Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbē are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The story has since been retold by many authors.

Plot

In the Ovidian version, Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses/walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents' rivalry. Through a crack in one of the walls, they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near Ninus' tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. When Pyramus arrives he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's veil, assuming that a wild beast has killed her. Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword in proper Babylonian fashion, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, eager to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but she finds Pyramus' dead body under the shade of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief period of mourning, stabs herself with the same sword. In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe's lament, and forever change the colour of the mulberry fruits into the stained colour to honour the forbidden love.

Thisbe (disambiguation)

Thisbe is a character in Greek mythology.

Thisbe may also refer to:

88 Thisbe

88 Thisbe (/ˈθɪzbiː/ THIZ-bee) is the 13th largest main-belt asteroids. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on June 15, 1866, and named after Thisbe, heroine of a Roman fable. An occultation of a star by Thisbe was observed on October 7, 1981. Results from the occultation indicate a larger than expected diameter of 232 km.

During 2000, 88 Thisbe was observed by radar from the Arecibo Observatory. The return signal matched an effective diameter of 207 ± 22 km. This is consistent with the asteroid dimensions computed through other means.

Photometric observations of this asteroid during 1977 gave a light curve with a period of 6.0422 ± 0.006 hours and a brightness variation of 0.19 in magnitude.

Perturbation

Thisbe has been perturbed by asteroid 7 Iris and in 2001 Michalak estimated it to have a mass of 1.5×10¹⁹ kg. But Iris is strongly perturbed by many minor planets such as 10 Hygiea and 15 Eunomia.

In 2008, Baer estimated Thisbe to have a mass of 1.05×10¹⁹ kg. In 2011 Baer revised this to 1.83×10¹⁹ kg with an uncertainty of 1.09×10¹⁸ kg.