Dipylon, one of the gates of Athens.
Diræ, the daughters of Acheron and Nox, who persecuted the souls of the guilty. They are the same as the furies, and some suppose they are called Furies in hell, Harpies on earth, and Diræ in heaven. They were represented as standing near the throne of Jupiter, in an attitude which expressed their eagerness to receive his orders, and the power of tormenting the guilty on earth with the most excruciating punishments. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 473; bk. 8, li. 701.
Dirce, a woman whom Lycus king of Thebes married after he had divorced Antiope. When Antiope became pregnant by Jupiter, Dirce suspected her husband of infidelity to her bed, and imprisoned Antiope, whom she tormented with the greatest cruelty. Antiope escaped from her confinement, and brought forth Amphion and Zethus on mount Cithæron. When these children were informed of the cruelties to which their mother had been exposed, they besieged Thebes, put Lycus to death, and tied the cruel Dirce to the tail of a wild bull, which dragged her over rocks and precipices, and exposed her to the most poignant pains, till the gods, pitying her fate, changed her into a fountain, in the neighbourhood of Thebes. According to some accounts, Antiope was mother of Amphion and Zethus before she was confined and exposed to the tyranny of Dirce. See: [Amphion], [Antiope]. Propertius, bk. 3, poem 15, li. 37.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 26.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12, ch. 57.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 175; bk. 4, li. 550.
Dircenna, a cold fountain of Spain, near Bilbilis. Martial, bk. 1, ltr. 50, li. 17.
Dirphyia, a surname of Juno, from Dirphya, a mountain of Bœotia, where the goddess had a temple.
Dis, a god of the Gauls, the same as Pluto the god of hell. The inhabitants of Gaul supposed themselves descended from that deity. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 6.—Tacitus, Histories, bk. 4, ch. 84.
Discordia, a malevolent deity, daughter of Nox, and sister to Nemesis, the Parcæ, and death. She was driven from heaven by Jupiter, because she sowed dissensions among the gods, and was the cause of continual quarrels. When the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis were celebrated, the goddess of discord was not invited, and this seeming neglect so irritated her, that she threw an apple into the midst of the assembly of the gods, with the inscription of detur pulchriori. This apple was the cause of the ruin of Troy, and of infinite misfortunes to the Greeks. See: [Paris]. She is represented with a pale, ghastly look, her garment is torn, her eyes sparkle with fire, and she holds a dagger concealed in her bosom. Her head is generally entwined with serpents, and she is attended by Bellona. She is supposed to be the cause of all dissensions, murders, wars, and quarrels which arise upon earth, public as well as private. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 702.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 225.—Petronius.
Dithyrambus, a surname of Bacchus, whence the hymns sung in his honour were called Dithyrambics. Horace, bk. 4, ode 2.
Dittani, a people of Spain.
Divi, a name chiefly appropriated to those who were made gods after death, such as heroes and warriors, or the Lares and Penates, and other domestic gods.