DĒMĬURGI (δημιουργοί), magistrates, whose title is expressive of
their doing the service of the people, existed in several of the
Peloponnesian states. Among the Eleans and Mantineans they seem to
have been the chief executive magistracy. We also read of _demiurgi_
in the Achaean league, who probably ranked next to the _strategi_,
and put questions to the vote in the general assembly of the
confederates. Officers named _epidemiurgi_, or upper demiurgi, were
sent by the Corinthians to manage the government of their colony at
Potidaea.
DĒMŎCRĂTĬA (δημοκρατία), that form of constitution in which the
sovereign political power is in the hands of the demus (δῆμος) or
commonalty. In a passage of Herodotus (iii. 80), the characteristics
of a democracy are specified to be--1. Equality of legal rights
(ἰσονομίη). 2. The appointment of magistrates by lot. 3. The
accountability of all magistrates and officers. 4. The reference
of all public matters to the decision of the community at large.
Aristotle remarks--“The following points are characteristic of a
democracy; that all magistrates should be chosen out of the whole
body of citizens; that all should rule each, and each in turn rule
all; that either all magistracies, or those not requiring experience
and professional knowledge, should be assigned by lot; that there
should be no property qualification, or but a very small one, for
filling any magistracy; that the same man should not fill the same
office twice, or should fill offices but few times, and but few
offices, except in the case of military commands; that all, or as
many as possible of the magistracies, should be of brief duration;
that all citizens should be qualified to serve as dicasts; that the
supreme power in everything should reside in the public assembly,
and that no magistrate should be entrusted with irresponsible power
except in very small matters.” It is somewhat curious that neither
in practice nor in theory did the representative system attract any
attention among the Greeks. That diseased form of a democracy, in
which from the practice of giving pay to the poorer citizens for
their attendance in the public assembly, and from other causes,
the predominant party in the state came to be in fact the lowest
class of the citizens, was by later writers termed an _Ochlocracy_
(ὀχλοκρατία--the dominion of the mob).
DĒMŎSĬI (δημόσιοι), public slaves at Athens, who were purchased by
the state. The public slaves, most frequently mentioned, formed
the city guard; it was their duty to preserve order in the public
assembly, and to remove any person whom the prytaneis might order.
They are generally called bowmen (τοξόται); or from the native
country of the majority, Scythians (Σκύθαι); and also Speusinians,
from the name of the person who first established the force. They
originally lived in tents in the market-place, and afterwards upon
the Areiopagus. Their officers had the name of toxarchs (τόξαρχοι).
Their number was at first 300, purchased soon after the battle of
Salamis, but was afterwards increased to 1200.
DĒMUS (δῆμος), originally indicated a district or tract of land;
and in this meaning of a country district, inhabited and under
cultivation, it is contrasted with πόλις. When Cleisthenes, at
Athens, broke up the four tribes of the old constitution, he
substituted in their place ten local tribes (φυλαὶ τοπικαί),
each of which he subdivided into ten _demi_ or country parishes,
possessing each its principal town; and in some one of these demi
were enrolled all the Athenian citizens resident in Attica, with
the exception, perhaps, of those who were natives of Athens itself.
These subdivisions corresponded in some degree to the _naucrariae_
(ναυκραρίαι) of the old tribes, and were originally one hundred in
number. These demi formed independent corporations, and had each
their several magistrates, landed and other property, with a common
treasury. They had likewise their respective convocations or “parish
meetings,” convened by the _demarchi_, in which was transacted the
public business of the demus, such as the leasing of its estates,
the elections of officers, the revision of the registers or lists
of δημόται, and the admission of new members. Independent of these
bonds of union, each demus seems to have had its peculiar temples and
religious worship. There were likewise judges, called δικασταὶ κατα
δημους, who decided cases where the matter in dispute was of less
value than ten drachmae. Admission into a demus was necessary before
any individual could enter upon his full rights and privileges as
an Attic citizen. The register of enrolment was called ληξιαρχικὸν
γραμματεῖον.
DĒNĀRĬUS, the principal silver coin among the Romans, was so called
because it was originally equal to ten asses; but on the reduction
of the weight of the as [AS], it was made equal to sixteen asses,
except in military pay, in which it was still reckoned as equal to
ten asses. The denarius was first coined five years before the first
Punic war, B.C. 269. [ARGENTUM.] The average value of the denarii
coined at the end of the commonwealth is about 8½_d._, and those
under the empire about 7½_d._ If the denarius be reckoned in value
8½_d._, the other Roman coins of silver will be of the following
value:
| Pence. | Farth.
| |
Teruncius | -- | ·53125
Sembella | -- | 1·0625
Libella | -- | 2·125
Sestertius | 2 | ·5
Quinarius or Victoriatus | 4 | 1
Denarius | 8 | 2
[Illustration: Denarius. (British Museum.)]
Some denarii were called _serrati_, because their edges were notched
like a saw, which appears to have been done to prove that they were
solid silver, and not plated; and others _bigati_ and _quadrigati_,
because on their reverse were represented chariots drawn by two and
four horses respectively.