reported that it was constructed by Apollo, with the horns of deer killed in hunting by his sister Diana. Plutarch says he saw it, and he speaks of the wonderful interlacing of the horns of which it was made, no cement nor bond of any kind being employed to hold it together. (Plut., de Solert. An., p. 983.) The Athenians were commanded by an oracle, in the time of Pisistratus, to purify Delos, which they did by causing the dead bodies to be taken up which had been buried there, and removed from all places within view of the temple. In the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war, they, by the advice of an oracle, purified it anew, by carrying all the dead bodies to the neigh to put any condemned person to death, which was the neighbouring islands and the continent. Among the reason that Socrates was reprieved for thirty days after seven wonders of the world was an altar at Delos, his condemnation, as we learn from Plato and Xen-which was made of the horns of animals. Tradition ophon. With regard to the sacred vessel itself, which was called Oɛwpis, it was preserved by the Athenians to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, they restoring always what was decayed, and changing the old rotten planks for others that were new and entire; so that it furnished philosophers with matter of dispute, whether, after so many repairs and alterations, it still remained the same identical ship; and it served as an instance to illustrate the opinion of those, who held that the body still remained the same numerical substance, notwithstanding the continual decay of old parts and the acquisition of new ones, through the several stages of life. (Plat., Phædon., § 2, seqq.-Schol., ad loc.Plut., Vit. Thes., c. 23.-Xen., Mem., 4, 8, 2.-Cal-bouring island of Rhenea, where they were interred. lim., H. in Del., 278, &c.)—III. A surname of Diana, After having done this, in order to prevent its being from her having been born in the island of Delos. polluted for the time to come, they published an edict, DELIUM, a city of Boeotia, on the seacoast, north of that for the future no person should be suffered to die, the mouth of the Asopus. It was celebrated for its nor any woman to be brought to bed, in the island, but temple of Apollo, and also for the battle which took that, when death or parturition approached, they should place in its vicinity between the Athenians and Boo-be carried over into Rhenæa. In memory of this puritians, when the former were totally routed. It was in fication, it is said, the Athenians instituted a solemn this engagement that Socrates, according to some ac- quinquennial festival. (Vid. Delia. Thucyd., 3, counts, saved the life of Xenophon, or, according to 104.) A ship called Theoris (Oewpic) likewise sailed others, of Alcibiades. (Strabo, 403.-Diog. Laert., annually from the Athenian shores on a sacred voyage 2, 22.―Thucyd., 4, 96.) Some vestiges of this an- to this same island. (Vid. Delia II.)-When the cient town have been observed by modern travellers Persian armament, under Datis and Artaphernes, was near the village of Dramisi, on the Euripus. (Gell's making its way through the Grecian islands, the inLin., p. 134.-Dodwell's Tour, vol. 2, p. 155.) habitants of Delos left their rich temple, with its treasDELIUS, a surname of Apollo, because born in Delos.ures, to the protection of its tutelary deities, and fled DELMINIUM, the ancient capital of Dalmatia. (Vid. Dalminium.) DELOS, an island of the Egean, situate nearly in the centre of the Cyclades. This island was called also Asteria, Pelasgia, Chlamydias, Lagia, Pyrpilis, Scythias, Mydia, and Ortygia. (Plin., 4, 12.-Steph. Byz., s. v. Anλoç.) It was named Ortygia from oprv5, a quail, and Lagia from λayiç, a hare, the island formerly abounding with both these creatures. On this account, according to Strabo, it was not allowed to have dogs at Delos, because they destroyed the quails and hares. (Strabo, 485.) The name Delos is commonly derived from dλoç, manifest, in allusion to the island having floated under the surface of the sea until made to appear and stand firm by order of Neptune. This was done for the purpose of receiving Latona, who was on the eve of delivery, and could find no asylum on the earth, Juno having bound it by an oath not to receive her; as Delos at the time was floating beneath the waters, it was freed from the obligation. Once fixed in its place, it continued, according to popular belief, to remain so firm as even to be unmoved by the shocks of an earthquake. This, however. is contradicted by Thucydides and Herodotus, who report that a shock was felt there before the Peloponnesian war. (Thucyd., 2, 8.