THY´AMIS
THY´AMIS (
Θύαμις), a river of Epeirus, flowing into the sea near a promontory of the same name. (
Ptol. 3.14. § § 4, 5.)
It formed the northern boundary of Thesprotia, which it separated from Cestrine, a district of Chaonia (
Thuc. 1.46;
Strab. vii. p.324;
Paus. 1.11.2;
Cic. Att. 7.2,
de Leg. 2.3;
Plin. Nat. 4.1.)
It is now called
Kalamá, apparently from the large reeds and aquatic plants which grow upon one of its principal tributaries. Its ancient name seems to have been derived from the
θύα or juniper, which, Leake informs us, though not abundant near the sources of the river, is common in the woody hills which border the middle of its course.
The historian Phylarchus related (ap.
Athen. 3.73) that the Egyptian bean, which grew only in marshy places and nowhere but in Egypt, once grew for a short time upon the banks of the Thyamis. (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 103, vol. iv. p. 97.)
