Thisbe

(Θίσβη).

1. A beautiful maiden at Babylon, was beloved by Pyramus. The lovers living in adjoining houses, often secretly conversed with each other through an opening in the wall, as their parents would not sanction their marriaqge. Once they agreed upon a rendezvous at the tomb of Ninus. Thisbe arrived first, and while she was waiting for Pyramus, she perceived a lioness who had just torn to pieces an ox, and took to flight. While running she lost her garment, which the lioness soiled with blood. In the mean time Pyramus arrived, and finding her garment covered with blood, he imagined that she had been murdered, and made away with himself under a mulberry tree, the fruit of which henceforth was as red as blood. Thisbe, who afterwards found the body of her lover, likewise killed herself. (Ov. Met. 4.55-165; comp. Anthol. Lat. i. p. 106, &c. ed. Burrn.)