-Herodot., 6, 98.-Compare Orac, ap. Eustath, ad Dion. Perieg., 525, and Pindar, ap. Phil. Jud., 2, p. 511) Pliny quotes, among others, Aristotle, who pretends that its name was given to Delos, because the island rose unexpectedly out of the sea, and appeared to view. Many other opinions have been advanced respecting its origin. According, however, to Olivier, it is at the present day everywhere schistose or granitical, exhibiting no traces of a volcano, and nothing that can explain, by the laws of physics, the wonders which the Greeks have transmitted to us respecting it. It appears from Thucydides, that as early as the days of Homer, whose hymn to Delos he quotes, this island was the great rendezvous of the Ionians, who met there to celebrate a national festival and public games.-Delos was celebrated as the natal island of Apollo and Diana, and the solemnities with which the festivals of these deities were observed there never failed to attract large crowds from the to Tenos. The fame of the sanctuary, however, saved it from spoliation. The Persians had heard that Delos was the birthplace of two deities, who corresponded to those which held the foremost rank in their own religious system, the sun and moon. This comparison was probably suggested to them by some Greek who wished to save the temple. Hence, though separately neither of the divine twins inspired the barbarians with reverence, their common shrine was not only spared, but, if we may credit the tradition which was current in the days of Herodotus, received the highest honours from Datis: he would not suffer his ships to touch the sacred shore, but kept them at the island of Rhenea. He also sent a herald to recall the Delians who had fled to Tenos; and offered sacrifice to the god, in which 300 talents of frankincense are said to have been consumed. (Herodot., 6, 97.) After the Persian war, the Athenians established at Delos the treasury of the Greeks, and ordered that all meetings relative to the confederacy should be held there. (Thucyd., 1, 96) In the tenth year of the Peloponnesian war, not being satisfied with the purifications which the island had hitherto undergone, they removed its entire population to Adramyttium, where they obtained a settlement from the Persian satrap Pharnaces. (Thucyd., 5, 1.) Here many of these unfortunate Delians were afterward treacherously murdered by order of Arsaces, an officer of Tissaphernes. (Thucyd., 8, 108.) Finally, however, the Athenians restored those that survived to their country after the battle of Amphipolis, as they considered that their ill success in the war proceeded from the anger of the god on account of their conduct towards this unfortunate people. (Thucyd., 5, 32.) Strabo says that Delos became a place of great, commercial importance after the destruction of Corinth, as the merchants who had frequented that city then withdrew to this island, which afforded great facilities for carrying on trade on account of the convenience of its port, its advantageous situation with respect to the coasts of Greece and Asia Minor, as well as from the great concourse of people who resorted thither at stated times. (Plin., 4, 12.-Liv., 36, 43) The Romans especially favoured the interests of the Delians, though they had conceded to the Athenians the sovereignty of the island and the administration of the temple. (Polyb., 30, 18.) But, on the occupation of Athens by the generals of Mithradates, they landed troops in Delos, and committed the greatest devastations there in consequence of the inhabitants refusing to espouse their cause. After this calamity it remained in an impoverished and deserted state. (Strabo, 486.-Appian, Bell. Mithrad., c. 28.-Pausan, 3, 23.—Antip., Thess. Anal., vol. 2, p. 118.) The town of Delos was situate in a plain watered by the little river Inopus (Strabo, 1. c. -Callim, Hymn. in Del., 206), and by a lake, called Trochoeides by Herodotus (2, 170), and Theognis (v. 7). Callimachus and Euripides also allude to it. (Hymn. in Del., 261.-Iph. Taur., 1097.) The island is now called Delo or Sdille, and is so covered with ruins and rubbish as to admit of little or no culture. (Wheeler, vol. 1, p. 88.-Spon., vol. 1, p. 176. -Tournefort, vol. 1, p. 307.