Dēlos

, one of the Cyclades at the north of Naxos, was severally called Lagia, Ortygia, Asteria, Chlamidia, Pelasgia, Pyrpyle, Cynthus, and Cynæthus, and now bears the name of Sailles. It was called Delos from δηλος , because it suddenly made its appearance on the surface of the sea, by the power of Neptune, who, according to the mythologists, permitted Latona to bring forth there, when she was persecuted all over the earth, and could find no safe asylum. See: Apollo . The island is celebrated for the nativity of Apollo and Diana; and the solemnity with which the festivals of these deities were celebrated there, by the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands and of the continent, is well known. One of the altars of Apollo, in the island, was reckoned among the seven wonders of the world. It had been erected by Apollo when only four years old, and made with the horns of goats, killed by Diana on mount Cynthus. It was unlawful to sacrifice any living creature upon that altar, which was religiously kept pure from blood and every pollution. The whole island of Delos was held in such veneration, that the Persians, who had pillaged and profaned all the temples of Greece, never offered violence to the temple of Apollo, but respected it with the most awful reverence. Apollo, whose image was in the shape of a dragon, delivered there oracles during the summer, in a plain manner, without any ambiguity or obscure meaning. No dogs, as Thucydides mentions, were permitted to enter the island. It was unlawful for a man to die, or for a child to be born there; and when the A then i ans were ordered to purify the place, they dug up all the dead bodies that had been interred there, and transported them to the neighbouring islands. An edict was also i ued, which commanded all persons labouring under any mortal or dangerous disease to be instantly removed to the adjacent island called Rhane. Some mythologists suppose that Asteria, who changed herself into a quail, to avoid the importuning addre es of Jupiter, was metamorphosed into this island, originally called Ortygia ab ὀρτυξ , a quail . The people of Delos are described by Cicero , Academic a , bk. 2 , chs. 16 & 18; bk. 4 , ch. 18 , as famous for rearing hens. Strabo , bks. 8 & 10.— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 5 , li. 329 ; bk. 6 , li. 333 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 7 .— Pliny , bk. 4 , ch. 12 .— Plutarch , de Sollertia Animalium , . — Thucydides , bks. 3, 4, . — Virgil , Æneid , bk. 3 , li. 73 .— Ptolemy , bk. 3 , ch. 15 .— Call i mach us , Hymn to Delos .— Claudian , Panegyric us de Consulatu Honorii August i , bk. 4 .