Literature.—H. Barbet de Jouy,Les della Robbia(Paris, 1855); W. Bode,Die Künstlerfamilie della Robbia(Leipzig, 1878); “Luca della Robbia ed i suoi precursori in Firenze,”Arch. stor. dell’ arte(1899); “Über Luca della Robbia,”Sitzungsbericht von der Berliner kunstgeschichtlichen Gesellschaft(1896);Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance(Berlin, 1902); G. Carocci,I Dintorni de Firenze(Florence, 1881); “Il Monumento di Benozzo Federighi,”Arte e Storia(1894); “Opere Robbiane poco noti,”Arte e storia(1898, 1899); Cavallucci et Molinier,Les della Robbia(Paris, 1884); Maud Crutwell,Luca and Andrea della Robbia and their Successors(London, 1902); A. du Cerceau,Les plus excellents bastiments de France(Paris, 1586); G. Milanesi,Le Vite scritte da Vasari(Florence, 1878); M. Reymond,Les della Robbia(Florence, 1897);La Sculpture Florentine(Florence, 1898); I. B. Supino,Catalogo del R. Museo di Firenze(Rome 1898); Vasari (see Milanesi’s edition).
Literature.—H. Barbet de Jouy,Les della Robbia(Paris, 1855); W. Bode,Die Künstlerfamilie della Robbia(Leipzig, 1878); “Luca della Robbia ed i suoi precursori in Firenze,”Arch. stor. dell’ arte(1899); “Über Luca della Robbia,”Sitzungsbericht von der Berliner kunstgeschichtlichen Gesellschaft(1896);Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance(Berlin, 1902); G. Carocci,I Dintorni de Firenze(Florence, 1881); “Il Monumento di Benozzo Federighi,”Arte e Storia(1894); “Opere Robbiane poco noti,”Arte e storia(1898, 1899); Cavallucci et Molinier,Les della Robbia(Paris, 1884); Maud Crutwell,Luca and Andrea della Robbia and their Successors(London, 1902); A. du Cerceau,Les plus excellents bastiments de France(Paris, 1586); G. Milanesi,Le Vite scritte da Vasari(Florence, 1878); M. Reymond,Les della Robbia(Florence, 1897);La Sculpture Florentine(Florence, 1898); I. B. Supino,Catalogo del R. Museo di Firenze(Rome 1898); Vasari (see Milanesi’s edition).
(J. H. M.; W. B.*)
1Genealogical tree of Della Robbia sculptors:—2Not 1388, as Vasari says. See a document printed by Gaye,Carteggio inedito, i. pp. 182-186.3Vasari is not quite right in his account of these reliefs: he speaks of Euclid and Ptolemy as being in different panels.4See Cavallucci,S. Maria del Fiore, pt. ii. p. 137.5The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses what seem to be fine replicas of these statues.6The document in which the order for this and the price paid for it are recorded is published by Yriarte,Gaz. d. beaux arts, xxiv. p. 143.7One of these medallions, that of the Physicians, is now removed to the inside of the church.8It is fully described by Filarete in hisTrattato dell’ architectura, written in 1464, and therefore was finished before that date; see also Vasari, ed. Milanesi (Florence, 1880), ii. p. 174.9His will, dated 19th February 1471, is published by Gaye,Cart. ined.i. p. 185.10In the works of Perkins and others on Italian sculpture these Perugian reliefs are wrongly stated to be of enamelled clay.11Professor Marquand has discovered, beneath 1451, the inscription Prete Benino, and, under 1495, De Benini; probably the names of the governors of the hospital at these dates.12See Gualandi,Memorie risguardanti le belle arti(Bologna, 1845), vi. pp. 33-35, where original documents are printed recording the dates and prices paid for these and other works of Andrea.13See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. p. 180.14It appears certain that this Luca was a layman and not the Fra Luca referred to above.15It is illustrated by Gruner,Fresco Decorations of Italy(London, 1854), pl. iv.; see also Müntz,Raphaël, sa vie, &c. (Paris, 1881), p. 452, note i., and Vasari, ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 182.16See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. 193.17Examples of these imitations are a retable in S. Lucchese near Poggibonsi dated 1514, another of the Madonna and Saints at Monte San Savino of 1525, and a third in the Capuchin church of Arceria near Sinigaglia; they are all inferior to the best works of the Robbia family, though some of them may have been made by assistants trained in the Robbia workshops.18The hospital itself was begun in 1514.19The Sèvres Museum possesses some fragments of these decorations.20See Laborde,Château de Madrid(Paris, 1853), andComptes des bâtiments du roi(Paris, 1877-1880), in which a full account is given of Girolamo’s work in connexion with this palace.
1Genealogical tree of Della Robbia sculptors:—
2Not 1388, as Vasari says. See a document printed by Gaye,Carteggio inedito, i. pp. 182-186.
3Vasari is not quite right in his account of these reliefs: he speaks of Euclid and Ptolemy as being in different panels.
4See Cavallucci,S. Maria del Fiore, pt. ii. p. 137.
5The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses what seem to be fine replicas of these statues.
6The document in which the order for this and the price paid for it are recorded is published by Yriarte,Gaz. d. beaux arts, xxiv. p. 143.
7One of these medallions, that of the Physicians, is now removed to the inside of the church.
8It is fully described by Filarete in hisTrattato dell’ architectura, written in 1464, and therefore was finished before that date; see also Vasari, ed. Milanesi (Florence, 1880), ii. p. 174.
