isiting
and examining the principal churches, first of Normandy, then of central
and southern France, he was on his return appointed by Guizot secretary
to the Historical Committee of Arts and Monuments (1835); and in the
following years he delivered several courses of lectures on Christian
iconography at the Bibliotheque Royale. In 1839 he visited Greece for
the purpose of examining the art of the Eastern Church, both in its
buildings and its manuscripts. In 1844 he originated the _Annales
archeologiques_, a periodical devoted to his favourite subject, which he
edited until his death. In 1845 he established at Paris a special
archaeological library, and at the same time a manufactory of painted
glass. In the same year he was admitted to the Legion of Honour. His
most important work is the _Iconographie chretienne_, of which, however,
the first portion only, _Histoire de Dieu_ (1843), was published. It was
translated into English by E. J. Millington. Among his other works may
be mentioned the _Manuel d'iconographie chretienne grecque et latine_
(1845), the _Iconographie des chapiteaux du palais ducal de Venise_
(1857), and the _Manuel des objets de bronze et d'orfevrerie_ (1859). He
died on the 13th of November 1867.

DIDYMI, or DIDYMA (mod. _Hieronta_), an ancient sanctuary of Apollo in
Asia Minor situated in the territory of Miletus, from which it was
distant about 10 m. S. and on the promontory Poseideion. It was
sometimes called _Branchidae_ from the name of its priestly caste which
claimed descent from Branchus, a youth beloved by Apollo. As the seat of
a famous oracle, the original temple attracted offerings from Pharaoh
Necho (in whose army there was a contingent of Milesian mercenaries),
and the Lydian Croesus, and was plundered by Darius of Persia. Xerxes
finally sacked and burnt it (481 B.C.) and exiled the Branchidae to the
far north-east of his empire. This exile was believed to be voluntary,
the priests having betrayed their treasures to the Persian; and on this
belief Alexander the Great acted 150 years later, when, finding the
descendants of the Branchidae established in a city beyond the Oxus, he
ordered them to be exterminated for the sin of their fathers (328). The
celebrated cult-statue of Apollo by Canachus, familiar to us from
reproductions on Milesian coins, was also carried to Persia, there to
remain till restored by Seleucus I. in 295, and the oracle ceased to
speak for a century and a half