“Rothschild Expedition” of 1873 under MM. O. Rayet and A. Thomas sent a certain amount of architectural sculpture to the Louvre. But no excavation was attempted till MM. E. Pontremoli and B. Haussoullier were sent out by the French Schools of Rome and Athens in 1895. They cleared the western façade and the prodomos, and discovered inscriptions giving information about other parts which they left still buried. Finally the site was purchased by, and the French rights were ceded to, Dr Th. Wiegand, the German explorer of Miletus, who in 1905 began a thorough clearance of what is incomparably the finest temple ruin in Asia Minor.
The temple was a decastyle peripteral structure of the Ionic order, standing on seven steps and possessing double rows of outer columns 60 ft. high, twenty-one in each row on the flanks. It is remarkable not only for its great size, but (inter alia) for (1) the rich ornament of its column bases, which show great variety of design; (2) its various developments of the Ionic capital, e.g. heads of gods, probably of Pergamene art, spring from the “eyes” of the volutes with bulls’ heads between them; (3) the massive building two storeys high at least, which served below for prodomos, and above for a dispensary of oracles (χρησμογράφια mentioned in the inscriptions) and a treasury; two flights of stairs called “labyrinths” in the inscriptions, led up to these chambers; (4) the pylon and staircase at the west; (5) the frieze of Medusa heads and foliage. Two outer columns are still erect on the north-east flank, carrying their entablature, and one of the inner order stands on the south-west. The fact that the temple was never finished is evident from the state in which some bases still remain at the west. There were probably no pedimental sculptures. A sacred way led from the temple to the sea at Panormus, which was flanked with rows of archaic statues, ten of which were excavated and sent to the British Museum in 1858 by C. T. Newton. Fragments of architectural monuments, which once adorned this road, have also been found. Modern Hieronta is a large and growing Greek village, the only settlement within a radius of several miles. Its harbour is Kovella, distant about 212 m., and on the N. of the promontory.
See Dilettanti Society, Ionian Antiquities, ii. (1821); C. T. Newton, Hist. of Discoveries, &c. (1862) and Travels in the Levant, ii. (1865); O. Rayet and A. Thomas, Milet et le Golfe Latmique (1877); E. Pontremoli and B. Haussoullier, Didymes (1904). (D. G. H.)
DIDYMIUM (from the Gr. διδυμος, twin), the name given to the supposed element isolated by C. G. Mosander from cerite (1839–1841). In 1879, however, Lecoq de Boisbaudran showed that Mosander’s “didymium” contained samarium; while the residual “didymium,” after removal of samarium, was split by Auer v. Welsbach (Monats. f. Chemie, 1885, 6, 477) into two components (known respectively as neodymium and praseodymium) by repeated fractional crystallization of the double nitrate of ammonium and didymium in nitric acid. Neodymium (Nd) forms the chief portion of the old “didymium.” Its salts are reddish violet in colour, and give a characteristic absorption spectrum. It forms oxides of composition Nd2O3 and Nd2O5, the latter being obtained by ignition of the nitrate (B. Brauner). The atomic weight of neodymium is 143.6 (B. Brauner, Proc. Chem. Soc., 1897–1898, p. 70). Praseodymium (Pr) forms oxides of composition Pr2O3, Pr2O5,xH2O (B. Brauner), and Pr4O7. The peroxide, Pr4O7, forms a dark brown powder, and is obtained by ignition of the oxalate or nitrate. The sesquioxide, Pr2O3, is obtained as a greenish white mass by the reduction of the peroxide. The salts of praseodymium are green in colour, and give a characteristic spark spectrum. The atomic weight of praseodymium is 140.5.
