Dempster, Thomas, a Scotchman of much mis- cellaneous erudition, was bom at Muiresk, Aberdeen- shire, about the year 1579. He studied at Cambridtre, went to Paris, and obtained a temporar}^ professorship in the College of Beauvais, where he manifested a very quarrelsome temper. He was afterwards professor at Pisa and Bologna, near which city he died, Sept. 6, 1625. Among his writing is a Historia Ecclesiastica Geniis Scotortim, ''a work in which his desire to mag- nify the merits of his country often induced him to forge the names of persons and books that never ex- isted, and to unscrupulously claim as Scotchmen writ- ers whose birth-place was doubtful." — New Gen. Dic- tionary, iv, 859.
Den, the rendering in the Auth. Vers, of the fol- lowing Heb. and Greek words : ^7??> mearah! (Isa. xxxii, 14 ; Jer. vii, 11), a cave (as elsewhero render- ed) ; h'J'iK'Q, me&rah', a hole (as of a venomous rep- tile, Isa. xi, 8) ; ?^b, soJfc, a booth or thicket (*' paviU ion," Psa. xxvii, 6; "tabernacle," Psa. Ixxvi, 2), hence a ** covert" (Jer. xxv, 88) or kdr of a wild ani- mal (Psa. X, 9) ; so "{y^^'O, moon' (Jer. ix, 11 ; x, 22), or PlDi^a, mednah' (Job xxxviii, 40; Psa. civ, 22; Cant, iv, 8; Amos iii, 4; Nah. ii, 12), properly a dwelling- place or habitation (as elsewhere rendered) ; rcnrid^, minharah\ Ajissure in the rocks, used for hiding (Judg. vi, 2); 3*^^, eVeft, an ambush (*'lie in wait," Job xxxviii, 40), hence lair of a beast of prey (Job xxxvii, 8) ; (nrr)kaiov, a cctoe (as rendered John xi, 88), hence a recess for secrecy (Heb. xi, 88 ; Rev. vi, 15), or a re- sort of thieves (Matt, xxi, 18 ; Mark xi, 17 ; Luke xi, 38). See Cave.
Antique Figure of a Man in a Den of Lionn.
DENARIUS
744
DENDERAH
In Dan. vi, the ''den (Chald. ^l,ffob, a pit; Sept. XoKKog ; Vulg. lacus) of lions*' is repeatedly named as a peculiar means of punishment for state offenders at Babylon. This usage, although not mentioned by any other ancient authority, has received remarkable con- firmation (see " Truths of RtvelcUion demonstrated by an Appeal to MommientSy** etc., "by a Fellow of seven learned Societies," Lond. 1831) from certain remains discovered in that region by modern travellers (Kitto, Picl, Bible, note on Dan. vi, 16), especially one on a block of white marble found near the tomb of Daniel at Susa, and thus described by Sir R. K. Porter in his Tratels in Persia (ii, 41G) : ** It does not exceed ten inches in width and depth, measures twenty in length, and is hollow within, as if to receive some deposit. Three of its sides are cut in bas-relief, two of them with similar tepresentations of a man apparently naked, except a sash round his waist and a sort of cap on his head. His hands are bound behind him. The comer of the stone forms the neck of the figure, so that its head forms one of its ends. Two lions in sit- ting posture appear on either side at the top, each hav- ing a paw on tlie head of the man." See Lion.
Denarius (^T/vapiov), the principal silver coin of the Romans, which took its name from having been originally equal to ten times the "as" (Pliny, xxxiii, 12), which was the unit. See Farthing. II was in later times (after B.C. 217) current also among the Jews, and is the coin which is called "a Penny" (q. V.) in the Auth. Vers. The denarii were first coined in B.C. 269, or four years after the first Punic War, and the more ancient specimens are much heavier than those of later date (Bockh, Metrol, UnUrs. p. 299, 469). Those coined in the early period of the commonwealth have the averai^e weight of 60 grains, and those coin- ed under the empire of 52.5 grains. With some al- lowance for alloy, the former would be worth 8.6245 pence, or 17 cento, and the latter 7.5 pence, or 15 cents, it has been supposed, however, that the reduction of weight did not take place till the time of Nero ; and, in that case, the denarii mentioned in the Gospels must have been of the former weight and value, although the equivalentof the Greek dnaxfJirj (Pliny, xxi, 109), or about 15 cents, is the usual computation ( see Wurm, De ponder, mensu- rcL, p. 54). A denarius was the day-wages of a laborer in Palestine (Matt, xx, 2, 9, 18 ; Tobit v, 16) ; and the daily pay of a Roman soldier was less (Tacitus, Ann. if 17). In the time of Christ the denarius bore the ima^e of the emperor (Matt xxii, 19 ; Mark xii, 16), but formerly it was im- pressed with the symbols of the republic. — Kitto,
8. V.
The name of this coin occurs in the Talmud, in the form *ir^ (see Light- foot, at Matt XX, 2). Pliny speaks of a golden denari- us {Hist. Nat, xxxiii, 13; xxxiv, 17 ; xxxvii, 3 ; so also the Mishna, Kiddush, ii, 2, etc.), which was of the average weight of 120 grains, and was current for 25 of the silver coin. In later times a copper coin
'i called denarius. It has
Roman Denarii of the time of the Repablic, no*- la tke Btt^ Museum (nctual siae ; weight of the fint, dO.€ gmae; >?>