- Choiseul Gouffier, Voyage Pittoresque, vol. 1, p. 396, seqq.) - tablished at a very early period, from the mention made DELPHI, a small but important city of Phocis in Greece, situate on the southern side of Mount Parnassus, and built in the form of an amphitheatre. Justin (24, 6) says it had no.walls, but was defended by its precipices. Strabo (418) gives it a circuit of sixteen stadia; and Pausanias (10, 5) calls it TÓC, which seems to imply that it was walled like other cities. In earlier times it was, perhaps, like Olympia, defended by the sanctity of its oracle and the presence of its god. These being found not to afford sufficient protection against the enterprises of the profane, it was probably fortified, and became a regular city after the predatory incursions of the Phocians. The walls may, however, be coeval with the foundation of the city itself; their high antiquity is not disproved by the use of mortar in the construction. Some of the Egyptian pyramids are built in a similar manner. (Consult Hamilton's Egyptiaca.-Dodwell's Tour, vol. 1, p. 164.)-The more ancient name of Delphi was Pytho, from the serpent Python, as is commonly supposed, which was said to have been slain by Apollo. (Apollod., Biblioth., 1, 4, 3.) Whence the name Delphi itself was derived we are not informed. Some make the city to have received this name from Delphus, a son of Apollo. Others deduce the appellation from the Greek deλpoí, “ brethren,” because Apollo and his brother Bacchus were both worshipped there, each having one of the summits of Parnassus sacred to him. The author of the Hymn to Apollo seems to pun on the word Delphi, in making Apollo transform himself into a dolphin (depic.-v. 494). Some supposed, that the name was intended to designate Delphi as the centre or navel of the earth. Faber makes it Tel Phi, "the oracle of the Sun" (Cabiri, vol. 1, p. 66), and Bryant would tempt us to re-with a view of securing Delphi and its treasures, which, solve the Nymph who originally presided over the sacred precincts of Delphi, into Ain omphe, i. e., “fons oraculi." (Mythology, vol. 1, p. 110 and 345.) Jones derives the name of Delphi from the Arabic Telb, "to inquire." (Greek Lex., s. v.) If, amid these various etymological theories, we might venture to adduce one of our own, it would be, that Beλpoi, the Eolic form for Aɛpoí (Maittaire, Dial., p. 139, c.), contains the true germe of the name, viz., Beλ, or the old term 2 (i. e., the sun"), with the digamma prefixed in place of the aspirate. (Compare the Greek forms or, i. e., 2-ios, oéλaç, i. e., oɛλ-aç, and the Latin Sol.) Delphi will then be the city of the Sun. (Compare with the term Beλ the Orientel Baal.)-In speaking of this city, the poets commonly use the appellation of Pytho, but Herodotus and historians in general prefer that of Delphi, and are silent as to the other. A short sketch of the history of this most celebrated oracle and temple will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the reader. Though not so ancient as Dodona, it is evident that the fame of the Delphic shrine had been es as Herodotus affirms, were better known to him than the contents of his own palace. The enterprise, however, failed, owing, as it was reported by the Delphians, to the manifest interposition of the deity, who terrified the barbarians and hurled destruction on their scattered bands. (Herodot, 8, 37.) Many years subsequent to this event, the temple fell into the hands of the Phocians, headed by Philomelus, who scrupled not to appropriate its riches to the payment of his troops in the war he was then waging against Thebes. The Phocians are said to have plundered the temple, during this contest, of gold and silver, to the enormous amount of 10,000 talents, or nearly 10,600,000 dollars. (Compare Pausanias, 10, 2.-Strabo, 421.) At a still later period, Delphi became exposed to a formidable attack from a large body of Gauls, headed by their king Brennus. These barbarians, having forced the defiles of Mount Eta, possessed themselves of the temple and ransacked its treasures. The booty which they obtained on this occasion is stated to have been immense; and this they must have suc Nic., p. 532.) Delphi derived farther celebrity from its being the place where the Amphictyonic council held one of their assemblies (Strabo, 420.-Sainte Croix, des Gouvern. Feder. Art., 2, p. 19), and also from the institution of the games which that ancient and illustrious body had established after the successful termination of the Crissaan war. (Vid. Pythia, II., and compare Clinton's Fasti Hellenici, Appendix, 1, p. 195.) For an account of the ruins of Delphi, on part of the site of which stands the present village of Castri, consult Clarke's Travels-Greece, Egypt, &c., vol. 7, p. 225, seqq.-Dodwell's Tour, vol. 1, p. 174, seqq.