places of meeting of the Amphictyonic coun- | among men, conferring blessings wherever cil. DELTA. [AEGYPTUS.] DEMADES (-is), an Athenian orator, who belonged to the Macedonian party, and was a bitter enemy of Demosthenes. He was put to death by Antipater in B.c. 318. DEMARĀTUS or DAMARATUS (-i). (1) King of Sparta, reigned from about B.c. 510 to 491. He was deposed by his colleague Cleomenes, B.C. 491, and thereupon repaired to the Persian court, where he was kindly received by Darius. He accompanied Xerxes in his invasion of Greece, and recommended the king not to rely too confidently upon his countless hosts. (2) A merchant noble of Corinth, who settled afterwards in Etruria, and became the father of Aruns and Lucumo (Tarquinius Priscius). DEMETER, called CERES (-éris) by the Romans, one of the great divinities of the Greeks, was the goddess of the earth, and her name probably signified Mother-Earth ( she was kindly received, and severely punishing those who repulsed her. In this manner she came to Celeus, at Eleusis. [CELETS.] As allow the earth to produce any fruits, Zeus the goddess still continued angry, and did not sent Hermes (Mercury) into the lower world to fetch back Persephone. Aidoneus consented, but gave Persephone part of a pomegranate to eat. Demeter returned to Olympus with her daughter, but as the latter had eaten in the lower world, she was obliged to spend one third of the year with Aidoneus, continuing with her mother the remainder of the year. The earth now brought forth fruit again. This is the ancient legend as preserved in the Homeric hymn, but it is variously modified in later traditions. In the Latin poets the scene of the rape is near Enna, in Sicily; and Ascalaphus, who had alone seen Persephone eat any thing in the lower world, revealed the fact, and was in consequence turned into an owl by Demeter. [ASCALAPHUS.] The meaning of the legend is obvious: Persephone, who is carried off to the lower world, is the seed-corn, which remains concealed in the ground part of the year; Persephone, who refurns to her mother, is the corn which rises from the ground, and nourishes men and animals. Later philosophical writers, and perhaps the mysteries also, referred the disap Tp). She was the protectress of agriculture and of all the fruits of the earth. She was the daughter of Cronus (Saturn) and Rhea, and sister of Zeus (Jupiter), by whom she became the mother of Persephone (Proserpine), Zens, without the knowledge of Demeter, had promised Persephone to Aidoneus (Pluto); and while the unsuspecting maiden was gath-pearance and return of Persephone to the ering flowers in the Nysian plain in Asia, the earth suddenly opened, and she was carried off by Aidoneus. After wandering for some days in search of her daughter, Demeter learned from the Sun that it was Aidoneus who had carried her off. Thereupon she quitted Olympus in anger and dwelt upon earth burial of the body of man and the immortality of his soul.-The other legends about Demeter are of less importance. To escape the pursuit of Poseidon she changed herself into a mare, but the god effected his purpose, and she became the mother of the celebrated horse Arion. [ARION, 2.]-She fell in love DEMETRIAS. 142 DEMETRIUS. Pagasaean bay, founded by Demetrius Poli- with Iasion, and lay with him in a thriceplowed field in Crete; their offspring was Plutus (Wealth). [IASION.]-She punished with fearful hunger Erysichthon, who had cut down he. sacred grove. [ERYSICHTHON.] In-(1) Surnamed POLIORCETES Or the Besieger, Attica Demeter was worshiped with great splendor. The Athenians pretended that agriculture was first practiced in their country, and that Triptolemus of Eleusis, the favorite of Demeter, was the first who invented the plow and sowed corn. [TRIPTOLEMUS.] Every year at Athens the festival of the Eleusinia was celebrated in honor of these goddesses. The festival of the Thesmophoria was also celebrated in her honor as well at Athens as in other parts of Greece; it was intended to commemorate the introduction of the laws and the regulations of civilized life, which were ascribed to Demeter, since agriculture is the basis of civilization.