Greek and Roman Antiquities

• Dactyliotheca a case or box where rings were kept (Mart. 11.59). Such a ring-case has been recognised in
• Dactylus a Greek measure, answering to the Roman digitus, each signifying a finger-breadth, and bei
• Daedala DAEDALEIA (δαίδαλα, δαιδάλεια), a term applied to the earliest iconic representations of t
• Daedala a festival, celebrated in Boeotia in honour of Hera, surnamed Νυμφευομένη or Τελεία (Paus.
• Dalmatica or DELMATICA (δαλματική, δελματική), a tunic furnished with long sleeves, full and flowing
• Damareteion a Syracusan coin, concerning which there has been much dispute. According to Diodorus (11.
• Damnum signifies loss or injury of any kind, but in its particular sense it means loss or injury
• Damnum infectum infectum is damage not done, but apprehended, on account of the dangerous condition of nei
• Damnum injuria datum injuria datum was a delict committed by a person who damaged a physical object belonging t
• Damosia the tent of the Spartan kings in the field, head-quarters, like the Latin praetorium; usua
• Danaces . Some people, according to Pollux (9.82), held this to be a Persian coin. The word seems
• Daphnephoria a festival celebrated every ninth year at Thebes in honour of Apollo, surnamed Ismenius or
• Dardanarii forestallers, who purchased corn to sell at a high price, were severely punished in imperi
• Daricus or daric stater (στατὴρ δαρεικός). This was the name of the gold coin which constituted fo
• Datetae distributors or liquidators, dators, were employed in the winding up of a partnership conc
• Dealbatores workmen mentioned in the Codex of Justinian (10.64, 1; cf. C. I. L. 4.222), appear to have
• Decadarchia or DECARCHIA (δεκαδαρχία, δεκαρχία), a council or government of Ten. 1. In Thessaly, estab
• Decaduchi the members of a council of Ten, who succeeded the Thirty in the supreme power at Athens,
• Decanus the head of ten men. The word does not seem to occur before the time of Constantine, and t
• Decaproti . In the Greek-speaking cities of the Roman empire a committee of ten, or more rarely of t
• Decasmus bribery: strictly meaning a systematic bribery by division into sets of ten (Bekk. Anecd.
• Decem primi primi 1. The Ten First of the Roman Senate were originally the heads of the decuries into
• Decempeda a pole ten feet long, used by the agrimensores in measuring land. (Cic. pro Mil. 27, § 74;
• Decemviri the Ten Men, the name of various magistrates and functionaries at Rome. 1. DECEMVIRI CONSU
• Decennalia or DECENNIA, a festival celebrated with games every ten years by the Roman emperors. This
• Decimatio was the selection, by lot, of every tenth man for capital punishment, when any number of s
• Declamatio a term which came into use first in Cicero's time (Brut. 90, 310: commentabar declamitans,
• Decoctor a bankrupt (Plin. Nat. 33.133), was used in popular language to signify any spendthrift. T
• Decretum seems to mean that which is determined in a particular case after examination or considera
• Decumae tithes or tenths. Greek The Greek writers use the word δεκάτη somewhat loosely, applying i
• Decuria from decem, ten, and consequently a company of ten persons (Col. 1.9.7; Gel. 18.7). 1. A d
• Decurio the head or representative of a decuria. 1. The head of the decuriae into which the curiae
• Decuriones CURIALES. In the constitution of the Italian towns (municipia, coloniae, praefecturae), as
• Decursio DECURSUS, DECURRERE. 1. These words were used to signify the manœuvres of the Roman army,
• Decussis ten asses, as a Roman coin a ten as piece, struck after the reduction of the weight of the
• Dediticii are the lowest of the three classes of freedmen (pessima libertas eorum est qui dediticior
• Deductio DEDUCTOR. Some technical senses of deducere and its derivatives may here be noticed. The v
• Defensor civitatis civitatis The oppression of the lower orders of the people by the more powerful, which was
• Deigma a particular place in the Peiraeus, as well as in the harbours of other states, where merc
