Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

CYRUS
DAGRAN 193
the third is an account given by Nabonidos of
his restoration of the temple of the Moon-god
at Haran, and of the temples of the Sun-god
and of Anunit at Sepharvaim .
Cyrus ascended the throne B.c . 559, and
was slain in battle against the MassagetEe,
B.c . 529 . He was followed by Cambyses (son)
until B.c . 521, when he was succeeded by
Smerdis, a Magian usurper, who reigned seven
months. Darius I ., son of Hystaspes, a nobleman,
conspired with six others and murdered
Smerdis, when, by device, Darius obtained
the throne over his companions B .c. 521 .
The celebrated siege of Babylon lasted two
years ; the city finally succumbed to the strategy
of General Zopyrus, 516 . Darius reigned
36 years, died B .c . 485 . (C. T . McClenachan,
Zendavesta.)
D . The fourth letter of the Phoenician, the
Hebrew, the Greek, the Roman, and of nearly
all alphabets . In Hebrew it is 1, Daleth, signifying
the door of life, a representation of
which was probably its original hieroglyph,
thus :
1
1 shows the approximation to the Hebrew
Daleth ; 2, the Greek Delta, resembling the
opening of a tent . The numerical value of 'i
is four ; as a Roman numeral it stands for 500 .
The Divine name in Hebrew connected with
this letter is 51a1, Daghul, Insignia .
Da Costa, Hippolyto Joseph . A native
of Colonia-do-Sacramento, on the river La
Plata. He was made a Freemason in Philadelphia
in the United States and afterward
settled in Lisbon . He was subsequently persecuted
by the Inquisition, and was rescued
only in time to save his life by the aid of English
brethren who got him uner the protection
of the English flag . He then passed over into
England, where he lived for several years, becoming
a zealous Mason and devoting himself
to Masonic literature . In 1811, he published
in London a Narrative of his persecution in
Lisbon, by the Inquisition, for the pretended
crime of Freemasonry, in 2 vols., 8vo. He
wrote also a History of the Dionysian Artificers,
in which he attempts to connect Freemasonry
with the Dionysian and other mysteries of the
ancients. He begins with the Eleusinian mysteries,
assuming that Dionysus, Bacchus,
Adonis, Thammuz, and Apollo were all various
names for the sun, whose apparent movements
are represented by the death and resurrection
referred to in the ceremonies . But as the sun
is typified as being dead or hidden for three
months under the horizon, be thinks that these
mysteries must have originated in a cold climate
as far north as latitude 66°, or among a
people living near the polar circle. He therefore
attributes the invention of these mys-
2
D
teries to the ancient Scythians or Massagette,
of whom he confesses that we know nothing .
He afterward gives the history of the Dionysiae
or Orphic mysteries of Eleusis, and draws
a successful parallel between the initiation
into these and the Masonic initiation . His
disquisitions are marked by much learning,
although his reasoning may not always carry
conviction.
Daetyf . Priests of Cybele, in Phrygia, of
whom there were five, which number could not
be exceeded, and alluded to the salutation and
blessing by the five fingers of the hand .
Daduchos. A torch-bearer . The title
given to an officer in the Eleusinian mysteries,
who bore a torch in commemoration of the
torch lit by Ceres at the fire of Mt . Etna, and
carried by her through the world in her search
for her daughter .
Daedalus. A famous artist and mechanician
whose genealogy is traced in the Greek
myths as having sprung from the old Athenian
race of kings, the Erechtheidm. He is said
to have executed the Cretan labyrinth, the
reservoir near Megaris in Sicily, the Temple of
Apollo at Capua, and the celebrated altar
sculptured with lions on the Libyan coast . He
is said to be the inventor of a number of the
"Working Tools" used in the various degrees
of Masonry, the plumb-line and the ax, most
of the tools used in car entry, and of glue .
Of him is told the fable of~his flying safely over
the fEgean by means of wings made by himself
. His nephew, Perdix: is the reputed inventorof
the third Great Light in Masonry, the
Compasses, which are dedicated to the Craft .
Through envy Da dalus is said to have hurled
his nephew, Perdix, from the Temple Athene .
Dagger. In the high degrees a symbol
of Masonic vengeance, or the punishment of
crime . (See Vengeance.)
Dagrain, Louis . A writer in the Amsterdam
Journal of November 3, 1735, of an article
on the subject of Freemasonry, which caused
an edict from the States General forbidding
Masonic gatherings throughout the country .
(Thory, ActaLat ., ii ., 306.)
Dagran, Louis . President of a General
Assembly of thirty Lodges held on St . John's
Day, 1756, at The Hague, for the formation of