DANĂCE (δανάκη), properly the name of a foreign coin, was also the
name given to the obolos, which was placed in the mouth of the dead
to pay the ferryman in Hades.
DAPHNĒPHŎRĬA (δαφνηφόρια), a festival celebrated every ninth year at
Thebes in honour of Apollo, surnamed Ismenius or Galaxius. Its name
was derived from the laurel branches (δάφναι) which were carried by
those who took part in its celebration.
DĀREICUS (δαρεικός), or to give the name in full, the Stater of
Dareius, a gold coin of Persia, stamped on one side with the figure
of an archer crowned and kneeling upon one knee, and on the other
with a sort of quadrata incusa or deep cleft. It is supposed to have
derived its name from the first Dareius, king of Persia. It is equal
to about 1_l._ 1_s._ 10_d._ 1·76 farthings.
[Illustration: Dareicus. (British Museum.)]
DĔCĂDŪCHI (δεκαδοῦχοι), the members of a council of Ten, who
succeeded the Thirty in the supreme power at Athens, B.C. 403. They
were chosen from the ten tribes, one from each; but, though opposed
to the Thirty, they sent ambassadors to Sparta to ask for assistance
against Thrasybulus and the exiles. They remained masters of Athens
till the party of Thrasybulus obtained possession of the city and the
democracy was restored.
DĔCARCHĬA or DĔCĂDARCHĬA (δεκαρχία, δεκαδαρχία), a supreme council
established in many of the Grecian cities by the Lacedaemonians, who
entrusted to it the whole government of the state under the direction
of a Spartan harmost. It always consisted of the leading members of
the aristocratical party.
DĔCASMUS (δεκασμός), bribery. There were two actions for bribery at
Athens: one, called δεκασμοῦ γραφή, lay against the person who gave
the bribe; and the other, called δώρων or δωροδοκίας γραφή, against
the person who received it. These actions applied to the bribery of
citizens in the public assemblies of the people (συνδεκάζειν τὴν
ἐκκλησίαν), of the Heliaea or any of the courts of justice, of the
βουλή, and of the public advocates. Actions for bribery were under
the jurisdiction of the thesmothetae. The punishment on conviction
of the defendant was death, or payment of ten times the value of the
gift received, to which the court might add a further punishment
(προστίμημα).