[1] Genealogical tree of Della Robbia sculptors:--
Simone di Marco.
|
+----------------+------------------+
| |
Marco. Luca
| (1400-1482).
Andrea
(1435-1525).
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+------+-------+------------+-------------+------------+
| | | | |
Girolamo Luca Paolo Giovanni Marco
(1488-1566), (1475-1550?), (1470-?), (1469-1529?), (1468-?),
worked mostly worked in Dominican worked Dominican
in France. Florence monk. mainly in monk.
and Rome. Florence.
[2] Not 1388, as Vasari says. See a document printed by Gaye,
_Carteggio inedito_, i. pp. 182-186.
[3] Vasari is not quite right in his account of these reliefs: he
speaks of Euclid and Ptolemy as being in different panels.
[4] See Cavallucci, _S. Maria del Fiore_, pt. ii. p. 137.
[5] The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses what seem to be fine
replicas of these statues.
[6] The document in which the order for this and the price paid for
it are recorded is published by Yriarte, _Gaz. d. beaux arts_, xxiv.
p. 143.
[7] One of these medallions, that of the Physicians, is now removed
to the inside of the church.
[8] It is fully described by Filarete in his _Trattato dell'
architectura_, written in 1464, and therefore was finished before
that date; see also Vasari, ed. Milanesi (Florence, 1880), ii. p.
174.
[9] His will, dated 19th February 1471, is published by Gaye, _Cart.
ined._ i. p. 185.
[10] In the works of Perkins and others on Italian sculpture these
Perugian reliefs are wrongly stated to be of enamelled clay.
[11] Professor Marquand has discovered, beneath 1451, the inscription
Prete Benino, and, under 1495, De Benini; probably the names of the
governors of the hospital at these dates.
[12] See Gualandi, _Memorie risguardanti le belle arti_ (Bologna,
1845), vi. pp. 33-35, where original documents are printed recording
the dates and prices paid for these and other works of Andrea.
[13] See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. p. 180.
[14] It appears certain that this Luca was a layman and not the Fra
Luca referred to above.
[15] It is illustrated by Gruner, _Fresco Decorations of Italy_
(London, 1854), pl. iv.; see also Muntz, _Raphael, sa vie_, &c.
(Paris, 1881), p. 452, note i., and Vasari, ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 182.
[16] See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. 193.
[17] Examples of these imitations are a retable in S. Lucchese near
Poggibonsi dated 1514, another of the Madonna and Saints at Monte San
Savino of 1525, and a third in the Capuchin church of Arceria near
Sinigaglia; they are all inferior to the best works of the Robbia
family, though some of them may have been made by assistants trained
in the Robbia workshops.
[18] The hospital itself was begun in 1514.
[19] The Sevres Museum possesses some fragments of these decorations.
[20] See Laborde, _Chateau de Madrid_ (Paris, 1853), and _Comptes des
batiments du roi_ (Paris, 1877-1880), in which a full account is
given of Girolamo's work in connexion with this palace.
DELMEDIGO, a Cretan Jewish family, of whom the following are the most
important:
ELIJAH DELMEDIGO (1460-1497), philosopher, taught in several Italian
centres of learning. He translated some of Averroes' commentaries into
Latin at the instigation of Pico di Mirandola. In the sphere of
religion, Delmedigo represents the tendency to depart from the
scholastic attitude in which religion and philosophy were identified.
His most important work was devoted to this end; it was entitled
_Behinath ha-Dath_ (Investigation of Religion).
JOSEPH SOLOMON DELMEDIGO (1591-1655), pupil of Galileo, wrote many books
on science and philosophy, and bore a considerable part in initiating
the critical movement in Judaism. He belonged to the sceptical school,
and though his positive contributions to literature were not of lasting
worth, Graetz includes him among the important formative influences
within the synagogue of the 17th century. (I. A.)
DELMENHORST, a town of Germany, grand duchy of Oldenburg, on the Delme,
8 m. by rail W. from Bremen, at the junction of a line to Vechta. Pop.
(1905) 20,147. It has a Protestant and a Roman Catholic church, and is
the seat of considerable industries; notably wool-combing, weaving,
jute-spinning and the manufacture of linoleum. Delmenhorst was founded
in 1230, and from 1247 to 1679, when it was destroyed by the French, was
protected by a strong castle.
DELOLME, JEAN LOUIS (1740-1806), Swiss jurist and constitutional writer,
was born at Geneva in 1740. He studied for the bar, and had begun to
practise when he was obliged to emigrate on account of a pamphlet
entitled _Examen de trois parts de droit_, which gave offence to the
authorities of the town. He took refuge in England, where he lived for
several years on the meagre and precarious income derived from
occasional contributions to various journals. In 1775 he found himself
compelled to accept aid from a charitable society to enable him to
return home. He died at Sewen, a village in the canton of Schwyz, on the
16th of July 1806.
During his protracted exile in England Delolme made a careful study of
the English constitution, the results of which he published in his
_Constitution de l'Angleterre_ (Amsterdam, 1771), of which an enlarged
and improved edition in English appeared in 1772, and was several times
reprinted. The work excited much interest as containing many acute
observations on the causes of the excellence of the English constitution
as compared with that of other countries. It is, however, wanting in
breadth of view, being written before the period when constitutional
questions were treated in a scientific manner. Along with a translation
of Hume's _History of England_ it supplied the _philosophes_ with most
of their ideas about the English constitution. It thus was used somewhat
as a political pamphlet. Several editions were published after the
author's death. Delolme also wrote in English _Parallel between the
English Government and the former Government of Sweden_ (1772); A
_History of the Flagellants_ (1782), based upon a work of Boileau's; _An
Essay on the Union of Scotland with England_ (1787), and one or two
smaller works.
DELONEY (or DELONE), THOMAS, English ballad-writer and pamphleteer,
produced his earliest indisputable work in 1586, and died about 1600. In
1596 Thomas Nashe, in his _Have with you to Saffron Walden_, wrote:
"Thomas Deloney, the ballating silk-weaver, hath rime enough for all
myracles, and wit to make a Garland of Good Will more than the premisses
... and this deare yeare, together with the silencing of his looms,
scarce that, he being constrained to betake himself to carded ale;
whence it proceedeth that since Candlemas, or his jigge, John for the
king, not one merrie dittie will come from him, but, the Thunderbolt
against Swearers,--Repent, England, Repent--and, the strange Judgements
of God." In 1588 the coming of the Armada inspired him for three
broadsides, which were reprinted (1860) by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps.
They are entitled "The Queenes visiting of the Campe at Tilsburie with
her entertainment there," "A Joyful new Ballad, declaring the happie
obtaining of the great Galleazzo ...," and "A new Ballet of the straunge
and Most cruell Whippes which the Spaniards had prepared." A collection
of _Strange Histories_ (1607) consists of historical ballads by Deloney,
with some poems from other hands. This collection, known in later and
enlarged editions as _The Royal Garland of Love and Delight_ and _The
Garland of Delight_, contains the ballad of Fair Rosamond. J. H. Dixon
in his preface to _The Garland of Good Will_ (Percy Society, 1851)
ascribes to Deloney _The Blind Beggar of Bednall Green_, and _The
Pleasant and sweet History of Patient Grissel_, in prose, with the whole
of the _Garland of Good Will_, including some poems such as "The Spanish
Lady's Love" generally supposed to be by other hands. His other works
include _The Gentle Craft_ (1597) in praise of shoemakers, _The Pleasant
Historie of John Winchecombe_ (8th ed., 1619), and _Thomas of Reading or
the Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West_ (earliest extant edition, 1612).
Kempe, the actor, jeers at these histories in his _Nine Daies Wonder_,
but they were very popular, being reprinted as penny chap-books.