-And for some remarks on the fable of Apollo and Python, consult the latter article. -No traces of the sacred aperture remain at the present day. Dr. Clarke, however, inclines to the opinion that it ought to be searched for in the very middle of the ancient city. He bases his remark on a passage of Steph. Byz. (p. 229, ed. Gronov., Amst., 1678), and on the statement of Strabo, that the navel of the earth was in the midst of the temple of Apollo. (Clarke's Travels, l. c.) DELPHICUS, a surname of Apollo, from his sanc tuary and worship at Delphi. DELPHUS, a son of Apollo and Celano, who, ac cording to one account, was the founder of Delphi. (Pausan., 10, 6.) DELTA, a part of Egypt, which received that name from its resemblance to the form of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. It lay between the Canopic and Pelusiac mouths of the Nile, where the river begins to branch off, and is generally supposed to have been formed, in part at least, if not altogether, by the deposites of the Nile. (Consult remarks under the article Nilus, and also Lyell's Geology, vol. 1, p. 355.) ceeded in removing to their own country, since we are told, that, on the capture of Tolosa, a city of Gaul, by the Roman general Cæpio, a great part of the Delphic spoils was found there. (Strabo, 188.— Dio Cassius, Excerpt., p. 630.) Pausanias, however, relates, that the Gauls met with great disasters in their attempt on Delphi, and were totally discomfited through the miraculous intervention of the god (10, 23-Compare Polybius, 1, 6, 5.-Id., 2, 20, 6.— Justin, 24, 6). Sylla is also said to have robbed this temple, as well as those of Olympia and Epidaurus. (Dio Cass., Excerpt., p. 646.-Diod. Sic., Excerpt., 406.) Strabo assures us, that in his time the temple was greatly impoverished, all the offerings of any value having been successively removed. The Emperor Nero carried off, according to Pausanias (10, 7), five hundred statues of bronze at one time. Constantine the Great, however, proved a more fatal enemy to Delphi than either Sylla or Nero. He removed the sacred tripods to adorn the hippodrome of his new city, where, together with the Apollo, the statues of the Heliconian muses, and a celebrated statue of Pan, they were extant when Sozomen wrote his history. (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 17.) Among these tripods was the famous one, which the Greeks, after the battle of Platea, found in the camp of Mardonius. The Brazen Column which supported this tripod is still to be seen at Constantinople. (Clarke's Trav els-Greece, Egypt, &c., vol. 3, p. 75, seqq.)—The spot whence issued the prophetic vapour, which inspired the priestess, was said to be the central point of the earth, this having been proved by Jupiter himself, who despatched two eagles from opposite quarters of the heavens, which there encountered each other. (Strabo, 419.--Pausan., 10, 16.-Plut., de Orac. Def., p. 409.) Strabo reports, that the sacred DEMADES, an Athenian, of obscure origin, the son tripod was placed over the mouth of the cave, whence of a mariner, and at first a mariner himself. He afproceeded the exhalation, and which was of great terward, although without any liberal education, came depth. On this sat the Pythia, who, having caught forward as a public speaker, and obtained great influthe inspiration, pronounced her oracles in extempore ence among his countrymen. Demades is described prose or verse; if the former, it was immediately ver- as a witty, acute, and fuent speaker, but an unprinsified by the poet always employed for that purpose. cipled and immoral man. Having been taken prisThe oracle itself is said to have been discovered by oner at Charonea, he is said, by a free and well-timed accident. Some goats having strayed to the mouth of rebuke, to have checked the insolent joy displayed the cavern, were suddenly seized with convulsions: by Philip, but afterward to have allowed himself to be those likewise by whom they were found in this situa- corrupted, and employed as a venal agent by the contion having been affected in a similar manner, the queror. The first part of this story is hardly credible, circumstance was deemed supernatural, and the cave the latter is fully substantiated. Demades from this pronounced the seat of prophecy. (Pausan., 10, 5. time was the tool of Macedon. He advocated the in-Plut., de Orac. Def., p. 433.