-In works of art Demeter is represented in full attire. Around her head she wears a garland of corn-ears or a simple ribbon, and in her hand she holds a sceptre, corn-ears or a poppy, sometimes also a torch and the mystic basket. The Romans Demeter (Ceres). (Mus. Bor., vol. 9, tav. 35.) received from Sicily the worship of Demeter, to whom they gave the name of Ceres. They celebrated in her honor the festival of the Cerealia. She was looked upon by the Romans much in the same light as Tellus. Pigs were sacrificed to both divinities. Her worship received considerable political importance at Rome. The property of traitors against the republic was often made over to her temple. The decrees of the senate were deposited in her temple for the inspection of the tribunes of the people. DEMETRIAS (-ădis), a town in Magnesia, in Thessaly, on the innermost recesses of the Coin of Demetrius Poliorcetes. son of Antigonus, king of Asia, and Stratonice. At an early age he gave proofs of distinguished bravery, and during his father's lifetime was engaged in constant campaigns against either Cassander or Ptolemy. In his siege of Rhodes (B.O. 305) he constructed those gigantic machines to assail the walls of the city which gave him the surname of Poliorcetes. He at length concluded a treaty with the Rhodians (304). After the defeat and death of his father at the battle of Ipsus (301), the fortunes of Demetrius were for a time under a cloud; but in 294 he was acknowledged as king by the Macedonian army, and succeeded in keeping possession of Macedonia for 7 years. In 287 he was deserted by his own troops, who proclaimed Pyrrhus king of Macedonia. He then crossed over to Asia, and after meeting with alternate success and misfortune, was at length obliged to surrender himself prisoner to Seleucus (286). That king kept him in confinement, but did not treat him with harshness. Demetrius died in the 3d year of his imprisonment and the 56th of his age (213). He was one of the most remarkable characters of his time, being a man of restless activity of mind, fertility of resource, and daring promptitude in the execution of his schemes. His besetting sin was unbounded licentiousness.- (2) Son of Antigonus Gonatas, reigned B.O. 239-229. II. Kings of Syria.-(1) SOTER (reigned B.a. 162-159), was the son of Seleucus IV. Philopator and grandson of Antiochus the Great. While yet a child he had been sent to Rome by his father as a hostage, where he remained until he was 23 years of age. He then fled to Syria, and was received as king by the Syrians. An impostor named Balas raised an insurrection against him and slew him. He left 2 sons, Demetrius Nicator and Antiochus Sidetes, both of whom subsequently ascended the throne. (2) NICATOR (B.c. 146-142, and again 128-125), son of Demetrius Soter. With the assistance of Ptolemy Philometor he defeated Balas, and recovered his kingdom; but, having rendered himself odious to his subjects by his vices and cruelties, he was driven out of Syria by Tryphon, who set up Antiochus, the infant son of Alexander Balas, as a pretender against him. Demetrius retired to Babylon, and thence marched against the Parthians, by whom he was defeated and taken prisoner, 138. He remained as a captive in Parthia 10 years. Demetrius again obtained possession of the Syrian throne in 128; but while engaged in an expedition against Egypt, Ptolemy Physcon set up against him the pretender Alexander Zebina, by whom he was defeated and compelled to fly. He fled to Tyre, where he was assassinaled, 125. III. Literary. -PHALEREUS, SO called from his birthplace, the Attic demos of Phalerus, where he was born about B.c. 345. His parents were poor, but by his talents and perseverance he rose to the highest honors at Athens, and became distinguished both as an orator, a statesman, a philosopher, and a poet. The government of Athens was intrusted to him by Cassander in 317, the duties of which he discharged with extraordinary distinction. When Demetrius Poliorcetes approached Athens in 307 Phalerens was obliged to take to flight. He settled at Alexandria in Egypt, and exerted some influence in the foundation of the Alexandrine library. He was the last of the Attic orators worthy of the name. DEMŎCEDES, a celebrated physician of Crotona. He practiced medicine successively at Aegina, Athens, and Samos. He was taken prisoner along with Polycrates in B.C. 522, and was sent to Susa to the court of Darius. Here he acquired great reputation by curing the king's foot and the breast of the queen