9His will, dated 19th February 1471, is published by Gaye,Cart. ined.i. p. 185.
10In the works of Perkins and others on Italian sculpture these Perugian reliefs are wrongly stated to be of enamelled clay.
11Professor Marquand has discovered, beneath 1451, the inscription Prete Benino, and, under 1495, De Benini; probably the names of the governors of the hospital at these dates.
12See Gualandi,Memorie risguardanti le belle arti(Bologna, 1845), vi. pp. 33-35, where original documents are printed recording the dates and prices paid for these and other works of Andrea.
13See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. p. 180.
14It appears certain that this Luca was a layman and not the Fra Luca referred to above.
15It is illustrated by Gruner,Fresco Decorations of Italy(London, 1854), pl. iv.; see also Müntz,Raphaël, sa vie, &c. (Paris, 1881), p. 452, note i., and Vasari, ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 182.
16See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. 193.
17Examples of these imitations are a retable in S. Lucchese near Poggibonsi dated 1514, another of the Madonna and Saints at Monte San Savino of 1525, and a third in the Capuchin church of Arceria near Sinigaglia; they are all inferior to the best works of the Robbia family, though some of them may have been made by assistants trained in the Robbia workshops.
18The hospital itself was begun in 1514.
19The Sèvres Museum possesses some fragments of these decorations.
20See Laborde,Château de Madrid(Paris, 1853), andComptes des bâtiments du roi(Paris, 1877-1880), in which a full account is given of Girolamo’s work in connexion with this palace.
DELMEDIGO,a Cretan Jewish family, of whom the following are the most important:
Elijah Delmedigo(1460-1497), philosopher, taught in several Italian centres of learning. He translated some of Averroes’ commentaries into Latin at the instigation of Pico di Mirandola. In the sphere of religion, Delmedigo represents the tendency to depart from the scholastic attitude in which religion and philosophy were identified. His most important work was devoted to this end; it was entitledBehinath ha-Dath(Investigation of Religion).
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo(1591-1655), pupil of Galileo, wrote many books on science and philosophy, and bore a considerable part in initiating the critical movement in Judaism. He belonged to the sceptical school, and though his positive contributions to literature were not of lasting worth, Graetz includes him among the important formative influences within the synagogue of the 17th century.
(I. A.)
DELMENHORST,a town of Germany, grand duchy of Oldenburg, on the Delme, 8 m. by rail W. from Bremen, at the junction of a line to Vechta. Pop. (1905) 20,147. It has a Protestant and a Roman Catholic church, and is the seat of considerable industries; notably wool-combing, weaving, jute-spinning and the manufacture of linoleum. Delmenhorst was founded in 1230, and from 1247 to 1679, when it was destroyed by the French, was protected by a strong castle.
DELOLME, JEAN LOUIS(1740-1806), Swiss jurist and constitutional writer, was born at Geneva in 1740. He studied for the bar, and had begun to practise when he was obliged to emigrate on account of a pamphlet entitledExamen de trois parts de droit, which gave offence to the authorities of the town. He took refuge in England, where he lived for several years on the meagre and precarious income derived from occasional contributions to various journals. In 1775 he found himself compelled to accept aid from a charitable society to enable him to return home. He died at Sewen, a village in the canton of Schwyz, on the 16th of July 1806.
During his protracted exile in England Delolme made a careful study of the English constitution, the results of which he published in hisConstitution de l’Angleterre(Amsterdam, 1771), of which an enlarged and improved edition in English appeared in 1772, and was several times reprinted. The work excited much interest as containing many acute observations on the causes of the excellence of the English constitution as compared with that of other countries. It is, however, wanting in breadth of view, being written before the period when constitutional questions were treated in a scientific manner. Along with a translation of Hume’sHistory of Englandit supplied thephilosopheswith most of their ideas about the English constitution. It thus was used somewhat as a political pamphlet. Several editions were published after the author’s death. Delolme also wrote in EnglishParallel between the English Government and the former Government of Sweden(1772); AHistory of the Flagellants(1782), based upon a work of Boileau’s;An Essay on the Union of Scotland with England(1787), and one or two smaller works.
DELONEY(orDelone),THOMAS,English ballad-writer and pamphleteer, produced his earliest indisputable work in 1586, and died about 1600. In 1596 Thomas Nashe, in hisHave with you to Saffron Walden, wrote: “Thomas Deloney, the ballating silk-weaver, hath rime enough for all myracles, and wit to make a Garland of Good Will more than the premisses ... and this deare yeare, together with the silencing of his looms, scarce that, he being constrained to betake himself to carded ale; whence it proceedeth that since Candlemas, or his jigge, John for the king, not one merrie dittie will come from him, but, the Thunderbolt against Swearers,—Repent, England, Repent—and, the strange Judgements of God.” In 1588 the coming of the Armada inspired him for three broadsides, which were reprinted (1860) by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps. They are entitled “The Queenes visiting of the Campe at Tilsburie with her entertainment there,” “A Joyful new Ballad, declaring the happie obtaining of the great Galleazzo ...,” and “A new Ballet of the straunge and Most cruell Whippes which the Spaniards had prepared.” A collection ofStrange Histories(1607) consists of historical ballads by Deloney, with some poems from other hands. This collection, known in later and enlarged editions asThe Royal Garland of Love and DelightandThe Garland of Delight, contains the ballad of Fair Rosamond. J. H. Dixon in his preface toThe Garland of Good Will(Percy Society, 1851) ascribes to DeloneyThe Blind Beggar of Bednall Green, andThe Pleasant and sweet History of Patient Grissel, in prose, with the whole of theGarland of Good Will, including some poems such as “The Spanish Lady’s Love” generally supposed to be by other hands. His other works includeThe Gentle Craft(1597) in praise of shoemakers,The Pleasant Historie of John Winchecombe(8th ed., 1619), andThomas of Reading or the Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West(earliest extant edition, 1612). Kempe, the actor, jeers at these histories in hisNine Daies Wonder, but they were very popular, being reprinted as penny chap-books.
