A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DEMETRIUS.
daring promptitude in the execution of his schemes,
he has perhaps never been surpassed; but prosperity always proved fatal to him, and he constantly lost by his luxury and voluptuousness the
advantages that he had gained by the vigour and
activity which adversity never failed to call forth.
His life was in consequence a continued succession
of rapid and striking vicissitudes of fortune. It
has been seen that he was guilty of some great
crimes, though on the whole he can be charged
perhaps with fewer than any one of his contemporaries; and he shewed in several instances a degree
of humanity and generosity very rarely displayed
at that period. His besetting sin was his unbounded licentiousness, a vice in which, says
Plutarch, he surpassed all his contemporary monarchs. Besides Lamia and his other mistresses,
he was regularly married to four wives, Phila,
Eurydice, Deidameia, and Ptolemais, by whom he
left four sons. The eldest of these, Antigonus
Gonatas, eventually succeeded him on the throne
of Macedonia.
According to Plutarch, Demetrius was remarkable for his beauty and dignity of countenance, a
remark fully borne out by his portrait as it appears
upon his coins, one of which is annexed. On this
his head is represented with horns, in imitation of
Dionysus, the deity whom he particularly sought
to emulate. (Plut. Demelr. 2; Eckhel, ii. p.
122.)

DEMETRIUS. 965
whom he had by an Illyrian woman, and of whom
nothing is known but his name mentioned by
Plutarch. (Plut. Demetr. 53.) [E. H. B.]
DEME'TRIUS (Asjoorp1os) II., king of MACE.
DONIA, was the son of Antigonus Gonatas, and
succeeded his father in B. c. 239. According to
Justin (xxvi. 2), he had distinguished himself as
early as B. c. 266 or 265, by the defeat of Alexander of Epeirus, who had invaded the territories of
his father: but this statement is justly rejected by
Droysen (Hellenisnmus, ii. p. 214) and Niebuhr
(Kleine Schrift. p. 228) on account of his extreme
youth, as he could not at this time have been
above twelve years old. (See, however, Euseb.
Arm. i. p. 160; Thirlwall's Greece, vol. viii. p. 90.)
Of the events of his reign, which lasted ten years,
B. c. 239-229 (Polyb. ii. 44; Droysen, ii. p. 400,
not.), our knowledge is so imperfect, that very opposite opinions have been formed concerning his
character and abilities. He followed up the
policy of his father Antigonus, by cultivating
friendly relations with the tyrants of the different
cities in the Peloponnese, in opposition to the
Achaean league (Polyb. ii. 44), at the same time
that he engaged in war with the Aetolians, which
had the effect of throwing them into alliance with
the Achaeans. We know nothing of the details
of this war, which seems to have arisen for the
possession of Acarnania; but though Demetrius
appears to have obtained some successes, the Aetolians on the whole gained ground during his reign.
He was assisted in it by the Boeotians, and at one
time also by Agron, king of Illyria. (Polyb. ii. 2.
46, xx. 5; Schorn, Gesch. Griecdenlands, p. 88;
Droysen, ii. p. 440; Thirlwall's Greece, viii. pp.
118-125 ) We learn also that he suffered a
great defeat from the Dardanians, a barbarian tribe
on the north-western frontier of Macedonia, but it
is quite uncertain to what period of his reign we
are to refer this event. (Prol. Trogi Pompeii, lib.
xxviii.; Liv. xxxi. 28.) It was probably towards

Of his children two bore the same name:- the commencement of it that Olympias, the widow
1. Demetrius, surnamed the Handsome (0 of Alexander of Epeirus, in order to secure his
icao's), whom he had by Ptolemai's, daughter support, gave him in marriage her daughter Phthia
of Ptolemy Soter, and who was consequently (Justin. xxviii. 1), notwithstanding which he apbrother of Antigonus Gonatas. He was first mar- pears to have taken no steps either to prevent or
ried to Olympias of Larissa, by whom he had a son avenge the death of Olympias and her two, sons.
Antigonus, surnamed Doson, who afterwards suc- Demetrius had previously been married to Stratoceeded to the throne of Macedonia. (Euseb. Arm. nice, daughter of Antiochus Soter, who quitted
i. p 161, fol. ed.) After the death of Magas, king him in disgust on his second marriage with Phthia,
of Cyrene, his widow, Arsinog, wishing to obtain and retired to Syria. (Justin, 1. c.; Euseb. Arm.
support against Ptolemy, sent to Macedonia to i. p. 164; Joseph. c. Apion. i. 22; Niebuhr's
offer the hand of her daughter Berenice, and with Kleine Schriften, p. 255.) [E. H. B.]
it the kingdom of Cyrene, to Demetrius, who
readily embraced the offer, repaired immediately to
Cyrene, and established his power there without
opposition. How long he continued to hold it we
know not; but he is said to have given general
offence by his haughty and unpopular manners, and
carried on a criminal intercourse with his motherin-law, Arsinoe. This was deeply resented by COIN OF DE METRIUS II
the young queen, Berenice, who caused him to be
assassinated in her mother's arms. (Justin, xxvi. DEMETRIUS (Anusrptos), a Greek of the
3; Euseb. Arm. i. pp. 157, 158; Niebuhr's Kleine, island of PHAROS in the Adriatic. He was in the
Schriften. p. 229; Droysen, Hellenism. ii. p. 292, service of the Illyrians at the time that war first
&c.) According to a probable conjecture of Droy- broke out between them and Rome, and held
sen's (ii. p. 215), it must have been this Deme- Corcyra for the Illyrian queen Teuta; but treachtrius, and not, as stated by Justin (xxvi. 2), the erously surrendered it to the Roman fleet, and
son of Antigonus Gonatas, who defeated Alexander became a guide and active ally to the consuls in
of Epeirus when lie invaded Macedonia. all their subsequent operations. (Polyb. ii. 11.)
2. Demetrius, surnamed the Thin (6d AcrTos), His services were rewarded, after the defeat and