-Plin., 2, 93.) The terests of Philip, flattered his successor Alexander, priestess could only be consulted on certain days. sided with Antipater, and, in a word, is described by The season of inquiry was the spring, during the Plutarch as the man who, of all the demagogues of the month Busius. (Plut., Quæst Græc., p. 292.) Sac- day, contributed most to the ruin of his country. (Vit. rifices and other ceremonies were to be performed by Phoc. init.) He was at last put to death by Cassanthose who sought an answer from the oracle, before der, having been proved, by means of an intercepted they could be admitted into the sanctuary. (Herodot, letter, to be in secret league with the enemies of the 7, 140.-Plut., de Orac Def., p. 435, 437.-Id., de former, B.C. 318. Cicero and Quintilian state, that Pyth. Orac., p. 397) The most remarkable of the no orations of Demades were extant in their time. Pythian responses are those which Herodotus records (Cic., Brut., 9.—Quint., 2, 17, et 12.) The old as having been delivered to the Athenians, before the rhetorician, however, from whom Tzetzes drew his invasion of Xerxes (7, 140), to Croesus (1, 46), to Ly-information on the subject, had read speeches of his. curgus (1, 65), to Glaucus the Spartan (6, 86), and (Tzetz., Chil, 6, 36, seq.) We have, moreover, reone relative to Agesilaus, cited by Pausanias (3, 8). maining at the present day a fragment of an oration There was, however, it appears, no difficulty in bri- by Demades, entitled vp TS dwdεкαɛтias, " An bing and otherwise influencing the Pythia herself, as apology for his conduct during the twelve years he had history presents us with several instances of this im- been a public orator." It is to be found in the colposture. Thus we are told, that the Alemæonidæ sug-lections of Aldus, Stephens, and Reiske. (Ruhnken, gested on one occasion such answers as accorded with Hist. Crit. Orat. Græc., in Opusc., vol. 1, p. 349, their political designs. (Herodot, 5, 62, 90.) Cle- seqq. Hauptmann, de Demade Dissert.-Schöll, omenes, king of Sparta, also prevailed on the priestess Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 2, p. 265, seq.) to aver that his colleague Demaratus was illegitimate. DEMARATUS, I. the son and successor of Ariston On the discovery, however, of this machination, the on the throne of Sparta, B.C. 526. He was deposed, Pythia was removed from her office. (Herodotus, through the intrigues of Cleomenes, his colleague, on 6, 66.) The same charge was brought against Plis- the ground of his being illegitimate. After his depositonax, another sovereign of Sparta. (Thucyd, 5, 16. tion, he was chosen and held the office of magistrate; -Compare Plut., Vit. Demosth., p. 854. Id., Vit. but, being insultingly derided on one occasion by Le the defile of Tempe, as well on the side of the plains as on that of the mountains. Its maritime situation also, both from its proximity to the island of Euboea, to Attica, the Peloponnesus, the Cyclades, and the opposite shores of Asia, rendered it a most important acquisition to the sovereigns of Macedonia. Hence Philip, the son of Demetrius, is said to have termed it one of the chains of Greece. (Polyb., 17, 11.-Liv., 32, 37.-Id., 28, 5.) After the battle of Cynoscephalæ, it became the principal town of the Magnesian republic, and the seat of government. It fell under the Roman power after the battle of Pydna. Demetrias is generally thought to coincide with the modern Volo; but this last occupies the site of the ancient Pagasa. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 434.) otychides, who had been appointed king in his stead, he retired, first to the island of Zacynthus, whither he was pursued by the Lacedæmonians, and afterward crossed over into Asia to Darius, who received him honourably, and presented him with lands and cities. (Herod., 6, 65, 70.) He enabled Xerxes subsequently to obtain the nomination to the empire, in preference to his elder brother Artabazarnes, by suggesting to him an argument, the justice of which was acknowledged by Darius. (Herod., 7, 3.) We find him after this, though an exile from his country, yet sending the first intelligence to Sparta of the designs of Xerxes against Greece. (Herod., 7, 239.) He accompanied the monarch on his expedition, frankly praised to him the discipline of the Greeks, and especially that of the Spartans; and, before the battle of Thermopylæ, ex- DEMETRIUS, I. a son of Antigonus and Stratonice, plained to him some of the warlike customs of the last- surnamed Poliorcētes (Пo2topkпτns), "besieger of mentioned people. (Herod., 7, 209.) We learn also, cities," from his talents as an engineer, and his pecuthat he advised Xerxes to seize, with his fleet, on the liar skill in conducting sieges, especially by the aid of island of Cythera, off the coast of Laconia, from which machines and engines either invented or