DE LONG, GEORGE WASHINGTON(1844-1881), American explorer, was born in New York city on the 22nd of August 1844. He graduated at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1865, and spent the next fourteen years in naval service in various parts of the world, attaining the rank of lieutenant in 1869, and lieutenant-commander in 1879. In 1873 he took part in the voyage of the “Juniata,” sent to search for and relieve the American Arctic expedition under Hall in the “Polaris,” commanding a steam launch which was sent out from Upernivik, Greenland, to make a thorough search of Melville Bay. On his return to New York the same year he proposed to James Gordon Bennett, ofThe New York Herald, that the latter should fit out a Polar expedition. It was not until 1879 that the final arrangements were made, the “Pandora,” a yacht which had already made two Arctic voyages under Sir Allen Young, being purchased and rechristened the “Jeannette” for this voyage. The story of this expedition (seePolar Regions) is chiefly remarkable on account of the long and helpless drifting of the “Jeannette” with the polar ice-pack in which she was caught (September 5, 1879) and by which she was finally crushed and sunk on the 13th of June 1881. The members of the expedition set out in three boats, one of which was lost in a gale, while another boat-load under De Long died from starvation after reaching the mouth of the Lena river. He was the last survivor of his party. His journal, in which he made regular entries up to the day on which he died (October 30, 1881) was edited by his wife and published in 1883 under the titleVoyage of the “Jeannette”; and an account of the search which was made for him and his comrades by his heroic companion George W. Melville, who was chief engineer of the expedition and commanded the third of the retreating parties, was published a year later under the title ofIn the Lena Delta. The fate of the “Jeannette” was still more remarkable in its sequel. Three years after she had sunk several articles belonging to her crew were found on an ice-floe near Julianshaab on the south-west coast of Greenland; thus adding fresh evidence to the theory of a continuous ocean current passing across the unknown Polar regions, which was to be finally demonstrated by Nansen’s voyage in the “Fram.” By direction of the United States government, the remains of De Long and his companions were brought home and interred with honour in his native city.
DELORME, MARION(c.1613-1650), French courtesan, was the daughter of Jean de Lou, sieur de l’Orme, president of the treasurers of France in Champagne, and of Marie Chastelain. She was born at her father’s château near Champaubert. Initiated into the philosophy of pleasure by the epicurean and atheist Jacques Vallée, sieur Desbarreaux, she soon left him for Cinq Mars, at that time at the height of his popularity, and succeeded, it is said, in marrying him in secret. From this time Marion Delorme’s salon became one of the most brilliant centres of elegant Parisian society. After the execution of Cinq Mars she is said to have numbered among her lovers Charles de St Evremond (1610-1703) the wit and littérateur, Buckingham (Villiers), the great Condé, and even Cardinal Richelieu. Under the Fronde her salon became a meeting place for the disaffected, and Mazarin is said to have sent to arrest her when she suddenly died. Her last years have been adorned with considerable legend (cf. Merecourt,Confessions de Marie Delorme, Paris, 1856). It seems established that she died in 1650. But she was believed to have lived until 1706 or even 1741, after having had the most fantastic adventures, including marriage with an English lord, and an old age spent in poverty in Paris. Her name has been popularized by various authors, especially by Alfred de Vigny in his novelCinq Mars, by Victor Hugo in the dramaMarion Delorme, and by G. Bottesini in an opera of the same title.
See P. J. Jacob,Marion Delorme et Ninon Lenclos(Paris, 1859); J. Peladan,Histoire et légende de Marion de Lorme(Paris, 1882).
See P. J. Jacob,Marion Delorme et Ninon Lenclos(Paris, 1859); J. Peladan,Histoire et légende de Marion de Lorme(Paris, 1882).
DE L’ORME, PHILIBERT(c.1510-1570), French architect, one of the great masters of the Renaissance, was born at Lyons, the son of Jehan de L’Orme, who practised the same art and brought his son up to it. At an early age Philibert was sent to Italy to study (1533-1536) and was employed there by Pope Paul III. Returning to France he was patronized by Cardinal du Bellayat Lyons, and was sent by him about 1540 to Paris, where he began the Château de St Maur, and enjoyed royal favour; in 1545 he was made architect to Francis I. and given the charge of works in Brittany. In 1548 Henry II. gave him the supervision of Fontainebleau, Saint-Germain and the other royal buildings; but on his death (1559) Philibert fell into disgrace. Under Charles IX., however, he returned to favour, and was employed to construct the Tuileries, in collaboration with Jean Brillant. He died in Paris on the 8th of January 1570. Much of his work has disappeared, but his fame remains. An ardent humanist and student of the antique, he yet vindicated resolutely the French tradition in opposition to Italian tendencies; he was a man of independent mind and a vigorous originality. His masterpiece was the Château d’Anet (1552-1559), built for Diane de Poitiers, the plans of which are preserved in Du Cerceau’sPlus excellens bastimens de France, though part of the building alone remains; and his designs for the Tuileries (also given by Du Cerceau), begun by Catherine de’ Medici in 1565, were magnificent. His work is also seen at Chenonceaux and other famous châteaux; and his tomb of Francis I. at St Denis remains a perfect specimen of his art. He wrote two books on architecture (1561 and 1567).