DE LONG, GEORGE WASHINGTON (1844-1881), American explorer, was born in
New York city on the 22nd of August 1844. He graduated at the U.S. Naval
Academy in 1865, and spent the next fourteen years in naval service in
various parts of the world, attaining the rank of lieutenant in 1869,
and lieutenant-commander in 1879. In 1873 he took part in the voyage of
the "Juniata," sent to search for and relieve the American Arctic
expedition under Hall in the "Polaris," commanding a steam launch which
was sent out from Upernivik, Greenland, to make a thorough search of
Melville Bay. On his return to New York the same year he proposed to
James Gordon Bennett, of _The New York Herald_, that the latter should
fit out a Polar expedition. It was not until 1879 that the final
arrangements were made, the "Pandora," a yacht which had already made
two Arctic voyages under Sir Allen Young, being purchased and
rechristened the "Jeannette" for this voyage. The story of this
expedition (see POLAR REGIONS) is chiefly remarkable on account of the
long and helpless drifting of the "Jeannette" with the polar ice-pack in
which she was caught (September 5, 1879) and by which she was finally
crushed and sunk on the 13th of June 1881. The members of the expedition
set out in three boats, one of which was lost in a gale, while another
boat-load under De Long died from starvation after reaching the mouth of
the Lena river. He was the last survivor of his party. His journal, in
which he made regular entries up to the day on which he died (October
30, 1881) was edited by his wife and published in 1883 under the title
_Voyage of the "Jeannette"_; and an account of the search which was made
for him and his comrades by his heroic companion George W. Melville, who
was chief engineer of the expedition and commanded the third of the
retreating parties, was published a year later under the title of _In
the Lena Delta_. The fate of the "Jeannette" was still more remarkable
in its sequel. Three years after she had sunk several articles belonging
to her crew were found on an ice-floe near Julianshaab on the south-west
coast of Greenland; thus adding fresh evidence to the theory of a
continuous ocean current passing across the unknown Polar regions, which
was to be finally demonstrated by Nansen's voyage in the "Fram." By
direction of the United States government, the remains of De Long and
his companions were brought home and interred with honour in his native
city.
DELORME, MARION (c. 1613-1650), French courtesan, was the daughter of
Jean de Lou, sieur de l'Orme, president of the treasurers of France in
Champagne, and of Marie Chastelain. She was born at her father's chateau
near Champaubert. Initiated into the philosophy of pleasure by the
epicurean and atheist Jacques Vallee, sieur Desbarreaux, she soon left
him for Cinq Mars, at that time at the height of his popularity, and
succeeded, it is said, in marrying him in secret. From this time Marion
Delorme's salon became one of the most brilliant centres of elegant
Parisian society. After the execution of Cinq Mars she is said to have
numbered among her lovers Charles de St Evremond (1610-1703) the wit and
litterateur, Buckingham (Villiers), the great Conde, and even Cardinal
Richelieu. Under the Fronde her salon became a meeting place for the
disaffected, and Mazarin is said to have sent to arrest her when she
suddenly died. Her last years have been adorned with considerable legend
(cf. Merecourt, _Confessions de Marie Delorme_, Paris, 1856). It seems
established that she died in 1650. But she was believed to have lived
until 1706 or even 1741, after having had the most fantastic adventures,
including marriage with an English lord, and an old age spent in poverty
in Paris. Her name has been popularized by various authors, especially
by Alfred de Vigny in his novel _Cinq Mars_, by Victor Hugo in the drama
_Marion Delorme_, and by G. Bottesini in an opera of the same title.
See P. J. Jacob, _Marion Delorme et Ninon Lenclos_ (Paris, 1859); J.
Peladan, _Histoire et legende de Marion de Lorme_ (Paris, 1882).
DE L'ORME, PHILIBERT (c. 1510-1570), French architect, one of the great
masters of the Renaissance, was born at Lyons, the son of Jehan de
L'Orme, who practised the same art and brought his son up to it. At an
early age Philibert was sent to Italy to study (1533-1536) and was
employed there by Pope Paul III. Returning to France he was patronized
by Cardinal du Bellay at Lyons, and was sent by him about 1540 to
Paris, where he began the Chateau de St Maur, and enjoyed royal favour;
in 1545 he was made architect to Francis I. and given the charge of
works in Brittany. In 1548 Henry II. gave him the supervision of
Fontainebleau, Saint-Germain and the other royal buildings; but on his
death (1559) Philibert fell into disgrace. Under Charles IX., however,
he returned to favour, and was employed to construct the Tuileries, in
collaboration with Jean Brillant. He died in Paris on the 8th of January
1570. Much of his work has disappeared, but his fame remains. An ardent
humanist and student of the antique, he yet vindicated resolutely the
French tradition in opposition to Italian tendencies; he was a man of
independent mind and a vigorous originality. His masterpiece was the
Chateau d'Anet (1552-1559), built for Diane de Poitiers, the plans of
which are preserved in Du Cerceau's _Plus excellens bastimens de
France_, though part of the building alone remains; and his designs for
the Tuileries (also given by Du Cerceau), begun by Catherine de' Medici
in 1565, were magnificent. His work is also seen at Chenonceaux and
other famous chateaux; and his tomb of Francis I. at St Denis remains a
perfect specimen of his art. He wrote two books on architecture (1561
and 1567).
See Marius Vachon, _Philibert de L'Orme_ (1887); Chevalier, _Lettres
et devis relatifs a la construction de Chenonceaux_ (1864); Pfror,
_Monographie du chateau d'Anet_ (1867); Herbet, _Travaux de P. de
L'Orme a Fontainebleau_ (1890).
DELOS (mod. _Mikra Dili_, or Little Delos, to distinguish it from Megali
Dili, or Great Delos), an island in the Aegean, the smallest but most
famous of the Cyclades, and, according to the ancient belief, the spot
round which the group arranged itself in a nearly circular form. It is a
rugged mass of granite, about 3 m. long and 1 m. to 1/2 m. broad, about
1/2 m. E. of Megali Dili or Rheneia, and 2 m. W. of Myconus. Towards the
centre it rises to its greatest height of 350 ft. in the steep and rocky
peak of Mount Cynthus, which, though overtopped by several eminences in
the neighbouring islands, is very conspicuous from the surrounding sea.
It is now completely destitute of trees, but it abounds with brushwood
of lentisk and cistus, and here and there affords a patch of corn-land
to the occasional sower from Myconus.
I. _Archaeology._--Excavations have been made by the French School at
Athens upon the island of Delos since 1877, chiefly by Th. Homolle. They
have proceeded slowly but systematically, and the method adopted, though
scientific and economical, left the site in some apparent confusion, but
the debris have more recently been cleared away to a considerable
extent. 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.
[Illustration: DELOS PRECINCT OF APOLLO.]
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 [Greek:
Rheumatiari]. 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 V. 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 propylaea
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 to 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 Delphi 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
propylaea 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 Oreithyia, 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 sometimes
reckoned among the seven wonders of the world. The rest of the room is
taken up by a paved space, surrounded by a narrow gangway; and on this
it is supposed that the [Greek: geranos] or stork-dance took place. The
most remarkable architectural feature of the building is the partition
that separated the altar from this long gallery; it consists of two
columns between _antae_, with capitals of a very peculiar form,
consisting of the fore parts of bulls set back to back; from these the
whole building is sometimes called the sanctuary of the bulls. Beyond
it, on the east, was a sacred wood filling the space up to the wall of
the precinct; and at the south end of this was a small open space with
the altar of Zeus Polieus.
At the north of the precinct was a broad road, flanked with votive
offerings and exedrae, and along the boundary were porticoes and
chambers intended for the reception of the [Greek: theoriai] or sacred
embassies; there are two entrances on this side, each of them through
extensive propylaea.
