Delus
Delus [1]
(or Delos Δῆλος , so called from having appeared, Δὴλος , manifest, from the sea, at the command of Neptune), mentioned in 1 Maccabees 15:23, as one of the places addressed by Lucius in behalf of the Jews, is the smallest of the islands called Cyclades, in the A Egean Sea (see Smith's Dict. Of Class. Geog. s.v.), being only about five miles in circumference (Pliny, 2:89). It was situated between Myconus and Rhenaea. It was one of the chief seats of the worship of Apollo, and was celebrated as the birth-place of this god and of his sister Artemis, or Diana (Spanheim on Callimachus's Hymn to Del.). We learn from Josephus (Ant. 14:10, 8) that Jews resided in this island, which may be accounted for by the fact that, after the fall of Corinth (B.C. 146), it became the center of an extensive commerce (Cicero, Manil. 18; Pliny, 4:22; 16:89; Livy, 41:25; 44:29; Strabo, xiv, p. 688; Pausanius, 3, 23). The sanctity of the spot (Grote, Greece, 3, 222) and its consequent security, its festival, which was a kind of fair, the excellence of its harbor, and its convenient situation on the highway from Italy and Greece to Asia, made it a favorite resort of merchants (Strabo, 10, p. 486). So extensive was the commerce carried on in the island that 10,000 slaves are said to have changed hands there in one day (Strabo, xiv, p. 668). It was especially celebrated for its bronze (aes Deliacum, Pliny, 34:2, 4; Cicero, Rose. 46; Verr. 2:34). Delus is at present uninhabited except by a few shepherds, but contains extensive ruins (Tournefort, 1:349 sq.). It, together with an adjoinng island, is now called Dhiles. See Leake, Northern Greece, 3, 95 sq.; Ross, Reisen auf. d. Griech Inseln, 1:30; 2:167; Sallier, Hist. de l'Isle de Delos, in the Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscrip. 3, 376; Schwenk, Deliacorum, Part I (Francof. 1825); Schlager, De Rebus Deli (Mitav. 1840.)
