tyranny and infuriated by the infamous conduct of his son Sextus (the violator of Lucretia); made several unsuccessful attempts to regain the royal power, failing in which he retired to Cumae, where he died.
TARRAGONA (27), a Spanish seaport, capital of a province (349) of its own name, situated at the entrance of the Francoli into the Mediterranean, 60 m. W. of Barcelona; contains many interesting remains of the Roman occupation, including an aqueduct, still used, and the Tower of the Scipios; possesses also a 12th-century Gothic cathedral; has a large shipping and transport trade, and manufactures silk, jute, lace, &c.
TARRYTOWN (4), a village of New York State, on the Hudson, 21 m. N. of New York; associated with the arrest of Major Andre in 1780, and the closing scenes of Washington Irving’s life.
TARSHISH, a place frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, now generally identified with Tartessus, a Phoenician settlement in the SW. of Spain, near the mouth of the Guadalquivir, which became co-extensive with the district subsequently known as Andalusia; also conjectured to have been Tarsus, and also Yemen.
TARSUS (8), a city of great antiquity and interest, the ancient capital of Cilicia, now in the province of Adana, in Turkey in Asia, on the Cydnus, 12 m. above its entrance into the Mediterranean; legend ascribes its foundation to Sennacherib in 690 B.C.; in Roman times was a famous centre of wealth and culture, rivalling Athens and Alexandria; associated with the meeting of Antony and Cleopatra and the deaths of the emperors Tacitus and Maximinus; here St. Paul was born and notable Stoic philosophers; in the hands of the Turk has decayed into a squalid residence of merchants busy with the export of corn, cotton, wool, hides, &c. In winter the population rises to 30,000.