Daedalus. A famous artificer. He, with his son Icarus, fled from Minos, king of Crete, by means of wings fastened on with wax. He himself arrived safely in Italy; but Icarus flying too high, the wax melted, his wings dropped off, and he fell into the sea that was afterwards called after him.
Danae. Daughter of Acrisius (upon whose name there is a jest in the Demonax), king of Argos. Her father, anxious that she should not have a child, confined her in a brazen tower: but, Zeus visiting her in a shower of gold, she gave birth to Perseus. Mother and child were thrown into the sea in a chest, but were saved.
Danaïds. When the fifty sons of Aegyptus followed the daughters of Danaus to Greece, and demanded them in marriage, Danaus consented, but supplied each of them with a dagger to kill her husband on the bridal night. Their punishment was to pour water perpetually into a leaky cask.
Daphne. See Apollo.
Davus. Stock name for a slave in Greek comedies.
Delphi. On the Gulf of Corinth, below Mount Parnassus; an oracle of Apollo, the most famous in Greece.
Demades. An Athenian orator, in the Macedonian interest; but put to death by Antipater, 318 B.C.
Deme. An Athenian citizen was officially described by the addition of the names of his father, his deme, and his tribe, to his own. The demes were local divisions of Attica, like our parishes; the tribes were groupings, independent of locality, of these demes into ten divisions for administrative purposes.
Demeter. Sister of Zeus, mother of Persephone, Goddess of the fruits of the earth (Earth-mother).