• Dejecti effusive actio effusive actio If any person threw or poured anything from the room of a house upon a plac
• Delatio nominis nominis In Roman criminal procedure the first step was to apply to the praetor to allow th
• Delatores This term was originally applied to those who gave notice to the officials of the treasury
• Delia the name of festivals and games celebrated at the great panegyris in the island of Delos,
• Delphinia a festival of the same expiatory character as the Apollonia, which was celebrated in vario
• Delphis a mass of lead armed with bronze or iron, perhaps in the shape of a dolphin, used for sink
• Demarchi the presidents of the demes (δῆμοι) in Attica, are said to have been first appointed by Cl
• Demetria an annual festival which the Athenians, in 307 B.C., instituted in honour of Demetrius Pol
• Demioprata were property confiscated at Athens and sold by public auction. The confiscation of proper
• Demiurgi . 1. In the heroic age δημιουργοὶ are not merely skilled artisans, but artists, including
• Demius the public executioner at Athens, a slave, who was the servant of The Eleven. For referenc
• Democratia that form of constitution in which the sovereign political power is in the hands of the de
• Demosii public slaves at Athens, bought by the state. The most numerous class were the τοξόται or
• Demus a country district, Lat. pagus. In contrasting town (πόλις) and country (περιοικίς), the D
• Denarius translated by penny in the A. V. of the Bible, was the principal silver coin among the Rom
• Dendrophori a collegium or corporation of carpenters, frequently mentioned in inscriptions in imperial
• Dentifricium dentifrice or tooth-powder, appears to have been skilfully prepared and generally used amo
• Depas a cup with two handles, frequently mentioned by Homer, seems to have been a generic term,
• Depontani senes senes a name given to men sixty years of age, hence called sexagenarii, because they were
• Depositum is a real contract which consists in one man entrusting a movable thing to another to keep
• Dermatikon the hide-money; that is, the money paid into the treasury at Athens from the sale of the h
• Desertor is defined by Modestinus to be one qui per prolixum tempus vagatus, reducitur, and differs
• Desultor literally one who leaps off, was applied to a person who rode several horses or chariots,
• Deunx eleven ounces, eleven-twelfths of the as [AS], not represented by a coin, or eleven-twelft
• Dextans ten ounces, ten-twelfths of the as [AS], not represented by, a coin, or ten-twelfths of an
• Dextrale and DEXTROCHERIUM (from dexter and χείρ, the hand, Capitol. Maxim. 6, Maxim. Jun. 1; gemma
• Diabateria a sacrifice offered to Zeus and Athena by the Spartan kings on passing the frontier of Lac
• Diadema a white band or fillet used to encircle the head. (V. Max. 6.2.7.) This ornament was of Or
• Diadicasia in its most extended sense, is almost a synonym of δίκη, but always includes the notion of
• Diaetetae arbitrators, umpires. The Diaetetae mentioned by the Athenian orators were of two kinds: t
• Diaetetica one of the principal branches into which the ancients divided the art and science of medic
• Diamastigosis was a solemnity performed at Sparta at the festival of Artemis Orthia, whose temple was ca
• Diapsephisis a political institution at Athens, the object of which was to prevent aliens, or such as w
• Diasia a great festival celebrated at Athens, without the walls of the city (ἔξω τῆς πόλεως), in
• Diatreta sc. vasa, mentioned only by Martial (12.70, 9) and Ulpian (calices diatreti, Dig. 9, 2, 27
• Dicasterion indicates. both the aggregate judges that sat in court and the place itself in which they
• Dicastes in its broadest acceptation a judge, more particularly denotes the Athenian functionary of
• Dichalcon a double chalcus [CHALCUS], a small copper Greek coin, equal to one-fourth of an obolus. (
• Dictator an extraordinary magistrate at Rome. The origin of the name is obscure, the derivation giv
• Dictynnia a festival with sacrifices, celebrated at Kydonia in Crete, in honour of Artemis, surnamed
