Timotheus in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

A celebrated musician and poet of the later Athenian dithyramb. He was a native of Miletus, and the son of Thersander. He was born B.C. 446, and died in 357, in the ninetieth year of his age. He was at first unfortunate in his professional efforts. Even the Athenians, fond as they were of novelty, were offended at the bold innovations of Timotheus, and hissed his performance. On this occasion it is said that Euripides encouraged Timotheus by the prediction that he would soon have the theatres at his feet. This prediction appears to have been accomplished in the vast popularity which Timotheus afterwards enjoyed. He delighted in the most artificial and intricate forms of musical expression, and he used instrumental music, without a vocal accompaniment, to a greater extent than any previous composer. Perhaps the most important of his innovations, as the means of introducing all the others, was his addition to the number of the strings of the cithara, which he seems to have increased to eleven.