Thalassius, Talassius
(Τάλασσιος), or TALA'SSIO, a Roman senator of the time of Romulus. At the time of the rape of the Sabine women, when a maiden of surpassing beauty was led away for Thalassius, the persons conducting her, in order to protect her against any assaults from others, exclaimed " for Thalassius." Hence, it is said, arose the wedding shout with which a bride at Rome was conducted to the house of her bridegroom. (Liv. 1.9; Serv. ad Aen. 1.651; Catull. 61, 134.) Others connect the name with the Greek ταλασία (spinning of wool), expressing the chief occupation of a newly married woman (Fest. p. 351, ed. Müller; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 31, Romul. 15); or regard it as the name of the god presiding over marriage. (Dionys. A. R. 2.31; Martial, 12.42. 4, 3.93. 23.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.