DIOMEDEIE, de-d-nzi-de'-x (see DIOMEDES). DIOMEDES, dt-b-one-des. x. Son of Tydeus and Deklle, and known as TYDIDES, tY de-deS, succeeded Adrastus as king of Argos ; fought as one of the Epigfni against Thebes ; went with eighty ships to Troy, and exhibited signal bravery, having, under the protection of Minerva, engaged with Hector and fEneas, and wounded Venus and Mars. With Ulysses he stole the Palladium from Troy, and assisted in murdering King Rhesus of Thrace, anti carrying away his horses. On his return to Argos, he found that his wife Agialea. had been unfaithful with Hippoljkus (or Cometes, or Cyllabgrus), which was a punishment for his wounding Venus. Diomedes, in disgust, went to ih:tolia, but again set out to return tc Argos, when he was driven in a storm to Daunia, in Italy. He married Evippe, daughter of King Daunus, and built Argyripa. He died, ac cording to some, by the hands of Daunus, and was buried in one of the Diomede& baceikr, off Garganus ; and his comrades, inconsolable at his loss, were made birds (Aver Dlonadix), which joyfully approached Greek ships, but avoided all others. 2. A king of the Bistiines, in Thrace, son of Mars and Cyrene, fed his horses on human flesh, for which he was killed by Hercules, and his body given to his horses. DioN, i. A Syracusan, son of Hip parinus, was much esteemed by his relative, the tyrant Dionysius I. When Plato resided at the court of the latter, Dion became his pupil. He was banished by the dissolute Dionysius II., and went to Athens. He col lected a large force to liberate his countrymen, and entered the port of Syracuse, which sur rendered in three days, whereon Dionysius II. fled to Corinth. Dion kept the power in his own, hands, and was assassinated 353 B.C. 2. CASSIUS, cad-si-its, a historian, son of a Roman senator, born at Nicma, in Bithynia, A.D. 255, was raised to high offices by Pertinax, Comm6dus, Caracalla, and Alexander Severus. He wrote a History of Rome in eighty books, from the time of "%leas to Alexander Sevents, of which XXXVI.—LIV. are extant, and fragments of the others. He spent ten years in collecting materials for it, and took Thu cyclides as his model. 3. See CuirvsosTostu.s. DION; di-e-7/P, a nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris, became mother of Venus (hence called Moneta, or Diane) by Jupiter ; whence Cmsar, Venus's descendant (through ./Eneas), is called DIrmerus.
prONYSIA, Greek festivals to Bacchus (Dionysus), especially celebrated at Athens, the season being devoted to boisterous merriment. Women dressed as Bacchm, Lena:, Thyfides, Naifides, &c., marched with the men
(dressed as Silfinus, Pan, the Satyrs, &c.) in the processions were adorned with ivy garlands, and bore the thyrsus ; and musicians attended with flutes, cymbals, and drums : hymns (5.0iviiuRoi) were sung by choruses to the god, reciting his exploits and extolling his services to mankind. The Rural, or Lesser Dionysia, were celebrated throughout Attica every Poseideon by the demarchs, the magis trates of each deme, when slaves enjoyed temporary freedom, rustic merriment was indulged in, and scurrilous jests were heaped on the bystanders by peasants as they rode about in waggons (whence the origin of Com mina); the Lencea (q. v.), every Gamelion ; the Anthesteria (q. v.), every Anthesterion ; and the City, or Great Dionysia, in the middle of Elaphebolion, when there were the great public procession, a chorus of boys, a chorus of men, and the representation of comedies and tragedies. In the great public procession were carried various sacred vessels, one of which contained water ; then came a select number of noble virgins (Kavno6p,,,), bearing little baskets of gold filled with various fruits, and occasionally containing small serpents ; next came men (0A5.0,p6pnt) carrying poles, at the top of which were fixed the 95uAAoi, the symbol of fertility, the men being crowned with ivy and violets, and their faces covered with other herbs; and they sang sons on the occasion of the festival (OctAXIKA next came the 104wAAin, who danced lewd dances, imitated drunken men, and were dressed as women, with white striped garments reaching to the ground, their heads decked with garlands, and their hands wreathed with flowers. At all the festivals there were At., 011p01, persons bearing. the or snystica vannus lacchi (Virg. Georg. iii. 134), the win nowing-fan, or broad basket, in which the corn was placed after threshing, and then thrown against the wind to winnow the grain from the chaff : it was borne with the sacri ficial utensils and first-fruits, and from it Bacchus was often called A.4.1:711C. It must be remembered that though the cactNN6g and its attendant ceremonies appear so revolting to us, they were not viewed by the Greeks in any other light than as sacred symbols, and they suggested nothing impure. The Dionysia were introduced at Rome under the name Baccha nalia, but forbidden after 186 Lc., except in some few cases ; but the Romans celebrated annually, on rfith March, a more innocent festival. the Liberalla (q. v.).