See Marius Vachon,Philibert de L’Orme(1887); Chevalier,Lettres et devis relatifs à la construction de Chenonceaux(1864); Pfror,Monographie du château d’Anet(1867); Herbet,Travaux de P. de L’Orme à Fontainebleau(1890).
See Marius Vachon,Philibert de L’Orme(1887); Chevalier,Lettres et devis relatifs à la construction de Chenonceaux(1864); Pfror,Monographie du château d’Anet(1867); Herbet,Travaux de P. de L’Orme à Fontainebleau(1890).
DELOS(mod.Mikra Dili, or Little Delos, to distinguish it from Megali Dili, or Great Delos), an island in the Aegean, the smallest but most famous of the Cyclades, and, according to the ancient belief, the spot round which the group arranged itself in a nearly circular form. It is a rugged mass of granite, about 3 m. long and 1 m. to ½ m. broad, about ½ m. E. of Megali Dili or Rheneia, and 2 m. W. of Myconus. Towards the centre it rises to its greatest height of 350 ft. in the steep and rocky peak of Mount Cynthus, which, though overtopped by several eminences in the neighbouring islands, is very conspicuous from the surrounding sea. It is now completely destitute of trees, but it abounds with brushwood of lentisk and cistus, and here and there affords a patch of corn-land to the occasional sower from Myconus.
I.Archaeology.—Excavations have been made by the French School at Athens upon the island of Delos since 1877, chiefly by Th. Homolle. They have proceeded slowly but systematically, and the method adopted, though scientific and economical, left the site in some apparent confusion, but the débris have more recently been cleared away to a considerable extent. The complete plan of the sacred precinct of Apollo has been recovered, as well as those of a considerable portion of the commercial quarter of Hellenistic and Roman times, of the theatre, of the temples of the foreign gods, of the temples on the top of Mount Cynthus, and of several very interesting private houses. Numerous works of sculpture of all periods have been found, and also a very extensive series of inscriptions, some of them throwing much light upon the subject of temple administration in Greece.
The most convenient place for landing is protected by an ancient mole; it faces the channel between Delos and Rheneia, and is about opposite the most northerly of the two little islands now calledῬευματιάρι. From this side the sacred precinct of Apollo is approached by an avenue flanked by porticoes, that upon the seaside bearing the name of Philip V. of Macedon, who dedicated it about 200B.C.This avenue must have formed the usual approach for sacred embassies and processions; but it is probable that the space to the south was not convenient for marshalling them, since Nicias, on the occasion of his famous embassy, built a bridge from the island of Hecate (the Greater Rhevmatiari) to Delos, in order that the imposing Athenian procession might not miss its full effect. Facing the avenue were the propylaea that formed the chief entrance of the precinct of Apollo. They consisted of a gate faced on the outside with a projecting portico of four columns, on the inside with two columnsin antis. Through this one entered a large open space, filled with votive offerings and containing a large exedra. The sacred road continued its course to the north-east corner of this open space, with the precinct of Artemis on its west side, and, on its east side, a terrace on which stood three temples. The southernmost of these was the temple of Apollo, but only its back was visible from this side. Though there is no evidence to show to whom the other two were dedicated, the fact that they faced west seems to imply that they were either dedicated to heroes or minor deities, or that they were treasuries. Beyond them a road branches to the right, sweeping round in a broad curve to the space in front of the temple of Apollo. The outer side of this curve is bounded by a row of treasuries, similar to those found at Delphi and Olympia, and serving to house the more costly offerings of various islands or cities. The space to the east and south of the temple of Apollo could also be approached directly from the propylaea of entrance, by turning to the right through a passage-like building with a porch at either end. Just to the north of this may be seen the basis of the colossal statue of Apollo dedicated by the Naxians, with its well-known archaic inscription; two large fragments of the statue itself may still be seen a little farther to the north.
The temple of Apollo forms the centre of the whole precinct,which it dominates by the height of its steps as well as of the terrace already mentioned; its position must have been more commanding in ancient times than it is now that heaps of earth and débris cover so much of the level. The temple was of Doric style, with six columns at the front and back and thirteen at the sides; it was built early in the 4th centuryB.C.; little if any traces have been found of the earlier building which it superseded. Its sculptural decoration appears to have been but scanty; the metopes were plain. The groups which ornamented, as acroteria, the two gables of the temple have been in part recovered, and may now be seen in the national museum at Athens; at the one end was Boreas carrying off Oreithyia, at the other Eos and Cephalus, the centre in each case being occupied by the winged figure that stood out against the sky—a variation on the winged Victories that often occupy the same position on temples.
