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DELMENHO RST — DELOS
clreizehnten Jahrhunderts (1868), and Abhandlungen zu SJiahspere (2 series, 1878 and 1888). As a critic of Shakespeare’s text he stands in the first rank. (r. f. s.) Del men horst, a town of Germany, grand duchy of Oldenburg, 8 miles by rail west from Bremen, on the river Delme, was protected by a strong castle from 1247 to 1679, when it was destroyed by the French. Carries on cork-cutting, jute spinning and weaving, brewing, ironfounding, and making of boxes. Population (1885), 3842; (1900), 16,569. De Long-, George W. (1844-1881), American explorer, was born in New York City on 22nd August 1844. He graduated at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1865, and spent the next fourteen years in the service in various parts of the world. In 1873 he sailed on the Juniata expedition in search of the Arctic exploring steamer Polaris, and was detailed to the command of the launch which was sent out by the Juniata from Upernivik, Greenland. On his return to New York the same year he proposed to Mr James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, that the latter should fit out a Polar expedition, but it was not until 1879 that final arrangements were made. The Pandora, a private yacht which had been previously used in a number of Arctic expeditions, was purchased and rechristened the Jeanette, and strengthened and fitted out for the voyage. By Act of Congress the expedition was placed under the authority of the Secretary of the U.S. Navy, although all the expenses were borne by Mr Bennett. On 8th July 1879 the Jeanette, with 33 men on board, set sail from San Francisco for Siberian waters. On 5th September 1879 the vessel was enclosed in the ice-pack, and after a long drift was finally crushed by the ice on the 12th of June 1881 in 77° 15' N. lat. and 155° E. long. The members of the expedition journeyed by sledge and boat 150 miles to the New Siberian Islands, and thence set out by boat in three parties for the mainland. The crew of one boat was lost in a gale; that of another, under the command of ChiefEngineer George W. Melville, reached a village on the Lena. The third party, under the command of De Long, succeeded in landing at the mouth of the Lena, and pushed forward up the river by land. All of De Long’s party perished except two who had been sent forward to seek relief. The dead bodies and the records of the expedition were found in the following March by Melville, only 25 miles distant from a Siberian settlement. De Long was the last survivor. His journal, in which he made regular entries up to the day on which he died, has been edited by his wife and published under the title Voyage of the “Jeanette.” An account of the search for De Long and his comrades was also published by G. W. Melville in his book entitled In the Lena Delta. DelOS.—Excavations have been made by the French School at Athens upon the island of Delos since 1877, chiefly by M. Th. Homolle. They have proceeded slowly but systematically, and the method adopted, though scientific and economical, has left the site in some apparent confusion, the debris being heaped up into piles or thrown into already excavated portions, instead of being removed bodily as at Olympia and at Delphi. The complete plan of the sacred precinct of Apollo has been recovered, as well as those of a considerable portion of the commercial quarter of Hellenistic and Roman times, of the theatre, of the temples of the foreign gods, of the temples on the top of Mount Cynthus, and of several very interesting private houses. Numerous works of sculpture of all periods have been found, and also a very extensive series of inscriptions, some of them throwing much light upon the subject of temple administration in Greece.
The most convenient place for landing is protected by an ancient mole; it faces the channel between Delos and Rheneia, and is about opposite the most northerly of the two little islands now called 'Pev/xariapi. From this side the sacred precinct of Apollo is approached by an avenue flanked by porticoes, that upon the seaside bearing the name of Philip Y. of Macedon, who dedicated it about 200 b.c. This avenue must have formed the usual approach for sacred embassies and processions; but it is probable that the space to the south was not convenient for marshalling them, since Nicias, on the occasion of his famous embassy, built a bridge from the island of Hecate (the Greater Rhevmatiari) to Delos, in order that the imposing Athenian procession might not miss its full effect. Facing the avenue were the propylsea that formed the chief entrance of the precinct of Apollo. They consisted of a gate faced on the outside with a projecting portico of four columns, on the inside with two columns in antis. Through this one entered a large open space, filled with votive offerings and containing a large exedra. The sacred road continued its course from the north-east corner of this 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. Though there is no evidence to show to whom the other two were dedicated, the fact that they faced west seems to imply that they were either dedicated to heroes or minor deities, or that they were treasuries. Beyond them a road branches to the right, sweeping round in a broad curve to the space in front of the temple of Apollo. The outer side of this curve is bounded by a row of treasuries, similar to those found at Delos and Olympia, and serving to house the more costly offerings of various islands or cities. The space to the east and south of the temple of Apollo could also be approached directly from the propylsea of entrance, by turning to the right through a passage-like building with a porch at either end. Just to the north of this may be seen the basis of the colossal statue of Apollo dedicated by the Naxians, with its well-known archaic inscription; two large fragments of the statue itself may still be seen a little farther to the north. The temple ’ of Apollo forms the centre of the whole precinct, which it dominates by the height of its steps as well as of the terrace already mentioned; its position must have been more commanding in ancient times than it is now that heaps of earth and debris cover so much of the level. The temple was of Doric style, with six columns at the front and back and thirteen at the sides; it was built early in the 4th century b.c. ; little if any traces have been found of the earlier building which it superseded. Its sculptural decoration appears to have been but scanty ; the metopes were plain. The groups which ornamented, as acroteria, the two gables of the temple have been in part recovered, and may now be seen in the National Museum at Athens; at the one end was Boreas carrying off Orithyia, at the other Eos and Cephalus, the centre in each case being occupied by the winged figure that stood out against the sky—a variation on the winged Victories that often occupy the same position on temples. To the east of the space in front of the temple was an oblong building of two chambers, with a colonnade on each side but not in front; this may have been the Prytaneum or some other official building; beyond it is the most interesting and characteristic of all the monuments of Delphi. This is a long narrow hall, running from north to south, and 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 reckoned among the seven wonders of the world. The rest of the room is
