THYRSUS. This Name is given by the Latin and Greek Writers to a Rod or Lance twisted round with Ivy, which was put into the Hands of the Soldiers of Bacchus, or of those that celebrated the Festivals of this Deity. Ovid describes them as wound about with Vine Branches.
Ipse racemiferis frontem circundatus Ovid. Metam. iii. v. 666.uvis, Pampineis agitat velatam frondibus hastam.
2 Macc. x. 7.There is mention made of these Thyrsi in the Maccabees, Propter quod Thyrsos, & ramos virides, & palmas, præferebant ei, qui prosperavit mundare locum suum. But these Thyrsi had nothing in common with those of the Feasts of Bacchus, except their Figure; since they were appointed to celebrate the Power of the God of Israel, and to return him Thanks for the Protection he had vouchsafed to his People. The Jews carried them at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they still carry something like them in their Hosanna. They are Branches of Willows, Myrtle, and Palm-tree, tied together, with Citrons or Oranges hanging at them, which they wave in a religious manner towards the four Quarters of the World. See the Feast of Tabernacles, before.