DRUSILLA 





Druses. Women of the Syrian peop.e from the Lebanon 

 district, wearing their characteristic costume 



100 towns and villages and scat- 

 tered elsewhere amongst other 

 races, their total number is esti- 

 mated to be from 100,000-200,000. 

 They are probably an admixture 

 of different stocks, with a prepon- 

 derating Arab element, the lan- 

 guage spoken by them being 

 Arabic. Others regard them as 

 Iranians. They are under sheikhs 

 or village headmen, themselves 

 subordinate to ameers, both, to- 

 gether with the landed proprietors, 

 forming a kind of supreme council. 

 The vine, olive, and tobacco plant 

 are cult ivated,and silkworms reared. 



Their religion is a curious mix- 

 ture of Mahomedanism, Judaism, 

 and Christianity, but they pride 

 themselves on being Muwahiddin, 

 believers in one god. This one 

 god is said to have manifested 

 himself ten times in the flesh, the 

 last time in the person of Hakim, 

 the Fatimite caliph of Egypt 

 (996-1021), who is expected" to 

 reappear as the Messiah. From 

 his disciple and supporter Darazi, 

 the name Druses is supposed to be 

 derived. The people are divided 

 into Akils (learned), who alone 

 possess knowledge of the sacred 

 books and mysteries ; and Jahils 

 (ignorant). They believe in the 

 transmigration of souls, the soul 

 passing from one body to another 

 until it finally becomes perfect. 



Forced to submit to Murad III 

 in 1588, under their chief Fakr- 



2699 



in 1840. The 

 adoption of Ma- 

 ronite Christi- 

 anity by another 

 Beshir led to civil 

 war. Druses and 

 Maronites were 

 put under a 

 separate kaima- 

 kan or governor, 

 but after the 

 Damascus mas- 

 sacre of Chris- 

 tians in 1860, the 

 Lebanon district 

 was placed under 

 a Christian gov- 

 ernor. Turkish 

 misrule led to 

 fresh disturb- 

 ances in 1895- 

 96, which, as the 

 Turks made some 

 concessions, were 

 followed by a 

 period of com- 

 parative quiet. 

 See La Nation 



Druse, H. Guys, 1863; Arab and 



Druze at Home, W. Ewing, 1907 ; 



The Druses, E. Sell, 1910. Pron. 



Droozez. 

 DrusiUa, LiviA(d.A.D. 29). Wife 



of the Roman emperor Augustus. 



She was previously the wife of 



Tiberius Claudius Nero, whom 



ed-din in the early 17th century 

 the Druses enjoyed their greatest 

 prosperity. Beshir (c. 1786) kept 

 himself in power by offering his 

 services to various rebels, being 

 finally obliged to quit the country 

 when the Porte reconquered Syria 



Augustus compelled to divorce her. 

 Her elder son by the first marriage 

 became the Roman emperor Tibe- 

 rius, while her second son, with 

 whom she was pregnant at the 

 time of the divorce, was Drusus. 

 She is not to be confounded with 

 Drusilla, wife of Felix, procurator 

 of Judaea before whom S. Paul 

 preached ; nor with the daughter 

 of Germanicus. 



Drusus, MARCUS LIVIUS. Col- 

 league of Gaius Gracchus in the 

 tribuneship, 122 B.C. Won over by 

 the senate, he vetoed the bills 

 brought forward by Gracchus and 

 brought forward others making far 

 greater concessions, in order to 

 secure popular favour. His son, of 

 the same name, tribune in 91, made 

 various proposals dealing with the 

 distribution of public lands and 

 rearrangement of the jury-courts. 

 Having aroused suspicion by sug- 

 gesting that the franchise should 

 be extended to the Italians, he was 

 assassinated. 



Drusus, NEED CLAUDIUS (38-9 

 B.C.). Roman soldier. Son of 

 Livia Drusilla by her first husband, 

 Tiberius Claudius Nero. Her second 

 husband, the emperor Augustus, 

 conceived a great liking for Drusus, 

 who became one of his most dis- 

 tinguished generals, and conducted 

 a campaign in Germany which ex- 

 tended the Roman dominion to 

 the Elbe. He was the father of 



Nero Claudius Drusus, 

 Roman soldier 



From a bust in British 

 Museum 



DRYBURGH ABBEY 



N t h e emperor 

 *Claudius. This 

 Drusus was 

 called Senior, 

 to distinguish 

 him from his 

 nephew, the 

 son of Ti- 

 berius, who 

 was poisoned 

 at the instance 

 of S e j a n u s 

 (q.v.). 



Dryads (Gr. drys, oak). In 

 Greek mythology, nymphs asso- 

 ciated with trees. A dryad was sup- 

 posed to live only as long as the 

 particular tree with which she was 

 associated. See Nymph. 



Dryas (Dryas oclopekiJa). Peren- 

 nial dwarf shrub of the natural 

 order Rosaceae. It is a native of 

 Europe, Asia, and N. America. The 

 short stem is embedded in the soil, 

 and the numerous spreading and 

 closely packed branches lie along 

 the surface, bearing many tufts of 

 oblong, toothed, evergreen leaves. 

 The white flowers are 1 \ in. across, 

 and the fruits are provided with 

 long, feathery awns. 



Dry burgh Abbey. Monastic 

 ruin in Berwickshire, Scotland, on 

 the Tweed, 4 m. S.E. of Mel- 

 rose. Generally stated to have 

 been founded in 1150, it suffered 

 at the hands of Edward II in 1322, 

 was partially destroyed by Richard 

 II in 1385, and almost totally 

 demolished by the earl of Hertford 

 in 1544. After the Reformation 

 the property, no longer put to 

 religious uses, passed to the earl 

 of Mar. The existing remains in- 

 clude the chapter house, parts of 

 the large and beautiful church, and 

 traces of the monastic buildings. Sir 

 Walter Scott and several of his 

 relatives are buried in S. Mary's 

 aisle. In 1918 it was presented to 

 the nation by Lord Glenconner. 



Dryburgh Abbey. S. Mary's aisle, 



containing the tomb of Sir Walter 



Scott 