• Dies . The name dies was applied, like our word day, to the time during which, according to the
• Diipolia or DIPOLIA (Διιπόλια, Διπόλια or Διπόλεια), an annual festival celebrated at Athens in hon
• Dike signifies generally any proceedings at law by one party directly or mediately against othe
• Dimachae Macedonian horse-soldiers who also fought on foot when occasion required. Their armour was
• Diobolon a small coin of two obols [DRACHMA], which was given to each Athenian citizen during the f
• Diocleia a festival celebrated in the beginning of spring, by the Megarians, in honour of an ancien
• Dionysia . Dionysus as well as Apollo had a share at Delphi as one of the chief Hellenic gods. Dion
• Dioscuria festivals celebrated in various parts of Greece in honour of the Dioscuri, the heroes Cast
• Diota a vessel with two ears (ὦτα) or handles, is generally used as synonymous with amphora, tho
• Diphthera a cloak made of skins, characteristic of workmen and countrymen. (Aristoph. Cl. 72, and Sc
• Diploma This word--which, like δίπτυχα, signified two tablets fastened together, as far as mere ou
• Diptycha two writing tablets (tabulae or tabellae, also called pugillares), fastened together at th
• Diribitores are said by most modern writers to have been the persons who gave to the citizens the tabe
• Discus a circular plate of stone (λιθίνοις δίσκοις, Pind. Isthm. 1.34), or metal (splendida ponde
• Dispensator a steward in the urbana familia, who had the charge of the accounts and made the payments.
• Divinatio is, according to Cicero (de Divinat. 1.1, 1), a presentiment and a knowledge of future thi
• Divortium divorce. Greek The term for this act was ἀπόλειψις or ἀπόπεμψις, the former denoting the a
• Dodrans nine ounces, nine-twelfths or three-fourths of the as [AS], or three-fourths of anything.
• Dokana was an ancient symbolical representation of the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces), at Spart
• Dokimasia the public proof or testing of qualifications at Athens, was of several kinds:--I. Of each
• Dolabra dim. DOLABELLA, a tool consisting of a long handle and a double head, which terminated on
• Dolium a large earthenware jar (πίθος κεράμινος, Hdt. 3.96) into which, or into the wooden cupae,
• Dolo . 1. A weapon consisting of a long staff with a short iron point (Verg. A. 7.664, and Varr
• Domicilium This word signifies a man's permanent home. The following is the wellknown definition of d
• Dominium Dominium or rerum dominium signifies ownership of property, and dominus is the owner Propr
• Dominus means master, owner [DOMINIUM]. The word was applied as a title of respect to a superior i
• Domus a house. I. Pre-historic. One…
• Donaria are names by which the ancients designated presents made to the gods, either by individual
• Donatio or gift is an agreement between two persons, by which one gives without remuneration and w
• Donatio inter virum inter virum, ET UXOREM. It was a rule of Roman law, which had its origin in custom, that n
• Donatio mortis causa mortis causa, A donatio mortis causa has been defined to be a gift which a man makes with
• Donatio propter nuptias propter nuptias Subsequent to the time of the classical jurists under the early Christian
• Dos dowry. Greek In proof of the barbaric simplicity of ancient Greek custom, Aristotle instan
• Dossuarius or DORSUARIUS, any animal carrying burthens on its back (Varr. R. R. 2.6 and 10). It carri
• Drachma the name of a weight and of a denomination of coin among the Greeks. As weight and as coin
• Ducenarii the name of various officers and magistrates, in the imperial period, of whom the principa
• Duo viri viri the two men, a name applied to various magistrates and commissioners at Rome, and in
• Duodecim scripta scripta (κύβοι, διαγραμμισμός [Pollux, 9.99], in late Greek τάβλα), a game of mixed chance
• Duplarii or DUPLICARII were soldiers who received on account of their good conduct double allowance
• Dupondius or DUPONDIUM, a coin of two asses, struck after the reduction of the weight of the as. [AS