At the north-west corner of the precinct is a building of limestone, the
[Greek: porinos oikos] often mentioned in the inventories of the
treasures of the Delian shrine. South of it is the precinct of Artemis,
containing within it the old temple of the goddess; her more recent
temple was to the south of her precinct, opening not into it but into
the open space entered through the southern propylaea of the precinct of
Apollo. The older temple is mentioned in some of the inventories as "the
temple in which were the seven statues"; and close beside it was found a
series of archaic draped female statues, which was the most important of
its kind until the discovery of the finer and better preserved set from
the Athenian Acropolis.
Within the precinct there were found many statues and other works of
art, and a very large number of inscriptions, some of them giving
inventories of the votive offerings and accounts of the administration
of the temple and its property. The latter are of considerable interest,
and give full information as to the sources of the revenue and its
financial administration.
Outside the precinct of Apollo, on the south, was an open place; between
this and the precinct was a house for the priests, and within it, in a
kind of court, a set of small structures that may perhaps be identified
as the tombs of the Hyperborean maidens. Just to the east was the temple
of Dionysus, which is of peculiar plan, and faces the open place; on the
other side of it is a large rectangular court, surrounded by colonnades
and chambers which served as offices, the whole forming a sort of
commercial exchange; in the middle of it was a temple dedicated to
Aphrodite and Hermes.
To the north of the precinct of Apollo, between it and the sacred lake,
there are very extensive ruins of the commercial town of Delos; these
have been only partially cleared, but have yielded a good many
inscriptions and other antiquities. The most extensive building is a
very large court surrounded by chambers, a sort of club or exchange.
Beyond this, on the way to the east coast, are the remains of the new
and the old palaestra, also partially excavated.
The shore of the channel facing Rheneia is lined with docks and
warehouses, and behind them, as well as elsewhere in the island, there
have been found several private houses of the 2nd or 3rd century B.C.
Each of these consists of a single court surrounded by columns and often
paved with mosaic; various chambers open out of the court, including
usually one of large proportions, the [Greek: andron] or dining-room for
guests.
The theatre, which is set in the lower slope of Mount Cynthus, has the
wings of the auditorium supported by massive substructures. The most
interesting feature is the _scena_, which is unique in plan; it
consisted of an oblong building of two storeys, surrounded on all sides
by a low portico or terrace reaching to the level of the first floor.
This was supported by pillars, set closer together along the front than
at the sides and back. An inscription found in the theatre showed that
this portico, or at least the front portion of it, was called the
proscenium or logeum, two terms of which the identity was previously
disputed.
On the summit of Mount Cynthus, above the primitive cave-temple which
has always been visible, there have been found the remains of a small
precinct dedicated to Zeus Cynthius and Athena Cynthia. Some way down
the slope of the hill, between the cave-temple and the ravine of the
Inopus, is a terrace with the temples of the foreign gods, Isis and
Serapis, and a small odeum.
II. _History._--Many alternative names for Delos are given by tradition;
one of these, Ortygia, is elsewhere also assigned to an island sacred to
Artemis. Of the various traditions that were current among the ancient
Greeks regarding the origin of Delos, the most popular describes it as
drifting through the Aegean till moored by Zeus as a refuge for the
wandering Leto. It supplied a birthplace to Apollo and Artemis, who were
born beneath a palm tree beside its sacred lake, and became for ever
sacred to these twin deities. The island first appears in history as the
seat of a great Ionic festival to which the various Ionic states,
including Athens, were accustomed annually to despatch a sacred embassy,
or Theoria, at the anniversary of the birth of the god on the 7th of
Thargelion (about May). In the 6th century B.C. the influence of the
Delian Apollo was at its height; Polycrates of Samos dedicated the
neighbouring island of Rheneia to his service and Peisistratus of Athens
caused all the area within sight of the temple to be cleared of the
tombs by which its sanctity was impaired. After the Persian wars, the
predominance of Athens led to the transformation of the Delian
amphictyony into the Athenian empire. (See DELIAN LEAGUE.) In 426 B.C.,
in connexion with a reorganization of the festival, which henceforth was
celebrated in the third year of every Olympiad, the Athenians instituted
a more elaborate lustration, caused every tomb to be removed from the
island, and established a law that ever after any one who was about to
die or to give birth to a child should be at once conveyed from its
shores. And even this was not accounted sufficient, for in 422 they
expelled all its secular inhabitants, who were, however, permitted to
return in the following year. At the close of the Peloponnesian War the
Spartans gave to the people of Delos the management of their own
affairs; but the Athenian predominance was soon after restored, and
survived an appeal to the amphictyony of Delphi in 345 B.C. During
Macedonian times, from 322 to 166 B.C., Delos again became independent;
during this period the shrine was enriched by offerings from all
quarters, and the temple and its possessions were administered by
officials called [Greek: hieropoioi]. After 166 B.C. the Romans restored
the control of Delian worship to Athens, but granted to the island
various commercial privileges which brought it great prosperity. In 87
B.C. Menophanes, the general of Mithradates VI. of Pontus, sacked the
island, which had remained faithful to Rome. From this blow it never
recovered; the Athenian control was resumed in 42 B.C., but Pausanias
(viii. 33. 2) mentions Delos as deserted but for a few Athenian
officials; and several epigrams of the 1st or 2nd century A.D. attest
the same fact, though the temple and worship were probably kept up until
the official extinction of the ancient religion. A museum has now been
built to contain the antiquities found in the excavations; otherwise
Delos is now uninhabited, though during the summer months a few
shepherds cross over with their flocks from Myconus or Rheneia. As a
religious centre it is replaced by Tenos and as a commercial centre by
the flourishing port of Syra.
See Lebegue, _Recherches sur Delos_ (Paris, 1876). Numerous articles
in the _Bulletin de correspondance hellenique_ record the various
discoveries at Delos as they were made. See also Th. Homolle, _Les
Archives de l'intendance sacree a Delos_ (with plan). The best
consecutive account is given in the _Guide Joanne, Grece_, ii.
443-464. For history, see Sir R. C. Jebb, _Journal of Hellenic
Studies_, i. (1889), pp. 7-62. For works of art found at Delos see
GREEK ART. (E. Gr.)
DE LOUTHERBOURG, PHILIP JAMES (1740-1812), English artist, was born at
Strassburg on the 31st of October 1740, where his father, the
representative of a Polish family, practised miniature painting; but he
spent the greater part of his life in London, where he was naturalized,
and exerted a considerable influence on the scenery of the English
stage, as well as on the artists of the following generation. De
Loutherbourg was intended for the Lutheran ministry, and was educated at
the university of Strassburg. As the calling, however, was foreign to
his nature, he insisted on being a painter, and placed himself under
Vanloo in Paris. The result was an immediate and precocious development
of his powers, and he became a figure in the fashionable society of that
day. In 1767 he was elected into the French Academy below the age
required by the law of the institution, and painted landscapes, sea
storms, battles, all of which had a celebrity above those of the
specialists then working in Paris. His debut was made by the exhibition
of twelve pictures, including "Storm at Sunset," "Night," "Morning after
Rain." He is next found travelling in Switzerland, Germany and Italy,
distinguishing himself as much by mechanical inventions as by painting.
One of these, showing quite new effects produced in a model theatre, was
the wonder of the day. The exhibition of lights behind canvas
representing the moon and stars, the illusory appearance of running
water produced by clear blue sheets of metal and gauze, with loose
threads of silver, and so on, were his devices. In 1771 he came to
London, and was employed by Garrick, who offered him L500 a year to
apply his inventions to Drury Lane, and to superintend the
scene-painting, which he did with complete success, making a new era in
the adjuncts of the stage. Garrick's own piece, the _Christmas Tale_,
and the pantomime, 1781-1782, introduced the novelties to the public,
and the delight not only of the masses, but of Reynolds and the artists,
was unbounded. The green trees gradually became russet, the moon rose
and lit the edges of passing clouds, and all the world was captivated by
effects we now take little notice of. A still greater triumph awaited
him on his opening an entertainment called the "Eidophusicon," which
showed the rise, progress and result of a storm at sea--that which
destroyed the great Indiaman, the "Halsewell,"--and the Fallen Angels
raising the Palace of Pandemonium. De Loutherbourg has been called the
inventor of the panorama, but this honour does not belong to him,
although it first appeared about the same time as the eidophusicon. The
first panorama was painted and exhibited by Robert Barker.