To the east of the space in front of the temple was an oblong building of two chambers, with a colonnade on each side but not in front; this may have been the Prytaneum or some other official building; beyond it is the most interesting and characteristic of all the monuments of Delphi. This is a long narrow hall, running from north to south, and entered by a portico at its south end. At the north end was the famous altar, built out of the horns of the victims, which was sometimes reckoned among the seven wonders of the world. The rest of the room is taken up by a paved space, surrounded by a narrow gangway; and on this it is supposed that theγέρανοςor stork-dance took place. The most remarkable architectural feature of the building is the partition that separated the altar from this long gallery; it consists of two columns betweenantae, with capitals of a very peculiar form, consisting of the fore parts of bulls set back to back; from these the whole building is sometimes called the sanctuary of the bulls. Beyond it, on the east, was a sacred wood filling the space up to the wall of the precinct; and at the south end of this was a small open space with the altar of Zeus Polieus.
At the north of the precinct was a broad road, flanked with votive offerings and exedrae, and along the boundary were porticoes and chambers intended for the reception of theθεωρίαιor sacred embassies; there are two entrances on this side, each of them through extensive propylaea.
At the north-west corner of the precinct is a building of limestone, theπώρινος οἶκοςoften mentioned in the inventories of the treasures of the Delian shrine. South of it is the precinct of Artemis, containing within it the old temple of the goddess; her more recent temple was to the south of her precinct, opening not into it but into the open space entered through the southern propylaea of the precinct of Apollo. The older temple is mentioned in some of the inventories as “the temple in which were the seven statues”; and close beside it was found a series of archaic draped female statues, which was the most important of its kind until the discovery of the finer and better preserved set from the Athenian Acropolis.
Within the precinct there were found many statues and other works of art, and a very large number of inscriptions, some of them giving inventories of the votive offerings and accounts of the administration of the temple and its property. The latter are of considerable interest, and give full information as to the sources of the revenue and its financial administration.
Outside the precinct of Apollo, on the south, was an open place; between this and the precinct was a house for the priests, and within it, in a kind of court, a set of small structures that may perhaps be identified as the tombs of the Hyperborean maidens. Just to the east was the temple of Dionysus, which is of peculiar plan, and faces the open place; on the other side of it is a large rectangular court, surrounded by colonnades and chambers which served as offices, the whole forming a sort of commercial exchange; in the middle of it was a temple dedicated to Aphrodite and Hermes.
To the north of the precinct of Apollo, between it and the sacred lake, there are very extensive ruins of the commercial town of Delos; these have been only partially cleared, but have yielded a good many inscriptions and other antiquities. The most extensive building is a very large court surrounded by chambers, a sort of club or exchange. Beyond this, on the way to the east coast, are the remains of the new and the old palaestra, also partially excavated.
The shore of the channel facing Rheneia is lined with docks and warehouses, and behind them, as well as elsewhere in the island, there have been found several private houses of the 2nd or 3rd centuryB.C.Each of these consists of a single court surrounded by columns and often paved with mosaic; various chambers open out of the court, including usually one of large proportions, theἀνδρώνor dining-room for guests.
The theatre, which is set in the lower slope of Mount Cynthus, has the wings of the auditorium supported by massive substructures. The most interesting feature is thescena, which is unique in plan; it consisted of an oblong building of two storeys, surrounded on all sides by a low portico or terrace reaching to the level of the first floor. This was supported by pillars, set closer together along the front than at the sides and back. An inscription found in the theatre showed that this portico, or at least the front portion of it, was called the proscenium or logeum, two terms of which the identity was previously disputed.
On the summit of Mount Cynthus, above the primitive cave-temple which has always been visible, there have been found the remains of a small precinct dedicated to Zeus Cynthius and Athena Cynthia. Some way down the slope of the hill, between the cave-temple and the ravine of the Inopus, is a terrace with the temples of the foreign gods, Isis and Serapis, and a small odeum.
II.History.—Many alternative names for Delos are given by tradition; one of these, Ortygia, is elsewhere also assigned to an island sacred to Artemis. Of the various traditions that were current among the ancient Greeks regarding the origin of Delos, the most popular describes it as drifting through the Aegean till moored by Zeus as a refuge for the wandering Leto. It supplied a birthplace to Apollo and Artemis, who were born beneath a palm tree beside its sacred lake, and became for ever sacred to these twin deities. The island first appears in history as the seat of a great Ionic festival to which the various Ionic states, including Athens, were accustomed annually to despatch a sacred embassy, or Theoria, at the anniversary of the birth of the god on the 7th of Thargelion (about May). In the 6th centuryB.C.the influence of the Delian Apollo was at its height; Polycrates of Samos dedicated the neighbouring island of Rheneia to his service and Peisistratus of Athens caused all the area within sight of the temple to be cleared of the tombs by which its sanctity was impaired. After the Persian wars, the predominance of Athens led to the transformation of the Delian amphictyony into the Athenian empire. (SeeDelian League.) In 426B.C., in connexion with a reorganization of the festival, which henceforth was celebrated in the third year of every Olympiad, the Athenians instituted a more elaborate lustration, caused every tomb to be removed from the island, and established a law that ever after any one who was about to die or to give birth to a child should be at once conveyed from its shores. And even this was not accounted sufficient, for in 422 they expelled all its secular inhabitants, who were, however, permitted to return in the following year. At the close of the Peloponnesian War the Spartans gave to the people of Delos the management of their own affairs; but the Athenian predominance was soon after restored, and survived an appeal to the amphictyony of Delphi in 345B.C.During Macedonian times, from 322 to 166B.C., Delos again became independent; during this period the shrine was enriched by offerings from all quarters, and the temple and its possessions were administered by officials calledἱεροποιοί. After 166B.C.the Romans restored the control of Delian worship to Athens, but granted to the island various commercial privileges which brought it great prosperity. In 87B.C.Menophanes, the general of Mithradates VI. of Pontus, sacked the island, which had remained faithful to Rome. From this blow it never recovered; the Athenian control was resumed in 42B.C., but Pausanias (viii. 33. 2) mentions Delos as deserted but for afew Athenian officials; and several epigrams of the 1st or 2nd centuryA.D.attest the same fact, though the temple and worship were probably kept up until the official extinction of the ancient religion. A museum has now been built to contain the antiquities found in the excavations; otherwise Delos is now uninhabited, though during the summer months a few shepherds cross over with their flocks from Myconus or Rheneia. As a religious centre it is replaced by Tenos and as a commercial centre by the flourishing port of Syra.