improved by he might continually infest the shores of that country. himself. At the age of twenty-two he was sent by The monarch did not adopt his suggestion, but still his father against Ptolemy, who had invaded Syria. always regarded the exile Spartan as a friend, and He was defeated near Gaza; but he soon repaired his treated him accordingly. The nature of the advice loss by a victory over one of the generals of the enerelative to Cythera makes it more than probable that my. He afterward sailed with a fleet of 250 ships to Demaratus, in sending home information of the threat- Athens, and restored the Athenians to liberty, by freeened expedition of Xerxes, meant in reality to taunting them from the power of Cassander and Ptolemy, and alarm his countrymen. (Herod., 7, 234, seqq.)—and expelling the garrison which was stationed there II. A rich citizen of Corinth, of the family of the Bac- under Demetrius Phalereus. The gratitude of the chiade. When Cypselus had usurped the sovereign Athenians to their deliverer passed all bounds, or was power of Corinth, Demaratus, with all his family, mi- only equalled by their fulsome and impious adulation, grated to Italy, and settled at Tarquinii, 658 years be- the details of which are to be found in the pages of fore Christ. Commerce had not been deemed disrep- Plutarch. (Vit. Demetr., c. 10.) But Demetrius utable among the Corinthian nobility; and as a mer. was soon summoned by his father to leave the flattery chant, therefore, Demaratus had formed ties of friend- of orators and demagogues, in order to resume the ship at this place. He brought great wealth with him. combined duties of an admiral and an engineer in the The sculptors Eucheir and Eugrammus, and Cleo-reduction of Cyprus. After a slight engagement with phantus the painter, were said to have accompanied Menelaus, the brother of Ptolemy, he laid siege to Salhim; and along with the fine arts of Greece, he taught amis, the ancient capital of that island. The occur(so the popular account said) alphabetic writing to the rences of this siege occupy a prominent place in Etrurians. His son Lucumo migrated afterward to history, not so much on account of the dete minRome, and became monarch there under the name of ed resistance opposed to the assailants, and the great Tarquinius Priscus. (Plin., 35, 5.-Liv., 1, 34, importance attached to its issue by the heads of the seqq.)-III. A Corinthian, in the time of Philip and belligerent parties, as for a new species of warlike his son Alexander. He had connexions of hospi- engine invented by Demetrius, and first employed by tality with the royal family of Macedon, and, having him against the city of Salamis. The instrument in paid a visit to Philip, succeeded in reconciling that question was called an Helepõlis, or "Town-taker," monarch to his son. After Alexander had overthrown and was an immense tower, consisting of nine stothe Persian empire, Demaratus, though advanced in ries, gradually diminishing as they rose in altitude, years, made a voyage to the east in order to see the and affording accommodation for a large number of conqueror, and, when he beheld him, exclaimed, “What armed men, who discharged all sorts of missiles against a pleasure have those Greeks missed, who died without the ramparts of the enemy. Ptolemy, dreading the seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Darius!" He fall of Salamis, which would pave the way, as he eadied soon after, and was honoured with a magnificent sily foresaw, for the entire conquest of Cyprus, had funeral. (Plut., Vit. Alex., c. 37.—Id. ibid., c. 56. already made formidable preparations for compelling -Id., Vit. Ages., c. 15.)—IV. A Corinthian exile at Demetrius to raise the siege. A memorable seafight the court of Philip, king of Macedonia. (Plut., Alex.) ensued, in which the ruler of Egypt was completely DEMETRIA, a festival in honour of Ceres, called by the defeated, with the loss of nearly all his fleet, and thirty Greeks Demeter (Anunτnp). It was then customary thousand prisoners. An invasion of Egypt, by Antifor the votaries of the goddess to lash themselves with gonus, then took place, but ended disgracefully; and whips made with the bark of trees. The Athenians Demetrius was sent to reduce the Rhodians, who perinstituted for a short time a solemnity of the same sisted in remaining allies to Ptolemy. The operations in honour of Demetrius Poliorcétes. of the son of Antigonus before Rhodes, and the resoDEMETRIAS, a city of Thessaly, on the Sinus Pelas- lute defence of the place by the inhabitants, present gicus or Pagasæus, at the