All this mechanism did not prevent De Loutherbourg from painting. "Lord
Howe's Victory off Ushant" (1794), and other large naval pictures were
commissioned for Greenwich Hospital Gallery, where they still remain.
His finest work was the "Destruction of the Armada." He painted also the
Great Fire of London, and several historical works, one of these being
the "Attack of the Combined Armies on Valenciennes" (1793). He was made
R.A., in addition to other distinctions, in 1781, shortly after which
date we find an entirely new mental impulse taking possession of him. He
joined Balsamo, comte de Cagliostro, and travelled about with this
extraordinary person--leaving him, however, before his condemnation to
death. We do not hear that Mesmer had attracted De Loutherbourg, nor do
we find an exact record of his connexion with Cagliostro. A pamphlet
published in 1789, _A List of a few Cures performed by Mr and Mrs De
Loutherbourg without Medicine_, shows that he had taken up
faith-healing, and there is a story that a successful projection of the
philosopher's stone was only spoiled by the breaking of the crucible by
a relative. He died on the 11th of March 1812. His publications are
few--some sets of etchings, and _English Scenery_ (1805).
DELPHI (the Pytho of Homer and Herodotus; in Boeotian inscriptions
[Greek: Belphoi], on coins [Greek: Dalphoi]), a place in ancient Greece
in the territory of Phocis, famous as the seat of the most important
temple and oracle of Apollo. It was situated about 6 m. inland from the
shores of the Corinthian Gulf, in a rugged and romantic glen, closed on
the N. by the steep wall-like under-cliffs of Mount Parnassus known as
the Phaedriades or Shining Rocks, on the E. and W. by two minor ridges
or spurs, and on the S. by the irregular heights of Mount Cirphis.
Between the two mountains the Pleistus flowed from east to west, and
opposite the town received the brooklet of the Castalian fountain, which
rose in a deep gorge in the centre of the Parnassian cliff. About 7 m.
to the north, on the side of Mount Parnassus, was the famous Corycian
cave, a large grotto in the limestone rock, which afforded the people of
Delphi a refuge during the Persian invasion. It is now called in the
district the Sarant' Aulai or Forty Courts, and is said to be capable of
holding 3000 people.
I. _The Site._--The site of Delphi was occupied by the modern village of
Castri until it was bought by the French government in 1891, and the
peasant proprietors expropriated and transferred to the new village of
Castri, a little farther to the west. Excavations had been made
previously in some parts of the precinct; for example, the portico of
the Athenians was laid bare in 1860. The systematic clearing of the site
began in the spring of 1892, and it was rapidly cleared of earth by
means of a light railway. The plan of the precinct is now easily traced,
and with the help of Pausanias many of the buildings have been
identified.
The ancient wall running east and west, commonly known as the Hellenico,
has been found extant in its whole length, and the two boundary walls
running up the hill at each end of it, traced. In the eastern of these
was the main entrance by which Pausanias went in along the Sacred Way.
This paved road is easily recognized as it zigzags up the hill, with
treasuries and the bases of various offerings facing it on both sides.
It mounts first westwards to an open space, then turns eastwards till it
reaches the eastern end of the terrace wall that supports the temple,
and then turns again and curves up north and then west towards the
temple. Above this, approached by a stair, are the Lesche and the
theatre, occupying respectively the north-east and north-west corner of
the precinct. On a higher level still, a little to the west, is the
stadium. There are several narrow paths and stairs that cut off the
zigzags of the Sacred Way.
In describing the monuments discovered by the French excavators, the
simplest plan is to follow the route of Pausanias. Outside the entrance
is a large paved court of Roman date, flanked by a colonnade. On the
north side of the Sacred Way, close to the main entrance, stood the
offering dedicated by the Lacedaemonians after the battle of
Aegospotami. It was a large quadrangular building of conglomerate, with
a back wall faced with stucco, and stood open to the road. On a stepped
pedestal facing the open stood the statues of the gods and the admirals,
perhaps in rows above one another.
The statues of the Epigoni stood on a semicircular basis on the south
side of the way. Opposite them stood another semicircular basis which
carried the statues of the Argive kings, whose names are cut on the
pedestal in archaic characters, reading from right to left. Farther west
was the Sicyonian treasury on the south of the way. It was in the form
of a small Doric temple _in antis_, and had its entrance on the east.
The present foundations are built of architectural fragments, probably
from an earlier building of circular form on the same site. The
sculptures from this treasury are in the museum, as are the other
sculptures found on the site. These sculptures, which are in rough
limestone, most likely belong to the earlier building, as their surface
is in a better state of preservation than could be possible if they had
been long exposed to the air. The earlier treasury was probably
destroyed either by earthquake or by the percolation of water through
the terracing.
[ILLUSTRATION: PRECINCT OF APOLLO AT DELPHI.]
The Cnidian treasury stands on the south side of the way farther west.
This building was originally surmised by the excavators to be the
treasury of Siphnos, but further evidence led them to change their
opinion. The treasury was raised on a quadrangular structure, supported
on its south side by the Hellenico, and built of tufa. The lower courses
are left rough and were most likely hidden. A small Ionic temple of
marble with two caryatids between antae stood on this substructure. The
sculpture from this treasury, which ornamented its frieze and pediment,
is of great interest in the history of the development of the art, and
the fragments of architectural mouldings are of great delicacy and
beauty. The whole work is perhaps the most perfect example we possess of
the transitional style of the early 5th century. Standing back somewhat
from the path just as it bends round up the hill is the Theban treasury.
Farther north, where the path turns again, is the Athenian treasury.
This structure, which was in the form of a small Doric temple _in
antis_, appears to have suffered from the building above it having been
shaken down by an earthquake. It has now been rebuilt with the original
blocks. There can be no doubt about the identity of the building, for
the basis on which it stands bears the remains of the dedicatory
inscription, stating that it was erected from the spoils of Marathon.
Almost all the sculptured metopes are in the museum, and are of the
highest interest to the student of archaic art. The famous inscriptions
with hymns to Apollo accompanied by musical notation were found on
stones belonging to this treasury.
Above the Athenian treasury is an open space, in which is a rock which
has been identified as the Sybil's rock. It has steps hewn in it, and
has a cleft. The ground round it has been left rough like the space on
the Acropolis at Athens identified as the ancient altar of Athena. Here
too was placed the curious column, with many flutes and an Ionic
capital, on which stood the colossal sphinx, dedicated by the Naxians,
that has been pieced together and placed in the museum.
A little farther on, but below the Sacred Way, is another open space, of
circular form, which is perhaps the [Greek: halos] or sacred
threshing-floor on which the drama of the slaying of the Python by
Apollo was periodically performed. Opposite this space, and backed
against the beautifully jointed polygonal wall which has for some time
been known, and which supports the terrace on which the temple stands,
is the colonnade of the Athenians. A dedicatory inscription runs along
the face of the top step, and has been the subject of much dispute. Both
the forms of the letters and the style of the architecture show that the
colonnade cannot date, as Pausanias says, from the time of the
Peloponnesian War; Th. Homolle now assigns it to the end of the 6th
century. The polygonal terrace wall at the back, on being cleared,
proves to be covered with inscriptions, most of them concerning the
manumission of slaves.
