De ̄los (mod. De ̄los; 37 ̊ 24 ’ N, 25 ̊ 16 ’ E): Aegean island, north of Paros and east of Suros,
early religious center (dedicated to Apollo, Leto, and Artemis), from ca 550 BCE controlled
by Athens. From ca 310 BCE the prosperous center of an island league (including adjacent
Rheneia, plus Naxos, Lesbos, Rhodes, and Suros), which had existed in some prior
form, and then came under the Ptolemies 286 BCE; apparently dissolved ca 250 BCE and
re-formed 188 BCE under Rhodes. Declared a “free port” by Rome in 166 BCE and given
to Athens, made a center of the slave trade. Sacked by M VI in 88 BCE, and
by pirates in 69 BCE, and thereafter small. PECS 261 – 264, P. Bruneau; OCD3 443 – 444,
R.W.V. Catling; BAGRW 61-A3; BNP 4 (2004) 210–215, H. Kaletsch.
A, S, T (?).
% Dianium: two sites: (A) Spanish coastal town (mod. Denia, Spain; 38 ̊ 50 ’ N, 00 ̊ 06 ’ W),
founded before ca 400 BCE by traders from Massalia as He ̄meroskopeion, and renamed
when under Rome to its pre-Greek title (for which P gives “Artemisia”);
(B) Italian isle (Giannutri, Italy; 42 ̊ 20 ’ N, 11 ̊ 08 ’ E), also named Artemisia by Greeks. RE
5.1 (1903) 340–341, E. Hübner (Spain); PECS 272, G. Monaco (Italy); BAGRW 27-F3
(Spain), 41-E5/42-A4 (Italy); BNP 4 (2004) 360, G. Uggeri (Italy).
A.
Dikaiarkhia ⇒ Puteoli
% Diospolis (mod. Karnak/Luxor; 25 ̊ 41 ’ N, 32 ̊ 39 ’ E): Diospolis “the great,” also known
to Greeks as “Egyptian The ̄bai” (Thebes), the Egyptian center of the worship of Amun
(identified with Zeus, hence “Diospolis”), well upstream from Pano ̄polis. The ancient
Waset, occasional capital of Egypt, visited by H (2.143), which retained its
importance under the Ptolemies. Center of revolts in 206, ca 130, and 88– 85 BCE. Declined
from mid-1st c. BCE (D S 1.46–49; S 17.1.46), and sacked
by A G in 30/29 BCE. PECS 904, S. Shenouda; OCD3 1496, J.G. Milne and
A.J.S. Spawforth; BAGRW 80-B2; BNP 4 (2004) 522, R. Grieshammer; NP 12/1.277–282,
J. Quack. Several other smaller places were also called Diospolis (BAGRW 74-F2 [“Kato”],
77-G4 [“Mikra”]), from one of which Anoubio ̄n might have come (Hephaistio ̄n and O ̄dapsos
are from this one).
A, H, O ̄, O.
Durrakhion/Dyrr(h)achium (mod. Durrës [formerly Durazzo]; 41 ̊ 19 ’ N, 19 ̊ 27 ’ E):
coastal city of southern Illyria, founded as Epidamnos ca 626 BCE from Corinth and
Kerkura, from the 5th c. also called Durrakhion, a name which became usual under
Rome, from 229 BCE. In the 2nd c. BCE, the Via Egnatia was built from Durrakhion to
Thessalonike ̄ (east of Pella on the coast). A ciuitas libera in the late republic, Durrakhion had
a library, and was strategically important from the Roman Civil Wars to the Byzantine
period. PECS 311, P.C. Sestieri; OCD3 499 – 500, M. Cary and N.G.L. Hammond; BAGRW
49-B2; BNP 4 (2004) 760–762, D. Strauch and E. Wirbelauer.
A (?), B, P.
Edessa (mod. S ̧anlıurfa or Urfa; 37 ̊ 09 ’ N, 38 ̊ 48 ’ E): ancient Syrian city Urhai (whence
the region Osrhoe ̄ne ̄), renamed by Alexander of Macedon or Seleukos I in honor of
the Macedonian city Edessa (west of Pella); also known as Antioch on the Kallirhoe ̄
(S B, s.v., #8). Capital of an independent Aramaic/Syriac-
speaking kingdom ca 130 BCE to ca 242 CE, which was under the control of Rome from
ca 63 BCE (cf. Syria). The Jewish revolt (“Kitos” War) in 115– 117 CE led to its sack
GAZETTEER