DELOS. 
elevated, the ee corredt, and the agar eH: and percilling 
excellent. The praife of Rubens is of 3 ufficient to 
caceaize this artift, who died in 1634. ‘Pilkington 
a S, in Ancient Geography, an ifland of the Aegean 
fea, or Grecian Archipelago, fituated nearly in the centre 
cf the Glade (whieh fee) and placed oy ape oo iv. C. 12. 
I rom M m Naxos, 
thefe stance are i ae ee 
a 
eyroneous, as Myconus is “dilant from Delos 3 mile 
and Naxos soar ie | as on to the ancients by 
the nam Cy Cyn Afteria, Pclafgia, 
s 
Chlamydias, aoe. Pyrpils ee Mydia, and Ortygia, 
It was named Orty and Lagia, from two Greck words, 
ortyx and Jagos, the former fisvifyin a oe and the latter a 
hare, the ifland formerly abounding with ° thefe animals. 
d 1 om a 
floating on the water. Some fay that it was called Delos 
or manifeftation, becaufe it was the birth-place of Apollo, 
the fy mbol of the fun, and becaufe the beams of this luminary 
enlighten the whole earth. The poets pretend that this 
ifland was nem-d Delos, becaufe Latona, being delivered of 
Apollo and Diana, towed herfelf fel here, rot havin 
dard to appear before, for fear of Juno. The fable reports 
that it floated at the mercy of the winds; but Herodotus 
xamined it with ettention, and deniesthe fa&. Some fabu- 
lous writers fay that it was fixed by the voice of Neptune, 
cr 
aan wh 
5 miles in ela 8; 
a cobaanan 9° i miles. ao 
‘ ecrops, who is fai 
poffeffed this ifland 1558 years B.C. ; but it was afterwards 
much enlarged and embellifhed at the general charge of all 
the Grecian ftates. But Plutarch fays, that it was one of 
the mof ately buildings in the univerfe,.and defcribes its 
altar, as deferving a place among the feven wonders of the 
world. The infer ‘ption in this temple, as Ariftotle informs us, 
(Ethie. 1. 1... G ) was as follows: ‘* Of all things the moft 
beautiful is jultice 5 3 the mott ufefults health; and the moft 
agreeable isthe pofleflion of the beloved obje@.”? The trunk 
of the famous ftatue of Apollo, mentioned by Strabo and 
Pliny, has been for ae an objeg of admiration to travellers 5 : 
ghe 
the hhoulders. being ie teet broad, and the thighs nine feet 
Round the temple of pollo were magnificent por- 
ticoes, built at the charge of various ao as appears from 
‘fa ‘lo this temple the neighbour- 
This ifland was celebrated both by the poets 
and hileaan: of antiquity : the poets, it is faid, by Calli- 
machus, prefented in this flee the firft tribute of their fer- 
wices ; for the favour of Apollo could not be obtained any 
where elfe. Pieces of mufic and poetry were diftributed at 
he games celebrated here in honour of Apollo. See Detian 
ames. e Athenians mzde an annual procefficn to the 
ifland of Delos, ‘The author of this ceremony was Thiefeus, 
Crere,) to be ia 2 the Minotaur, ma vow to 
Apollo, that if he d them a.fafe return, ie fhould 
make a folemn v ae o his temple in Delos every year. e 
learn from Strabo and Call imachne,that this ifland was watered 
pus. The ifla one 
of the nobleft {pring in the whole Archipelago, being twelve 
paces in diameter, aud enclofed partly by ac and partly 
is iflan neiently gover y kings; 
med : 
had by his wife Dorippe three daughters, who are feign- 
ed by the poets to have derived from Bacchus the power of 
changing whatever they touched into wine, wheat-feed, or 
oil ; alluding to the great quantity of wine, wheat, and oil, 
which accrued to their father from the offerings made to 
Apollo. Jofhua, it is faid, in the 15th century before 
Chriit, having driven the Pheenicians from the land of Canaan, 
they pafled into the iflands of the /Eigean fea, and eftablifhed 
themfelves in thefe iflands, and particularly i in that of Delos. 
Thucydides fays, that thefe people, 
64). to pus 
e did by caufing all the dead bodies 
: i e prof- 
e Oth year of the. Peloponnefian 
e apace ns, by the advice of an oracle, purified it 
a. by carrying all the dead bodies to the iflard of 
Rhenza, eae they were interre ae ng thes cleared 
it from fepulchres, in order to preferve t fron n, they 
publifhed an edi&, enacting that for oe te no perfon 
fhould be fuffered to die, nor any woman to be bro ought to 
bed in the ifland; but when death or Sales es approached, 
they fhould be cael over into Rhenza. In memory of this 
purification, the Athenians inftituted a apne sia which 
was celebrated every fifth year, (fee DeLia; affem- 
bling on that occafion to Delos from the neighbouring iflands, 
and all parts of Greece. A few years after, the Avhenians: 
to complete the purification of the ifland, expelled ail the 
ancient inhabitants, whom they pretended to be polluied, 
on account of acrime committed by them in former times, 
ut not mentioned by our hiftorians. The Athenians were 
driven out by Mithridates me Great, who plundered the rich 
temple of Apollo, and obliged the Delians to take part with 
him. Mithridates, in his turn, Joft it tothe Romans, who 
granted many privileges to the sshsbieate sl exempted 
them from all kinds of tribute and taxes he lands are 
now fo covered with ruins and rubbifh, as to admit of no fort 
of culture; yet the inhabitants of Mycon hold it, by paying 
ten crowns land-tax to the grand Signi 
The oracle of Apollo, in Delos, was one of the moft fa« 
mous oracles in the world, not only for its antiquity, but 
for the richnefs of the facred prefents dedicated to the god, 
and the numbers of perfons that reforted hither from all parts 
for advice ; inwhich refpeét it furpaffed not only all the oracles 
of other gods, but thofe of Apollo himfelf, that of Delphi 
alone excepted. Some writers fay, that the ifland = Ais 
me 
by an oracle, as Herodotus informs us, (lib. 
nfy the ifland, which i 