After rounding the east end of the terrace wall, the Sacred Way turns
northward, leaving the Great Altar, dedicated by the Chians, on the
left. After passing the altar, it turns to the left again at right
angles, and so enters the space in front of the temple. Remains of
offerings found in this region include those dedicated by the Cyrenians
and by the Corinthians. The site of the temple itself carries the
remains of successive structures. Of that built by the Alcmaeonids in
the 6th century B.C. considerable remains have been found, some in the
foundations of the later temple and some lying where they were thrown by
the earthquake. The sculptures found have been assigned to this
building, probably to the gables, as they are archaic in character, and
show a remarkable resemblance to the sculptures from the pediment of the
early temple of Athena at Athens. The existing foundations are these of
the temple built in the 4th century. They give no certain information as
to the sacred cleft and other matters relating to the oracle. Though
there are great hollow spaces in the structure of the foundations, these
appear merely to have been intended to save material, and not to have
been put to any religious or other use. Up in the north-eastern corner
of the precinct, standing at the foot of the cliffs, are the remains of
the interesting Cnidian Lesche or Clubhouse. It was a long narrow
building accessible only from the south, and the famous paintings were
probably disposed around the walls so as to meet in the middle of the
north side. Some scanty fragments of the lower part of the frescoed
walls have survived; but they are not enough to give any information as
to the work of Polygnotus.
At the north-western corner of the precinct is the theatre, one of the
best preserved in Greece. The foundations of the stage are extant, as
well as the orchestra, and the walls and seats of the auditorium. There
are thirty-three tiers of seats in seven sets, and a paved diazoma. The
sculptures from the stage front, now in the museum, have the labours of
Heracles as their subject. The date of the theatre is probably early 2nd
century B.C.
The stadium lies, as Pausanias says, in the highest part of the city to
the north-west. It stands on a narrow plateau of ground supported on the
south-east by a terrace wall. The seats have been cleared, and are in a
state of extraordinary preservation. A few of those at the east end are
hewn in the rock. No trace of the marble seats mentioned by Pausanias
has been found, but they have probably been carried off for lime or
building, as they could easily be removed. An immense number of
inscriptions have been found in the excavations, and many works of art,
including a bronze charioteer, which is one of the most admirable
statues preserved from ancient times.
II. _History._--Our information as to the oracle at Delphi and the
manner in which it was consulted is somewhat confused; there probably
was considerable variation at different periods. The tale of a hole from
which intoxicating "mephitic" vapour arose has no early authority, nor
is it scientifically probable (see A. P. Oppe in _Journal of Hellenic
Studies_, xxiv. 214). The questions had to be given in writing, and the
responses were uttered by the Pythian priestess, in early times a
maiden, later a woman over fifty attired as a maiden. After chewing the
sacred bay and drinking of the spring Cassotis, which was conducted into
the temple by artificial channels, she took her seat on the sacred
tripod in the inner shrine. Her utterances were reduced to verse and
edited by the prophets and the "holy men" ([Greek: hosioi]). For the
influence and history of the oracle see ORACLE.
Delphi also contained the "Omphalos," a sacred stone bound with fillets,
supposed to mark the centre of the earth. It was said Zeus had started
two eagles from the opposite extremities and they met there. Other tales
said the stone was the one given by Rhea to Cronus as a substitute for
Zeus.
For the history of the Delphic Amphictyony see under AMPHICTYONY. The
oracle at Delphi was asserted by tradition to have existed before the
introduction of the Apolline worship and to have belonged to the goddess
Earth (Ge or Gaia). The Homeric Hymn to Apollo evidently combines two
different versions, one of the approach of Apollo from the north by
land, and the other of the introduction of his votaries from Crete. The
earliest stone temple was said to have been built by Trophonius and
Agamedes. This was destroyed by fire in 548 B.C., and the contract for
rebuilding was undertaken by the exiled Alcmaeonidae from Athens, who
generously substituted marble on the eastern front for the poros
specified (see CLEISTHENES, _ad init._). Portions of the pediments of
this temple have been found in the excavations; but no sign has been
found of the pediments mentioned by Pausanias, representing on the east
Apollo and the Muses, and on the west Dionysus and the Thyiades
(Bacchantes), and designed by Praxias, the pupil of Calanias. The temple
which was seen by Pausanias, and of which the foundations were found by
the excavators, was the one of which the building is recorded in
inscriptions of the 4th century. A raid on Delphi attempted by the
Persians in 480 B.C. was said to have been frustrated by the god
himself, by means of a storm or earthquake which hurled rocks down on
the invaders; a similar tale is told of the raid of the Gauls in 279
B.C. But the sacrilege thus escaped at the hands of foreign invaders was
inflicted by the Phocian defenders of Delphi during the Sacred War,
356-346 B.C., when many of the precious votive offerings were melted
down. The Phocians were condemned to replace their value to the amount
of 10,000 talents, which they paid in instalments. In 86 B.C. the
sanctuary and its treasures were put under contribution by L. Cornelius
Sulla for the payment of his soldiers; Nero removed no fewer than 500
bronze statues from the sacred precincts; Constantine the Great enriched
his new city by the sacred tripod and its support of intertwined snakes
dedicated by the Greek cities after the battle of Plataea. This still
exists, with its inscription, in the Hippodrome at Constantinople.
Julian afterwards sent Oribasius to restore the temple; but the oracle
responded to the emperor's enthusiasm with nothing but a wail over the
glory that had departed.
Provisional accounts of the excavations have appeared during the
excavations in the _Bulletin de correspondance hellenique_. A summary
is given in J. G. Frazer, _Pausanias_, vol. v. The official account is
entitled _Fouilles de Delphes_. For history see Hiller von Gartringen
in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie, s.v._ "Delphi." For cult see L.
R. Farnell, _Cults of the Creek States_, iv. 179-218. For the works of
art discovered see GREEK ART. (E. Gr.)
DELPHINIA, a festival of Apollo Delphinius held annually on the 6th (or
7th) of the month Munychion (April) at Athens. All that is known of the
ceremonies is that a number of girls proceeded to his temple
(Delphinium) carrying suppliants' branches and seeking to propitiate
Apollo, probably as a god having influence on the sea. It was at this
time of year that navigation began again after the storms of winter.
According to the story in Plutarch (_Theseus_, 18), Theseus, before
setting out to Crete to slay the Minotaur, repaired to the Delphinium
and deposited, on his own behalf and that of his companions on whom the
lot had fallen, an offering to Apollo, consisting of a branch of
consecrated olive, bound about with white wool; after which he prayed to
the god and set sail. The sending of the maidens to propitiate the god
during the Delphinia commemorates this event in the life of Theseus.
See A. Mommsen, _Festeder Stadt Athen_ (1898); L. Preller,
_Griechische Mythologie_ (4th ed., 1887); P. Stengel, _Die griechische
Kultusaltertumer_ (1898); Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire des
antiquites_; G. F. Schomann, _Griechische Altertumer_ (4th ed.,
1897-1902).
DELPHINUS ("THE DOLPHIN"), in astronomy, a constellation of the northern
hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd
century B.C.); and catalogued by Ptolemy (10 stars), Tycho Brahe (10
stars), and Hevelius (14 stars), [Gamma] _Delphini_ is a double star: a
yellowish of magnitude 4, and a bluish of magnitude 5.
DELTA (from the shape of the Gr. letter [Delta], delta, originally used
of the mouth of the Nile), a tract of land enclosed by the diverging
branches of a river's mouth and the seacoast, and traversed by other
branches of the stream. This triangular tract is formed from the fine
silt brought down in suspension by a muddy river and deposited when the
river reaches the sea. When tidal currents are feeble, the delta
frequently advances some distance seawards, forming a local prolongation
of the coast.