See Lebègue,Recherches sur Délos(Paris, 1876). Numerous articles in theBulletin de correspondance helléniquerecord the various discoveries at Delos as they were made. See also Th. Homolle,Les Archives de l’intendance sacrée à Délos(with plan). The best consecutive account is given in theGuide Joanne, Grèce, ii. 443-464. For history, see Sir R. C. Jebb,Journal of Hellenic Studies, i. (1889), pp. 7-62. For works of art found at Delos seeGreek Art.
See Lebègue,Recherches sur Délos(Paris, 1876). Numerous articles in theBulletin de correspondance helléniquerecord the various discoveries at Delos as they were made. See also Th. Homolle,Les Archives de l’intendance sacrée à Délos(with plan). The best consecutive account is given in theGuide Joanne, Grèce, ii. 443-464. For history, see Sir R. C. Jebb,Journal of Hellenic Studies, i. (1889), pp. 7-62. For works of art found at Delos seeGreek Art.
(E. Gr.)
DE LOUTHERBOURG, PHILIP JAMES(1740-1812), English artist, was born at Strassburg on the 31st of October 1740, where his father, the representative of a Polish family, practised miniature painting; but he spent the greater part of his life in London, where he was naturalized, and exerted a considerable influence on the scenery of the English stage, as well as on the artists of the following generation. De Loutherbourg was intended for the Lutheran ministry, and was educated at the university of Strassburg. As the calling, however, was foreign to his nature, he insisted on being a painter, and placed himself under Vanloo in Paris. The result was an immediate and precocious development of his powers, and he became a figure in the fashionable society of that day. In 1767 he was elected into the French Academy below the age required by the law of the institution, and painted landscapes, sea storms, battles, all of which had a celebrity above those of the specialists then working in Paris. His début was made by the exhibition of twelve pictures, including “Storm at Sunset,” “Night,” “Morning after Rain.” He is next found travelling in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, distinguishing himself as much by mechanical inventions as by painting. One of these, showing quite new effects produced in a model theatre, was the wonder of the day. The exhibition of lights behind canvas representing the moon and stars, the illusory appearance of running water produced by clear blue sheets of metal and gauze, with loose threads of silver, and so on, were his devices. In 1771 he came to London, and was employed by Garrick, who offered him £500 a year to apply his inventions to Drury Lane, and to superintend the scene-painting, which he did with complete success, making a new era in the adjuncts of the stage. Garrick’s own piece, theChristmas Tale, and the pantomime, 1781-1782, introduced the novelties to the public, and the delight not only of the masses, but of Reynolds and the artists, was unbounded. The green trees gradually became russet, the moon rose and lit the edges of passing clouds, and all the world was captivated by effects we now take little notice of. A still greater triumph awaited him on his opening an entertainment called the “Eidophusicon,” which showed the rise, progress and result of a storm at sea—that which destroyed the great Indiaman, the “Halsewell,”—and the Fallen Angels raising the Palace of Pandemonium. De Loutherbourg has been called the inventor of the panorama, but this honour does not belong to him, although it first appeared about the same time as the eidophusicon. The first panorama was painted and exhibited by Robert Barker.
All this mechanism did not prevent De Loutherbourg from painting. “Lord Howe’s Victory off Ushant” (1794), and other large naval pictures were commissioned for Greenwich Hospital Gallery, where they still remain. His finest work was the “Destruction of the Armada.” He painted also the Great Fire of London, and several historical works, one of these being the “Attack of the Combined Armies on Valenciennes” (1793). He was made R.A., in addition to other distinctions, in 1781, shortly after which date we find an entirely new mental impulse taking possession of him. He joined Balsamo, comte de Cagliostro, and travelled about with this extraordinary person—leaving him, however, before his condemnation to death. We do not hear that Mesmer had attracted De Loutherbourg, nor do we find an exact record of his connexion with Cagliostro. A pamphlet published in 1789,A List of a few Cures performed by Mr and Mrs De Loutherbourg without Medicine, shows that he had taken up faith-healing, and there is a story that a successful projection of the philosopher’s stone was only spoiled by the breaking of the crucible by a relative. He died on the 11th of March 1812. His publications are few—some sets of etchings, andEnglish Scenery(1805).