Atossa. Notwithstanding his honors at the Persian court, he was always desirous of returning to his native country. In order to effect this, he procured by means of Atossa that he should be sent with some nobles to explore the coast of Greece, and to ascertain in what parts it might be most successfully attacked. At Tarentum he escaped, and settled at Crotona, where he married the daughter of the famous wrestler, Milo. DEMOCRITUS (-i), a celebrated Greek philosopher, was born at Abdera in Thrace about B.C. 460. He spent the large inheritance which his father left him on travels into distant countries in pursuit of knowledge. He was a man of a most sterling and honorable character. He died in 361 at a very advanced age. There is a tradition that he deprived himself of his sight that he might be less disturbed in his pursuits; but it is more probable that he may have lost his sight by too severe application to study. This loss, however, did not disturb the cheerful disposition of his mind, which prompted him to look in all circumstances at the cheerful side of things, which later writers took to mean that he always laughed at the follies of men. His knowledge was most extensive. It embraced not only the natural sciences-mathematics, mechanics, grammar, music, and philosophy -but various other useful arts. His works were composed in the Ionic dialect, though not without some admixture of the local peculiarities of Abdera. They are nevertheless much praised by Cicero on account of the liveliness of their style, and are in this respect compared even with the works of Plato. Democritus was the founder of the atomic theory. DEMOSTHENES. DEMOPHON or DEMOPHOON (-ontis). (1) Son of Celeus and Metanira, whom Demeter wished to make immortal. For details, see CELEUS.-(2) Son of Theseus and Phaedra, accompanied the Greeks against Troy, and on his return gained the love of Phyllis, daughter of the Thracian king Sithon, and promised to marry her. Before the nuptials were celebrated, he went to Attica to settle his affairs, and as he tarried longer than Phyllis had expected, she thought that she was forgotten, and put an end to her life; but she was metamorphosed into a tree. Demophon became king of Athens. Demosthenes. DEMOSTHENES (-is). (1) Son of Alcisthenes, a celebrated Athenian general in the Peloponnesian war. In B.o. 425 he rendered important assistance to Cleon in making prisoners of the Spartans in the island of Sphacteria. In 413 he was sent with a large fleet to Sicily to assist Nicias; but both commanders were defeated, obliged to surrender, and put to death by the Syracusans.—(2) The greatest of Athenian orators, was the son of Demosthenes, and was born in the Attic demos of Paeania, about B.C. 385. At 7 years of age he lost his father, who left him and his younger sister to the care of guardians, who neglected him and squandered his property. When he was 20 years of age Demosbus, one of his guardthenes accused Aphoians, and obtained a verdict in his favor. Emboldened by this success, Demosthenes ward as a speaker in the public assembly. ventured to come forHis first effort was unsuccessful, but he was encouraged to persevere by the actor Satyrus, who gave him instruction in action and declamation. In becoming an orator, Demosthenes had to struggle against the greatest physical disadvantages. His voice was weak and his utterance defective; and it was only by the most unwearied exertions that he suc ceeded in overcoming the obstacles which nature had placed in his way. Thus it is said that he spoke with pebbles in his mouth, to cure himself of stammering; that he repeated verses of the poets as he ran up hill, to strengthen his voice; that he declaimed on the sea-shore, to accustom himself to the noise and confusion of the popular assembly; that he lived for months in a cave under ground, engaged in constantly writing out the history of Thucydides, to form a standard for his own style. It was about 355 that Demosthenes began to obtain reputation as a speaker in the public assembly. His eloquence soon gained him the favor of the people. The influence which he acquired he employed for the good of his country, and not for his own aggrandizement. He clearly saw that Philip had resolved to subjugate Greece, and he therefore devoted all his powers to resist the aggressions of the Macedonian |