DELUC, JEAN ANDRE (1727-1817), Swiss geologist and meteorologist, born
at Geneva on the 8th of February 1727, was descended from a family which
had emigrated from Lucca and settled at Geneva in the 15th century. His
father, Francois Deluc, was the author of some publications in
refutation of Mandeville and other rationalistic writers, which are best
known through Rousseau's humorous account of his ennui in reading them;
and he gave his son an excellent education, chiefly in mathematics and
natural science. On completing it he engaged in commerce, which
principally occupied the first forty-six years of his life, without any
other interruption than that which was occasioned by some journeys of
business into the neighbouring countries, and a few scientific
excursions among the Alps. During these, however, he collected by
degrees, in conjunction with his brother Guillaume Antoine, a splendid
museum of mineralogy and of natural history in general, which was
afterwards increased by his nephew J. Andre Deluc (1763-1847), who was
also a writer on geology. He at the same time took a prominent part in
politics. In 1768 he was sent to Paris on an embassy to the duc de
Choiseul, whose friendship he succeeded in gaining. In 1770 he was
nominated one of the Council of Two Hundred. Three years later
unexpected reverses in business made it advisable for him to quit his
native town, which he only revisited once for a few days. The change was
welcome in so far as it set him entirely free for scientific pursuits,
and it was with little regret that he removed to England in 1773. He was
made a fellow of the Royal Society in the same year, and received the
appointment of reader to Queen Charlotte, which he continued to hold
for forty-four years, and which afforded him both leisure and a
competent income. In the latter part of his life he obtained leave to
make several tours in Switzerland, France, Holland and Germany. In
Germany he passed the six years from 1798 to 1804; and after his return
he undertook a geological tour through England. When he was at
Gottingen, in the beginning of his German tour, he received the
compliment of being appointed honorary professor of philosophy and
geology in that university; but he never entered upon the active duties
of a professorship. He was also a correspondent of the Academy of
Sciences at Paris, and a member of several other scientific
associations. He died at Windsor on the 7th of November 1817.
His favourite studies were geology and meteorology. The situation of his
native country had naturally led him to contemplate the peculiarities of
the earth's structure, and the properties of the atmosphere, as
particularly displayed in mountainous countries, and as subservient to
the measurement of heights. According to Cuvier, he ranked among the
first geologists of his age. His principal geological work, _Lettres
physiques et morales sur les montagnes el sur l'histoire de la terre et
de l'homme_, first published in 1778, and in a more complete form in
1779, was dedicated to Queen Charlotte. It dealt with the appearance of
mountains and the antiquity of the human race, explained the six days of
the Mosaic creation as so many epochs preceding the actual state of the
globe, and attributed the deluge to the filling up of cavities supposed
to have been left void in the interior of the earth. He published later
an important series of volumes on geological travels in the north of
Europe (1810), in England (1811), and in France, Switzerland and Germany
(1813). These were translated into English.
Deluc's original experiments relating to meteorology were valuable to
the natural philosopher; and he discovered many facts of considerable
importance relating to heat and moisture. He noticed the disappearance
of heat in the thawing of ice about the same time that J. Black founded
on it his ingenious hypothesis of latent heat. He ascertained that water
was more dense about 40 deg. F. (4 deg. C.) than at the temperature of
freezing, expanding equally on each side of the maximum; and he was the
originator of the theory, afterward readvanced by John Dalton, that the
quantity of aqueous vapour contained in any space is independent of the
presence or density of the air, or of any other elastic fluid.
His _Recherches sur les modifications de l'atmosphere_ (2 vols. 4to,
Geneva, 1772; 2nd ed., 4 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1784) contains many accurate
and ingenious experiments upon moisture, evaporation and the indications
of hygrometers and thermometers, applied to the barometer employed in
determining heights. In the _Phil. Trans._, 1773, appeared his account
of a new hygrometer, which resembled a mercurial thermometer, with an
ivory bulb, which expanded by moisture, and caused the mercury to
descend. The first correct rules ever published for measuring heights by
the barometer were those he gave in the _Phil. Trans._, 1771, p. 158.
His _Lettres sur l'histoire physique de la terre_ (8vo, Paris, 1798),
addressed to Professor Blumenbach, contains an essay on the existence of
a General Principle of Morality. It also gives an interesting account of
some conversations of the author with Voltaire and Rousseau. Deluc was
an ardent admirer of Bacon, on whose writings he published two
works--_Bacon tel qu'il est_ (8vo, Berlin, 1800), showing the bad faith
of the French translator, who had omitted many passages favourable to
revealed religion, and _Precis de la philosophie de Bacon_ (2 vols. 8vo,
Paris, 1802), giving an interesting view of the progress of natural
science. _Lettres sur le Christianisme_ (Berlin and Hanover, 1801, 1803)
was a controversial correspondence with Dr Teller of Berlin in regard to
the Mosaic cosmogony. His _Traite elementaire de geologie_ (8vo, Paris,
1809, also in English, by de la Fite, the same year) was principally
intended as a refutation of the Vulcanian system of Hutton and Playfair,
who deduced the changes of the earth's structure from the operation of
fire, and attributed a higher antiquity to the present state of the
continents than is required in the Neptunian system adopted by Deluc
after D. Dolomieu. He sent to the Royal Society, in 1809, a long paper
on separating the chemical from the electrical effect of the pile, with
a description of the electric column and aerial electroscope, in which
he advanced opinions so little in unison with the latest discoveries of
the day, that the council deemed it inexpedient to admit them into the
_Transactions_. The paper was afterwards published in Nicholson's
_Journal_ (xxvi.), and the dry column described in it was constructed by
various experimental philosophers. This dry pile or electric column has
been regarded as his chief discovery.
Many other of his papers on subjects kindred to those already
mentioned are to be found in the _Transactions_ and in the
_Philosophical Magazine_. See _Philosophical Magazine_ (November
1817).
DELUGE, THE (through the Fr. from Lat. _diluvium_, flood, _diluere_, to
wash away), a great flood or submersion of the earth (so far as the
earth was known to the narrators), or of heaven and earth, or simply of
heaven, by which, according to primitive and semi-primitive races, chaos
was restored. It is, of course, not meant that all the current flood
stories, as they stand, answer to this description. There are flood
stories which, at first sight, may plausibly be held to be only
exaggerated accounts of some ancient historical occurrences. The
probability of such traditions being handed down is, however, extremely
slight. If some flood stories are apparently local, and almost or quite
without mythical colouring, it may be because the original myth-makers
had a very narrow conception of the earth, and because in the lapse of
time the original mythic elements had dwindled or even disappeared. The
relics of the traditional story may then have been adapted by scribes
and priests to a new theory. Many deluge stories may in this way have
degenerated. It is at any rate undeniable that flood stories of the type
described above, and even with similar minor details, are fairly common.
A conspectus of illustrative flood stories from different parts of the
world would throw great light on the problems before us; see the article
COSMOGONY, especially for the North American tales, which show clearly
enough that the deluge is properly a second creation, and that the
serpent is as truly connected with the second chaos as with the first.
One of them, too, gives a striking parallel to the Babylonian name
Hasis-andra (the Very Wise), whence comes the corrupt form Xisuthrus;
the deluge hero of the Hare Indians is called Kunyan, "the intelligent."
Polynesia also gives us most welcome assistance, for its flood stories
still present clear traces of the primitive imagination that the sky was
a great blue sea, on which the sun, moon and stars (or constellations)
were voyagers. Greece too supplies some stimulus to thought, nor are
Iran and Egypt as unproductive as some have supposed. But the only
pauses that we can allow ourselves are in Hindustan, Babylonia and
Canaan. The peoples of these three countries, which are religiously so
prominent in antiquity, have naturally connected their name equally with
thoughts about earth production and earth destruction.
Indian Tradition.
The Indian tradition exists in several forms.[1] The earliest is
preserved in the Satapatha Brahmana. It is there related that Manu, the
first man, the son of the sun-god Vivasvat, found, in bathing, a small
fish, which asked to be tended, and in reward promised to save him in
the coming flood. The fish grew, and at last had to be carried to the
sea, where it revealed to Manu the time of the flood, and bade him
construct a ship for his deliverance. When the time came, Manu,
unaccompanied, went on board; the grateful fish towed the ship through
the water to the summit of the northern mountain, where it bade Manu
bind the vessel to a tree. Gradually, as the waters fell, Manu descended
the mountain; he then sacrificed and prayed. In a year's time his prayer
was granted. A woman appeared, who called herself his daughter Ida
(goddess of fertility). It is neither stated, nor even hinted, that sin
was the cause of the flood.