DELPHI(the Pytho of Homer and Herodotus; in Boeotian inscriptionsΒελφοί, on coinsΔαλφοί), a place in ancient Greece in the territory of Phocis, famous as the seat of the most important temple and oracle of Apollo. It was situated about 6 m. inland from the shores of the Corinthian Gulf, in a rugged and romantic glen, closed on the N. by the steep wall-like under-cliffs of Mount Parnassus known as the Phaedriades or Shining Rocks, on the E. and W. by two minor ridges or spurs, and on the S. by the irregular heights of Mount Cirphis. Between the two mountains the Pleistus flowed from east to west, and opposite the town received the brooklet of the Castalian fountain, which rose in a deep gorge in the centre of the Parnassian cliff. About 7 m. to the north, on the side of Mount Parnassus, was the famous Corycian cave, a large grotto in the limestone rock, which afforded the people of Delphi a refuge during the Persian invasion. It is now called in the district the Sarant’ Aulai or Forty Courts, and is said to be capable of holding 3000 people.
I.The Site.—The site of Delphi was occupied by the modern village of Castri until it was bought by the French government in 1891, and the peasant proprietors expropriated and transferred to the new village of Castri, a little farther to the west. Excavations had been made previously in some parts of the precinct; for example, the portico of the Athenians was laid bare in 1860. The systematic clearing of the site began in the spring of 1892, and it was rapidly cleared of earth by means of a light railway. The plan of the precinct is now easily traced, and with the help of Pausanias many of the buildings have been identified.
The ancient wall running east and west, commonly known as the Hellenico, has been found extant in its whole length, and the two boundary walls running up the hill at each end of it, traced. In the eastern of these was the main entrance by which Pausanias went in along the Sacred Way. This paved road is easily recognized as it zigzags up the hill, with treasuries and the bases of various offerings facing it on both sides. It mounts first westwards to an open space, then turns eastwards till it reaches the eastern end of the terrace wall that supports the temple, and then turns again and curves up north and then west towards the temple. Above this, approached by a stair, are the Lesche and the theatre, occupying respectively the north-east and north-west corner of the precinct. On a higher level still, a little to the west, is the stadium. There are several narrow paths and stairs that cut off the zigzags of the Sacred Way.
In describing the monuments discovered by the French excavators, the simplest plan is to follow the route of Pausanias. Outside the entrance is a large paved court of Roman date, flanked by a colonnade. On the north side of the Sacred Way, close to the main entrance, stood the offering dedicated by the Lacedaemonians after the battle of Aegospotami. It was a large quadrangular building of conglomerate, with a back wall faced with stucco, and stood open to the road. On a stepped pedestal facing the open stood the statues of the gods and the admirals, perhaps in rows above one another.
The statues of the Epigoni stood on a semicircular basis on the south side of the way. Opposite them stood another semicircular basis which carried the statues of the Argive kings, whose names are cut on the pedestal in archaic characters, reading from right to left. Farther west was the Sicyonian treasury on the south of the way. It was in the form of a small Doric templein antis, and had its entrance on the east. The present foundations are built of architectural fragments, probably from an earlier building of circular form on the same site. The sculptures from this treasury are in the museum, as are the other sculptures found on the site. These sculptures, which are inrough limestone, most likely belong to the earlier building, as their surface is in a better state of preservation than could be possible if they had been long exposed to the air. The earlier treasury was probably destroyed either by earthquake or by the percolation of water through the terracing.
The Cnidian treasury stands on the south side of the way farther west. This building was originally surmised by the excavators to be the treasury of Siphnos, but further evidence led them to change their opinion. The treasury was raised on a quadrangular structure, supported on its south side by the Hellenico, and built of tufa. The lower courses are left rough and were most likely hidden. A small Ionic temple of marble with two caryatids between antae stood on this substructure. The sculpture from this treasury, which ornamented its frieze and pediment, is of great interest in the history of the development of the art, and the fragments of architectural mouldings are of great delicacy and beauty. The whole work is perhaps the most perfect example we possess of the transitional style of the early 5th century. Standing back somewhat from the path just as it bends round up the hill is the Theban treasury. Farther north, where the path turns again, is the Athenian treasury. This structure, which was in the form of a small Doric templein antis, appears to have suffered from the building above it having been shaken down by an earthquake. It has now been rebuilt with the original blocks. There can be no doubt about the identity of the building, for the basis on which it stands bears the remains of the dedicatory inscription, stating that it was erected from the spoils of Marathon. Almost all the sculptured metopes are in the museum, and are of the highest interest to the student of archaic art. The famous inscriptions with hymns to Apollo accompanied by musical notation were found on stones belonging to this treasury.
Above the Athenian treasury is an open space, in which is a rock which has been identified as the Sybil’s rock. It has steps hewn in it, and has a cleft. The ground round it has been left rough like the space on the Acropolis at Athens identified as the ancient altar of Athena. Here too was placed the curious column, with many flutes and an Ionic capital, on which stood the colossal sphinx, dedicated by the Naxians, that has been pieced together and placed in the museum.
A little farther on, but below the Sacred Way, is another open space, of circular form, which is perhaps theἅλωςor sacred threshing-floor on which the drama of the slaying of the Python by Apollo was periodically performed. Opposite this space, and backed against the beautifully jointed polygonal wall which has for some time been known, and which supports the terrace on which the temple stands, is the colonnade of the Athenians. A dedicatory inscription runs along the face of the top step, and has been the subject of much dispute. Both the forms of the letters and the style of the architecture show that the colonnade cannot date, as Pausanias says, from the time of the Peloponnesian War; Th. Homolle now assigns it to the end of the 6th century. The polygonal terrace wall at the back, on being cleared, proves to be covered with inscriptions, most of them concerning the manumission of slaves.
