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 I m. to m. broad, about m. E. of Megali Dili or Rheneia, and 2 M. W. of Myconus. Towards the centre it rises to its greatest height of 3 5o 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 surround ing sea.
Archaeology.—Excavations have been made by the French school at Athens slowly but systematically since 1877. The sacred precinct of Apollo has been recovered, as well as the commercial quarter of Hellenistic and Roman times, the theatre, the temples of the foreign gods, the temples on the top of Mount Cynthus, and interesting private houses. Sculpture of all periods has been found, and extensive series of inscriptions throwing light upon temple administration.
The ancient mole faces the channel between Delos and Rheneia. The precinct is approached by an avenue flanked by porticoes, that upon the seaside bearing the name of Philip V. of Macedon, who dedicated it about zoo B.C. This was the usual approach for sacred embassies and processions; but Nicias, on the occasion of his embassy, built a bridge from the island of Hecate to Delos, that the Athenian procession might not miss its full effect. Facing the avenue were the propylaea, the chief entrance, with a pro jecting portico of four columns. The sacred road continued across an 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. The other two faced west and were either dedicated to heroes or minor deities or were treasuries. Beyond them the road sweeps round to the front of the temple of Apollo. The outer side of this curve is bounded by a row of treasuries, similar to those at Delphi and Olympia, to house the offerings of various islands or cities. The temple of Apollo could also be approached directly from the entrance, through a passage with a porch at either end. Just to the north of this is the basis of the colossal Apollo dedicated by the Naxians, with its well known archaic inscription and two large fragments of the statue itself.
The temple of Apollo, the centre of the whole precinct, was of Doric style, built early in the 4th century B.c. Its sculptural decoration was but scanty; the metopes were plain : the acroteria are now 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. To the east of the temple was an oblong Prytaneum or other official build ing with colonnade on each side. Beyond it is the most interesting and characteristic of all the monuments of Delos, a long narrow hall, 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 the yipavos or stork-dance took place. The most remarkable architectural fea ture of the building is the partition that separated the altar from this long gallery; it consists of two columns between antae, 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 porti coes, reception chambers and two entrances through extensive propylaea. At the north-west corner is a building of limestone, often mentioned in the inventories of treasures. 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, opening into 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 dis covery of the finer and better preserved set from the Athenian Acropolis. 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 identified as the tombs of the Hyperborean maidens. To the east was the temple of Dionysus, of peculiar plan; on the other side of it was a large court, forming a commercial exchange ; with a temple to Aphrodite and Hermes.
To the north between the precinct and the sacred lake, are extensive ruins of the commercial town including a sort of club or exchange and the new and the old palaestra. The shore of the channel facing Rheneia is lined with docks and warehouses, and behind them are private houses of the 2nd or 3rd century B.C. Each consists of a single court surrounded by columns and often paved with mosaic ; various chambers open out of the court, in cluding usually one of large proportions, the &v8 pc'ov or dining room for guests. The theatre, set in the lower slope of Mount Cynthus, has the wings of the auditorium supported by massive substructures. The scene consisted of an oblong building of two storeys, surrounded by a low portico 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 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, is 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.
History.—Many alternative names for Delos are given by tra dition ; one of these, Ortygia, is elsewhere also assigned to an island sacred to Artemis. Of the various traditions that were cur rent among the ancient Greeks regarding the origin of Delos, the most popular describes it as drifting through the Aegean till moored by Zeus for the wandering Leto, as a birthplace for Apollo and Artemis. 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, at the anniversary of the birth of the god on the 7th of Thargelion (about May). In the 6th century B.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 transforma tion of the Delian amphictyony into the Athenian empire. (See DELIAN LEAGUE.) In 426 B.C., in connection 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 ex pelled 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 345 B.C. During Mace donian times, from 322 to 166 B.C., Delos again became inde pendent ; and the temple and its possessions were administered by officials called tepoirowoi. After 166 B.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 87 B.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 42 B.C., but Pausanias (viii. 33. 2) mentions Delos as deserted but for a few Athenian officials; and several epigrams of the first or second century A.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 un inhabited, though during the summer months a few shepherds cross over with their flocks from Myconus or Rheneia. As a re ligious centre it is replaced by Tenos and as a commercial centre by the flourishing port of Syra.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The French excavations are fully published in Bibliography. The French excavations are fully published in Fouilles de Delos (in progress) ; see also Th. Homolle, Les Archives de l'intendance sacree a Delos (with plan) . For history, see Sir R. C. Jebb, Journal of Hellenic Studies, i. (1889), pp. 7-62, and Pauly-Wissowa. For works of art found at Delos see GREEK ART.
DE LOUTHERBOURG, PHILIP JAMES (I 74o-1812), English artist. was born at Strasbourg on Oct. 31, 1740, where his father, of Polish descent, practised miniature painting; but he spent the greater part of his life in London, where he was natural ized, and exerted a considerable influence on the scenery of the English stage. De Loutherbourg studied under Vanloo in Paris, and painted landscapes, sea storms, battles, all of which had some celebrity. He travelled 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 Gar rick, who offered him Lsoo a year to apply his inventions to Drury Lane, and to superintend the scene painting, which he did with complete success. Garrick's own piece, the Christmas Tale, and the pantomime, 1781-82, introduced the novelties to the public, and the delight not only of the masses, but of Reynolds and the artists, was unbounded.
"Lord Howe's Victory off Ushant" (1794), and other large naval pictures were commissioned for Greenwich Hospital gallery; his finest work was the "Destruction of the Armada." A pamphlet published in 1789, entitled A List of a few Cures performed by Mr. and Mrs. De Loutherbourg without Medicine, shows that he had taken up faith-healing, and he seems to have associated at one time with Cagliostro. He died on March 1812.