Another version occurs in the great epic, the Mahabharata. The lacunae
of the earlier story are here supplied. Manu, for instance, embarks with
the seven "rishis" or wise men, and takes with him all kinds of seed.
The fish announces himself as the God Brahman, and enables Manu to
create both gods and men. A third account is given in the Bhagavata
Purana. It contains the details of the announcement of the flood seven
days beforehand (cf. Gen. vii. 4) and of the taking of pairs of all
kinds of animals (cf. Gen. vi. 19), besides the seeds of plants (as the
epic; cf. Gen. vi. 21). This story, however, is a late composition, not
earlier than the 12th century A.D. A first glance at these stories is
somewhat bewildering. We shall return, however, to this problem later
with a good hope of mastering it.
Israelite and Babylonian.
The Israelite (Biblical) and the Babylonian deluge-stories remain to be
considered. Neither need be described here in detail; for the former see
Gen. vi. 5-ix. 17, and for the latter GILGAMESH. As most students are
aware, the Biblical deluge-story is composite, being made up of two
narratives, the few lacunae in which are due to the ancient redactor who
worked them together.[2] The narrators are conventionally known as J. (=
the Yahwist, from the divine name Yahweh) and P. (= the Priestly Writer)
respectively. It is important to notice that P., though chronologically
later than J., reproduces certain elements which must be archaic. For
instance, while J. speaks only of a rain-storm, P. states that "all the
fountains of the great ocean were broken up, and the windows of heaven
opened" (Gen. vii. 11), i.e. the lower and the upper waters met together
and produced the deluge. It is also P. who tells the story of the
appointment of the rainbow (Gen ix. 12-17), which is evidently ancient,
though only paralleled in a Lithuanian flood-story, and near it we find
the divine declaration (Gen. ix. 2-6) that the golden age of universal
peace (cf. Gen. i. 29, 30), already sadly tarnished, is over.[3] Surely
this too has a touch of the archaic; nor can we err in connecting it
with the tradition of man's first home in Paradise, where no enemy could
come, because, in the original form of the tradition, Paradise was the
abode of God. (See PARADISE.)
Berossus: four points.
The Babylonian tradition exists in two main forms,[4] nor can we affirm
that the shorter form, due to Berossus, is superseded by the larger one
in the Gilgamesh epic, for it communicates four important points: (1)
Xisuthrus, the hero of the deluge, was also the tenth Babylonian king;
cf. Noah, in P., the tenth patriarch as well as the survivor from the
deluge; (2) the destination of Xisuthrus is said to be "to the gods," a
statement which virtually records his divine character. In accordance
with this, the final reward of the hero is declared to be "living with
the gods." This suggests that Noah (?) may originally have been
represented as a supernatural man, a demigod. True, Gen. ix. 20, 21 is
not consistent with this, but it is very possible that Noah was
substituted by a scribe's error for Enoch,[5] who, like Xisuthrus,
"walked with God (learning the heavenly wisdom) and disappeared, for God
had taken him" (Gen. v. 22, 24); (3) the birds, when sent out by
Xisuthrus the second time, return with mud on their feet. This detail
reminds us of points in some archaic North American myths which probably
supply the key to its meaning;[6] (4) in the time of Berossus the
mountain on which the ark grounded was considered to be in Armenia.
Details on relation of Israelite story to Babylonian.
We pass on to the relation of J. and P. to the Babylonian story. (1) The
polytheistic colouring of the latter contrasts strongly with the far
simpler religious views of J. and P. Note the capricious character of
the god Bel who sends the deluge, while at the end of the story the
catastrophe is represented as a judgment upon human sins. It is the
latter view which is adopted by J. and P. We cannot, however, infer from
this that the narratives which doubtless underlie J. and P. were
directly taken from some such story as that in the Gilgamesh epic. The
theory of an indirect and unconscious borrowing on the part of the
Israelitish compilers will satisfy all the conditions of the case. (2)
In the general scheme the three accounts very nearly agree, for J. must
originally have contained directions as to the building of the vessel,
and a notice that the ark grounded on a certain mountain. P.'s omission
of the sacrifice at the close seems to be arbitrary. His theory of
religious history forbade a reference to an altar so early, but his
document must have contained it. J. expressly mentions it (Gen. viii.
20, 21), though not in such an original way as the cuneiform text. (3)
As to the directions for building the ship (epic) or chest (J. and P.).
Here the Babylonian story and P. have a strong general resemblance;
note, e.g., the mention of bitumen in both. Whether the Hebrew reference
to a chest (_tebah_) is, or is not, more archaic than the Babylonian
reference to a ship (_elippu_) is a question which admits of different
answers. (4) As to the material cause of the deluge. According to P.
(see above) the water came both from above and from below; J. only
speaks of continuous rain. The Gilgamesh epic, however, mentions besides
thunder, lightning and rain, a hurricane which drove the sea upon the
land. We can hardly regard this as more original than P.'s
representation. (5) As to the extent of the flood. From the opening of
the story in the epic we should naturally infer that only a single S.
Babylonian city was affected. The sequel, however, implies that the
flood extended all over Babylonia and the region of Nisir. More than
this can hardly be claimed. Similarly the earlier story which underlies
J. and P. need only have referred to the region of the myth-framers,
i.e. either Canaan or N. Arabia. (6) As to the duration of the flood the
traditions differ. P. reckons it at 365 days, i.e. a solar year, which
is parallel to the 365 years of the life of Enoch (who, as we have seen,
may have been the original hero of the flood). It is probable (see
below) that P.'s ultimate authority, far back in the centuries,
represented the deluge as a celestial occurrence. The origin of J.'s
story is not quite so clear, owing to the lacunae in the narrative. If
the text may be followed, this narrator made the flood last forty days
and nights, after which two periods of seven days elapse, and then the
patriarch leaves the ark. The epic shortens the duration of the flood to
seven days, after which the ship remains another seven days (more
strictly six full days) on the mountain of the land of Nisir (P., the
mountains of Ararat; J., unrecorded). (7) As to the despatch of the
birds. J. begins, the epic closes, with the raven. Clearly the epic is
more original. Besides, one of the two missions of the dove is evidently
superfluous. Dove, swallow, raven, as in the epic, must be more
primitive than raven, dove, dove.
That the Hebrew deluge-story in both its forms has been at least
indirectly influenced by the Babylonian is obvious. We cannot indeed
reconstruct the form either of the Canaanitish (or N. Arabian) story,
which was recast partly at least under the influence of a recast
Babylonian myth, nor can we conjecture where the sanctuary was, the
priests of which, yielding to a popular impulse, adopted and modified
the fascinating story. But the fact of the ultimate Babylonian origin of
the Israelitish narratives cannot seriously be questioned. The
Canaanites or the N. Arabians handed on at least a portion of their
myths to the Israelites, and the creation and deluge stories were among
these. That the Israelitish priests gradually recast them is an easy and
altogether satisfactory conjecture.
History and significance of deluge-myths.
It remains to ask, What is the history and significance of the
deluge-myth? The question carries us into far-off times. We have no
version of the Babylonian myth which goes back to about 2100 B.C., while
its text was apparently derived from a still older tablet. But even this
is not primitive; behind it there must have been a much shorter and
simpler myth. The recast represented by the existing versions of the
myth must have been produced partly by the insertion, partly by the
omission or modification, of mythic details, and by the application to
the story thus produced of a particular mythic theory respecting the
celestial world. The shorter myth referred to may--if we take hints from
the very primitive myths of N. America--have run somewhat thus,
omitting minor details: "The earth (a small enough earth, doubtless)
and its inhabitants proved so imperfect that the beneficent superhuman
Being, who had created it, or perhaps another such Being, determined to
remake it. He, therefore, summoned the serpent or dragon who controlled
the cosmic ocean, and had been subjugated at creation, to overwhelm the
earth, after which the creator remade it better,[7] and the survivor and
his family became the ancestors of a new human race."