mouth of the river Onches- perhaps the most remarkable example of skill and heroism that is to be found in the annals of ancient warfare. The Helepolis employed on this occasion greatly exceeded the one that was used in the siege of Salamis. Its towers were 150 feet high; it was supported on eight enormous wheels, and propelled by the labour of 3400 men. After a siege of a whole year, however, the enterprise was abandoned, a treaty was concluded with the Rhodians, and Demetrius, at the request of the Athenians, who were now again subjected to the Macedonian yoke, proceeded to rescue Greece from the power of Cassander. In this he was so success name, tus. It owed its name and origin to Demetrius Poliorcetes, about 290 B.C., and derived, as Strabo reports, its population, in the first instance, from the neighbouring towns of Nelia, Pagasa, Ormenium, Rhizus, Sepias, Olizon, Beebe, and Iolcos, all of which were finally included within its territory. (Strabo, 436-Plut., Vit. Demetr.) It soon became one of the most flourishing towns in Thessaly, and, in a military point of view, was allowed to rank among the principal fortresses of Greece. It was, in fact, most advantageously placed for defending the approaches to perance. His remains were delivered up to his son Antigonus, who interred them with great splendour in the city of Demetrias. The age of Demetrius at the time of his death was fifty-four. His posterity enjoy ful that he ultimately spread the terror of his arms over the whole of that country. The object of Antigonus and his son was now to effect the final subjugation of Macedonia, Egypt, and the East. The confederacy of Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cas-ed the throne of Macedon in continued succession sander was therefore renewed, with the view of crush- down to Perses, when the Roman conquest took place. ing these ambitious schemes, and in the battle of Ipsus -Demetrius was remarkable for the possession of two they succeeded in effecting their object. Antigonus qualities, which seem to be altogether inconsistent fell in the conflict, and Demetrius, after a precipitate with each other, an excessive love of pleasure and an flight of 200 miles, regained his fleet with only a small ardent passion for glory. His courage in conflicts, his remnant of his once powerful host. Sailing soon after profound acquaintance with the military art, and his to Athens, he received information from the fickle and skill, particularly in the construction of warlike enungrateful inhabitants that they had resolved to admit gines, constitute strong claims on the remembrance of no king within their city; upon which, finding that all posterity. His dissolute morals have been justly cenGreece had now submitted to the influence of Cassan- sured, but there were many excellent traits of characder, he made a descent on the coast at Corinth for the ter which went far towards counterbalancing his vices. mere purposes of plunder and revenge, and afterward He always showed himself a dutiful and affectionate committed similar ravages along the whole coast of son, a mild and generous conqueror, and a liberal paThrace. Fortune, however, soon smiled again. Se-tron of the arts. (Plut., Vit. Demetr.)-II. Son of leucus, jealous of the power of Lysimachus, whose ter- Antigonus Gonatas, and grandson of Demetrius Poliritories now extended to the Syrian borders, resolved orcētes, succeeded his father, B.C. 243. He made to strengthen his own dominions by forming an alli-war on the Etolians and Achæans, and was successful ance with the family of Demetrius, which was still possessed of considerable claims and interests. He therefore made proposals for, and obtained in marriage, the accomplished Stratonice, the daughter of his former rival. The power of Demetrius again became formidable, an alliance with Ptolemy, who gave him his daughter Ptolemaïs in marriage, having also added to its increase. Having compelled the Athenians to open their gates and receive a garrison, and having generously forgiven their previous fickleness, he turned his attention to Macedonia, and having embraced an opportunity of interfering in the affairs of that country, which was afforded by dissensions between the two sons of Cassander, he cut off Alexander, one of the two princes, and made himself master of the throne. His restless ambition now projected new conquests in Europe and Asia. Turning his arms against Pyrrhus, he drove him from Thessaly, and then marched to Thebes, which he took by assault. About the same time also he built the city of Demetrias on the Pelasgic gulf; and, in