Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

DELPIIINIA.

129

DEMOSII.

Ionian confederacy, took the most prominent
part in the celebration of the Delia; and
though the islanders, in common with Athens,
provided the choruses and victims, the leader
(ipXif e'wpo?), who conducted the whole solem-
nity, was an Athenian, and the Athenians
had the superintendence of the common sanc-
tuary. From these solemnities, belonging to
the great Delian panegyris, we must distin-
guish the lesser Delia, which were men-
tioned above, and which were celebrated
every year, probably on the Cth of Tharge-
lion. The Athenians on this occasion sent
the sacred vessel (Oeiopt's), which the priest of
Apollo adorned with laurel branches, to De-
los. The embassy was called Sewpi'a; and
those who sailed to the island, 6eupoC; and
before they set sail a solemn sacrifice was
offered in the Delion, at Marathon, in order
to obtain a happy voyage. During the absence
of the vessel the city of Athens was purified,
and no criminal was allowed to be executed.

DELPHSnIA (SeA^uoa), a festival of the
same expiatory character as the Apollonia,
which was celebrated in various towns of
Greece, in honour of Apollo, surnamed Del-
phinius.

DEEPHIS (6eA$<.'s), an instrument of naval
warfare. It consisted of a large mass of iron
or lead suspended on a beam, which pro-
jected from the mast of the ship like a yard-
arm. It was used to sink, or make a hole in,
an enemy's vessel, by being dropped upon it
when alongside.

DELtJBRUM. [Tf.mpixm.]

DEMARCIII (<5ijp.<xpxoi), officers, who were
the head-boroughs or chief magistrates of the
demi in Attica, and are said to have been
first appointed by CTeisthenes. Their duties
were various and important. Thus, they
convened meetings of the demus, and took
the votes upon all questions under considera-
tion ; they made and kept a register of the
landed estates in their districts, levied the
monies due to the demus for rent, &c. They
succeeded to the functions which had been
discharged by the naucrari of the old consti-
tution.

DEMENSUM, an allowance of corn, given
to Koman slaves monthly or daily. It
usually consisted of four or five modii of corn
a month.

DEMINOTIO CAPITIS. [Caput.]
DEMIURGI (<5r)|u.ioupyoi), magistrates,
whose title is expressive of their doing the
service of the people, existed in several of
the Peloponnesian states. Among the El cans
and Mantineans they seem to have been the
chief executive magistracy. We also read of
demiurgi in the Achaean league, who probably
ranked next to the strategi, and put questions

to the vote in the general assembly of the
confederates. Officers named epidemiuryi, or
upper demiurgi, were sent by the Corin-
thians to manage the government of their
colony at Potidaea.

DEMOCRATIC (S^oKparia), that form of
constitution in which the sovereign politica.
power is in the hands of the demus (Srjmo?)
or commonalty. In a passage of Herodotus
(iii. 80), the characteristics of a democracy
are specified to be—1. Equality of legal
rights (iowo/xi'r;). 2. The appointment of
magistrates by lot. 3. The accountability of
all magistrates and officers. 4. The reference
of all public matters to the decision of the
community at large. Aristotle remarks—
" The following points are characteristic of a
democracy; that all magistrates should be
chosen out of the whole body of citizens ;
that all should rule each, and each in turn
rule all; that either all magistracies, or those
not requiring experience and professional
knowledge, should be assigned by lot; that
there should be no property qualification, or
but a very small one, for filling any magis-
tracy ; that the same man should not fill the
same office twice, or should fill offices but few
times, and but few offices, except in the case
of military commands ; that all, or as many
as possible of the magistracies, should be of
brief duration; that all citizens should be
qualified to serve as dicasts ; that the su-
preme power in everything should reside in
the public assembly, and that no magistrate
should be entrusted with irresponsible power
except in very small matters." It is some-
what curious that neither in practice nor in
theory did the representative system attract
any attention among the Greeks. That dis-
eased form of a democracy, in which from
the practice of giving pay to the poorer citi-
zens for their attendance in the public as-
sembly, and from other causes, the predomi-
nant party in the state came to be in fact the
lowest class of the citizens, was by later
writers termed an Ochlocracy (oxAokpo-tlo—
the dominion of the mob).

DEMUSll (Srj^ocno!.), public slaves at
Athens, who were purchased by the state.
The public slaves, most frequently men-
tioned, formed the city guard; it was their
duty to preserve order in the public assem-
bly, and to remove any person whom the
prytaneis might order. They are generally
called bowmen (-rojoTcu) ; or from the native
country of the majority, Scythians (2/cu9at) ;
and also Speusinians, from the name of the
person who first established the force. They
originally lived in tents in the market-place,
and afterwards upon the Areiopagus. Their
officers had the name of toxarchs (rdfapxoi,).