This, however, is only one possible representation. It may have been
said that the serpent of his own accord, not having been killed by the
creator, maliciously flooded the earth (cf. the Algonquian myth), but
was again overcome in battle, or that the serpent, after filling the
earth with violence and wrong, was at length slain by the Good Being,
and that his blood, streaming, out, produced a deluge.[8] In any case it
is unnatural to hold that the first flood (that which preceded creation)
had a dragon, but not the second. An old cuneiform text, recopied late,
however, appears to call the year of the deluge (i.e. of what we here
call the second flood) "the year of the raging (or red-shining)
serpent,"[9] and certainly the N. American myths distinctly connect
serpents with the deluges.
Among the probable minor details (omitted above) of the presumed shorter
and older myth we may include: (1) the warning of "Very-Wise,"[10]
either by friendly animals or by a dream; (2) the construction of a
chest to contain "Very-Wise," his wife and his sons, together with
animals;[11] (3) the despatch of three birds with a special object (see
below); (4) the landing of the survivors on a mountain. As to (1),
Berossus suggests that the notice came to Xisuthrus in a dream; in the
Indian myth it is the sacred fish which warns Manu. In the archaic N.
American myths, however, it is some animal which gives the notice--an
eagle or a coyote (a kind of wolf). As to (2), nothing is more common
than the story of a divine child cast into the sea in a box.[12] The
ship-motive is also found,[13] but it is not too rash to assume that the
box-motive is the earlier, and, in accordance with the parallels, that
the hero of the deluge was originally a god or a demigod. The
translation of the hero to be with the gods is a transparent
modification of the original tradition. As to (3), the original object
of sending out the birds was probably not to find out where dry land
was, but to use them as helpers in the work of re-creation. Take the
story of the Tlatlasik Indians, where the diving-bird (one of three sent
out) comes back with a branch of a fir-tree, out of which O'meatl made
mountains, earth and heaven;[14] so, too, the Caingangs relate[15] that
those who escaped from the flood, as they tarried on a mountain, heard
the song of the _saracura_ birds, who came carrying earth in baskets,
and threw it into the waters, which slowly subsided. As to (4), the
mountain would naturally be thought of as a place of refuge even in the
old, simple flood-story. But when Babylonian mythology effected an
entrance, the mountain would receive a new and much grander
significance. It would then come to represent the summit of that great
and most holy mountain, which, save by the special favour of the gods,
no human eye has seen.
That a didactic element entered the deluge-tradition but slowly, may be
surmised, not only from the genuinely old N. American stories, but from
the inconsistent statements, to which Jastrow has already referred, in
the Babylonian story. We may imagine that between the creation and the
deluge some great and wise Being had initiated the early men, not only
in the necessary arts of life, but in the "ways" that were pleasing to
the heavenly powers. The Babylonians apparently think of neglected
sacrifices, the Australians of a desecrated mystery as the cause of the
flood. Some such violation of a sacred rule is the origin that naturally
occurs to an adapter or expander of primitive myths.
Celestial myth theory.
And now as to the application of the celestial mythic theory to the
early deluge-story. In the agricultural stage it was natural that men
should take a deeper interest than before in the appearance of the sky,
and especially of the sun and moon, and of the constellations, even
though an astrological science or quasi-science would very slowly, if at
all, grow up. That the Polynesian myths (which show no vestige of
science) originally referred to the supposed celestial ocean, seems to
be plain. Schirren[16] regarded the New Zealand cosmogonies as myths of
sunrise, and the deluge-stories as myths of sunset. We may at any rate
plausibly hold, with the article "Deluge" (by Cheyne) in the ninth
edition of this work[17] (1877), that the deluge-stories of Polynesia
and early Babylonia (we may now probably add India) were accommodated to
an imaginative conception of the sun and moon as voyagers on the
celestial ocean. "When this story had been told and retold a long time,
rationalism suggested that the sea was not in heaven but on earth, and
observation of the damage wrought in winter by excessive rains and the
inundations of great rivers suggested the introduction of corresponding
details into the new earthly deluge-myth." "This accounts for the
strongly mythological character of Par-napishti (Ut-napishti) in
Babylonia and Maui in New Zealand, who are in fact solar personages.
Enoch, too, must be classed in this category, his perfect righteousness
and superhuman wisdom now first become intelligible. Moreover, we now
comprehend how the goddess Sabitu (the guardian of the entrance to the
sea) can say to Gilgamesh (himself a solar personage), 'Shamash the
mighty (i.e. the sun-god) has crossed the sea; besides (?) Shamash, who
can cross it?' For though the sea in the epic is no doubt the
earth-circling ocean, it was hardly this in the myth from which the
words were taken."[18] And, what is still more important, we can
understand better how, in the Gilgamesh epic (lines 115-116), the gods,
after cowering like dogs, go up to the "heaven of Ana." They, too, fear
the deluge, and only in the highest heaven can they feel themselves
secure.
Such an explanation seems indispensable if the wide influence of the
Babylonian form of the deluge-myth is to be accounted for. As Gunkel
well remarks,[19] neither the tenacity and self-propagating character of
this myth, nor the solemn utterance of Yahweh (who corresponds to the
Babylonian Marduk) in Gen. viii. 21_b_ (J.) and ix. 8-17 (P.) can be
understood, if the deluge-story is nothing more than an exaggerated
account of a historical, earthly occurrence. We, therefore, venture to
hold that it is an insufficient account to give of the story in the
Gilgamesh epic that it is a combination of a local tradition of the
destruction of a single city with a myth of the destruction of
mankind--a myth exaggerated in its present form, but based on accurate
knowledge of the yearly recurring phenomenon of the overflow of the
Euphrates.[20] There are no doubt points in the story as it now stands
which indicate a composite origin, but it is probable that even the
tradition which apparently limits the destruction to a single city,
equally with many other local flood-stories, has a basis in what we may
fairly call a celestial myth.
Indian myth reconsidered.
We can now return with some confidence to the Indian deluge-story. It is
unlikely that so richly gifted a race as the Aryans of India should not
have produced their own flood-story out of the same primeval germs which
grew up into the earliest Babylonian flood-story,[21] and almost
inconceivable that in its second form the Indian story should not have
become adapted to what may be called the celestial mythic theory. The
phrase "the northern mountain" for the place where the ship grounded may
quite well be the name of an earthly substitute (the epic has "the
highest summit of the Himalaya") for the mythic mountain of heaven. Nor
is it unimportant that Manu is the son of the sun-god, and that the
phrase "the seven rishis" in classical Sanskrit is a designation of the
seven stars of the Great Bear. For such problems all that we can hope
for is a probable solution. The opposite view[22] that the deluge is a
historical occurrence implies a self-propagating power in early
tradition which is not justified by critical research, and leaves out of
sight many important facts revealed by comparative study.
For a conspectus of deluge-stories see Andree, _Die Flutsagen,
ethnographisch betrachtet_ (1891), by a competent anthropologist; E.
Suess, _Face of the Earth_, i. 17 (1904); also Elwood Worcester,
_Genesis in the Light of Modern Knowledge_ (New York, 1901), Appendix
ii., in tabular form, from Schwarz's _Sintfluth und
Volkerwanderungen_. Dr Worcester's work is popular, but based on
well-chosen authorities. The article "Flood" in Hastings' D. B. is
comprehensive; it represents the difficult view that flood-stories,
&c., are generally highly-coloured traditions of genuine facts.
(T. K. C.)