DIDYMUS (?309–?394), surnamed “the Blind,” ecclesiastical writer of Alexandria, was born about the year 309. Although he became blind at the age of four, before he had learned to read; he succeeded in mastering the whole circle of the sciences then known; and on entering the service of the Church he was placed at the head of the Catechetical school in Alexandria, where he lived and worked till almost the close of the century. Among his pupils were Jerome and Rufinus. He was a loyal follower of Origen, though stoutly opposed to Arian and Macedonian teaching. Such of his writings as survive show a remarkable knowledge of scripture, and have distinct value as theological literature. Among them are the De Trinitate, De Spiritu Sancto (Jerome’s Latin translation), Adversus Manichaeos, and notes and expositions of various books, especially the Psalms and the Catholic Epistles.
See Migne, Patrol. Graec. xxxix.; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, pp. 290-293 (Freiburg, 1894).
DIDYMUS CHALCENTERUS (c. 63 B.C.–A.D. 10), Greek scholar and grammarian, flourished in the time of Cicero and Augustus. His surname (Gr. Χαλκέντερος, brazen-bowelled) came from his indefatigable industry; he was said to have written so many books (more than 3500) that he was unable to recollect their names (βιβλιολάθας). He lived and taught in Alexandria and Rome, where he became the friend of Varro. He is chiefly important as having introduced Alexandrian learning to the Romans. He was a follower of the school of Aristarchus, upon whose recension of Homer he wrote a treatise, fragments of which have been preserved in the Venetian Scholia. He also wrote commentaries on many other Greek poets and prose authors. In his work on the lyric poets he treated of the various classes of poetry and their chief representatives, and his lists of words and phrases (used in tragedy and comedy and by orators and historians), of words of doubtful meaning, and of corrupt expressions, furnished the later grammarians with valuable material. His activity extended to all kinds of subjects: grammar (orthography, inflexions), proverbs, wonderful stories, the law-tablets (ἄξονες) of Solon, stones, and different kinds of wood. His polemic against Cicero’s De republica (Ammianus Marcellinus xxii. 16) provoked a reply from Suetonius. In spite of his stupendous industry, Didymus was little more than a compiler, of little critical judgment and doubtful accuracy, but he deserves recognition for having incorporated in his numerous writings the works of earlier critics and commentators.
See M. W. Schmidt, De Didymo Chalcentero (1853) and Didymi Chalcenteri fragmenta (1854); also F. Susemihl, Geschichte der griech. Literatur in der Alexandrinerzeit, ii. (1891); J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, i. (1906).
DIE, a town of south-eastern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Drôme, 43 m. E.S.E. of Valence on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906) 3090. The town is situated in a plain enclosed by mountains on the right bank of the Drôme below its confluence with the Meyrosse, which supplies power to some of the industries. The most interesting structures of Die are the old cathedral, with a porch of the 11th century supported on granite columns from an ancient temple of Cybele; and the Porte St Marcel, a Roman gateway flanked by massive towers. The Roman remains also include the ruins of aqueducts and altars. Die is the seat of a sub-prefect, and of a tribunal of first instance. The manufactures are silk, furniture, cloth, lime and cement, and there are flour and saw mills. Trade is in timber, especially walnut, and in white wine known as clairette de Die. The mulberry is largely grown for the rearing of silkworms. Under the Romans, Die (Dea Augusta Vocontiorum) was an important colony. It was formerly the seat of a bishopric, united to that of Valence from 1276 to 1687 and suppressed in 1790. Previous to the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 it had a Calvinistic university.
DIE (Fr. dé, from Lat. datum, given), a word used in various senses, for a small cube of ivory, &c. (see Dice), for the engraved stamps used in coining money, &c., and various mechanical appliances in engineering. In architecture a “die” is the term used for the square base of a column, and it is applied also to the vertical face of a pedestal or podium.
The fabrics known as “dice” take their name from the rectangular form of the figure. The original figures would probably be perfectly square, but to-day the same principle of weaving is applied, and the name dice is given to all figures of rectangular form. The different effects in the adjacent squares or rectangles are due to precisely the same reasons as those explained in connexion with the ground and the figure of damasks. The same weaves are used in both damasks and dices, but simpler