After rounding the east end of the terrace wall, the Sacred Way turns northward, leaving the Great Altar, dedicated by the Chians, on the left. After passing the altar, it turns to the left again at right angles, and so enters the space in front of the temple. Remains of offerings found in this region include those dedicated by the Cyrenians and by the Corinthians. The site of the temple itself carries the remains of successive structures. Of that built by the Alcmaeonids in the 6th centuryB.C.considerable remains have been found, some in the foundations of the later temple and some lying where they were thrown by the earthquake. The sculptures found have been assigned to this building, probably to the gables, as they are archaic in character, and show a remarkable resemblance to the sculptures from the pediment of the early temple of Athena at Athens. The existing foundations are these of the temple built in the 4th century. They give no certain information as to the sacred cleft and other matters relating to the oracle. Though there are great hollow spaces in the structure of the foundations, these appear merely to have been intended to save material, and not to have been put to any religious or other use. Up in the north-eastern corner of the precinct, standing at the foot of the cliffs, are the remains of the interesting Cnidian Lesche or Clubhouse. It was a long narrow building accessible only from the south, and the famous paintings were probably disposed around the walls so as to meet in the middle of the north side. Some scanty fragments of the lower part of the frescoed walls have survived; but they are not enough to give any information as to the work of Polygnotus.
At the north-western corner of the precinct is the theatre, oneof the best preserved in Greece. The foundations of the stage are extant, as well as the orchestra, and the walls and seats of the auditorium. There are thirty-three tiers of seats in seven sets, and a paved diazoma. The sculptures from the stage front, now in the museum, have the labours of Heracles as their subject. The date of the theatre is probably early 2nd centuryB.C.
The stadium lies, as Pausanias says, in the highest part of the city to the north-west. It stands on a narrow plateau of ground supported on the south-east by a terrace wall. The seats have been cleared, and are in a state of extraordinary preservation. A few of those at the east end are hewn in the rock. No trace of the marble seats mentioned by Pausanias has been found, but they have probably been carried off for lime or building, as they could easily be removed. An immense number of inscriptions have been found in the excavations, and many works of art, including a bronze charioteer, which is one of the most admirable statues preserved from ancient times.
II.History.—Our information as to the oracle at Delphi and the manner in which it was consulted is somewhat confused; there probably was considerable variation at different periods. The tale of a hole from which intoxicating “mephitic” vapour arose has no early authority, nor is it scientifically probable (see A. P. Oppé inJournal of Hellenic Studies, xxiv. 214). The questions had to be given in writing, and the responses were uttered by the Pythian priestess, in early times a maiden, later a woman over fifty attired as a maiden. After chewing the sacred bay and drinking of the spring Cassotis, which was conducted into the temple by artificial channels, she took her seat on the sacred tripod in the inner shrine. Her utterances were reduced to verse and edited by the prophets and the “holy men” (ὅσιοι). For the influence and history of the oracle seeOracle.
Delphi also contained the “Omphalos,” a sacred stone bound with fillets, supposed to mark the centre of the earth. It was said Zeus had started two eagles from the opposite extremities and they met there. Other tales said the stone was the one given by Rhea to Cronus as a substitute for Zeus.
For the history of the Delphic Amphictyony see underAmphictyony. The oracle at Delphi was asserted by tradition to have existed before the introduction of the Apolline worship and to have belonged to the goddess Earth (Ge or Gaia). The Homeric Hymn to Apollo evidently combines two different versions, one of the approach of Apollo from the north by land, and the other of the introduction of his votaries from Crete. The earliest stone temple was said to have been built by Trophonius and Agamedes. This was destroyed by fire in 548B.C., and the contract for rebuilding was undertaken by the exiled Alcmaeonidae from Athens, who generously substituted marble on the eastern front for the poros specified (seeCleisthenes,ad init.). Portions of the pediments of this temple have been found in the excavations; but no sign has been found of the pediments mentioned by Pausanias, representing on the east Apollo and the Muses, and on the west Dionysus and the Thyiades (Bacchantes), and designed by Praxias, the pupil of Calanias. The temple which was seen by Pausanias, and of which the foundations were found by the excavators, was the one of which the building is recorded in inscriptions of the 4th century. A raid on Delphi attempted by the Persians in 480B.C.was said to have been frustrated by the god himself, by means of a storm or earthquake which hurled rocks down on the invaders; a similar tale is told of the raid of the Gauls in 279B.C.But the sacrilege thus escaped at the hands of foreign invaders was inflicted by the Phocian defenders of Delphi during the Sacred War, 356-346B.C., when many of the precious votive offerings were melted down. The Phocians were condemned to replace their value to the amount of 10,000 talents, which they paid in instalments. In 86B.C.the sanctuary and its treasures were put under contribution by L. Cornelius Sulla for the payment of his soldiers; Nero removed no fewer than 500 bronze statues from the sacred precincts; Constantine the Great enriched his new city by the sacred tripod and its support of intertwined snakes dedicated by the Greek cities after the battle of Plataea. This still exists, with its inscription, in the Hippodrome at Constantinople. Julian afterwards sent Oribasius to restore the temple; but the oracle responded to the emperor’s enthusiasm with nothing but a wail over the glory that had departed.