order to increase his naval power, formed a matrimonial union with the daughter of Agathocles, tyrant of Sicily. His fleet at length amounted to 500 gallies, many of them having fifteen or sixteen banks of oars; while his land forces exceeded considerably 100,000 men, of which more than 12,000 were cavalry. This formidable power excited the alarm of Lysimachus and Ptolemy; the latter advanced against Greece with his fleet, while the former, with Pyrrhus his ally, made a land attack on Macedon in two different points at once. Demetrius took the field with his usual alacrity, but when he approached the position of Pyrrhus, the greater part of his troops deserted him, and he was compelled to flee. Leaving Macedon a prey to Lysimachus and Pyrrhus, the active Demetrius passed over into Asia Minor with a body of his best troops, resolved to assail his adversary in the most vulnerable quarter. The enterprise was at first attended with the most brilliant success. In a short time, however, a check was imposed on his career by Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, and Demetrius was compelled to apply for protection to his aged sonin-law Seleucus. The latter yielded to his solicitations only so far as to grant him permission to spend two months within his territory; and was subsequently induced by his courtiers to rid himself of so dangerous a guest, by sending him a prisoner to a strong fortress on the Syrian coast, about sixty miles south of Antioch. A sufficient revenue was allowed him for his support, and he was permitted to indulge in the chace and other manly exercises, always, however, under the eye of his keepers. At last, however, giving up all active pursuits, he closed his checkered life, at the end of three years, a victim to chagrin, sloth, and intem against both, especially the latter, whom he defeated, although under the command of Aratus. He had distinguished himself, before coming to the throne, by driving Alexander of Epirus out of Macedonia, and also stripping him of his own dominions. He reigned ten years, and was succeeded by his son, Philip III. (Justin, 26, 2.-Id. ib., 28, 3.)-III. Son of Philip III, of Macedonia. He was an excellent prince, greatly beloved by his countrymen, and was sent by his father as a hostage to Rome, where he also made many friends. He was subsequently liberated, and not long after paid a second visit to the capital of Ita ly, as an ambassador from Philip, on which occasion he obtained, by his modest and candid deportment, favourable terms for his parent, when the latter was complained of to the Roman senate by the cities of Greece. Returning home loaded with marks of distinction from the Romans, and honoured by the Macedonians themselves, who regarded him as the liberator of their country, he excited the jealousy of his own father, and the envy and hatred of his brother Perses. The latter eventually accused him of aspiring to the crown, and of carrying on, for this purpose, a secret correspondence with the Romans. Philip, lending too credulous an ear to the charge, put his son Demetrius to death, and only discovered, when too late, the utter falsity of the accusation. (Liv, 33, 30.-Id., 39, 35, seqq.-Id, 40, 5.-Id., 40, 24.-Id., 40, 54, seqq.)— IV. Surnamed Soter (wrp), or "the Preserver," was the son of Seleucus Philopător; and was sent by his father, at the age of twenty-three, as a hostage to Rome. He was living there in this condition when his father died of poison, B.C. 176. His uncle Antiochus Epiphanes thereupon usurped the throne, and was succeeded by Antiochus Eupator. Demetrius, meanwhile, having in vain endeavoured to interest the senate in his behalf, secretly escaped from Rome, through the advice of Polybius the historian, and, finding a party in Syria ready to support his claims, defeated and put to death Eupator, and ascended the throne. He was subsequently acknowledged as king by the Romans. After this he freed the Babylonians from the tyranny of Timarchus and Heraclides, and was honoured for this service with the title of Soter. At a subsequent period he sent his generals Nicanor and Bacchides into Judæa, at the solicitation of Alcimus, the high-priest, who had usurped that office with the aid of Eupator. These two commanders ravaged the country, and Bacchides defeated and slew the cel ebrated Judas Maccabæus. Demetrius, at last, became so hated by his own subjects, and an object of so much dislike, if not of fear, to the neighbouring princes, that they advocated the claims of Alexander Bala, and he fell in battle against this competitor for the crown, |