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δεσπότ-ης , ου, ὁ; voc. δέσποτα^: Ion. acc.
A.“δεσπότεα” Hdt.1.91, al., Luc.Syr.D.25:—master, lord, prop. the master of the house, “δόμων” A.Eu.60, etc.; “ὄμμα γὰρ δόμων νομίζω δεσπότου παρουσίαν” Id.Pers.169: pl., of a family, Id.Ag.32, Ch.53, 82(lyr.); in respect of slaves, Pl.Prm.133d; “δοῦλοι καὶ δ. οὐκ ἄν ποτε γένοιντο φίλοι” Id.Lg. 757a, etc.; “δ. καὶ δοῦλος” Arist.Pol.1253b6, cf. 1278b35; “ὦ δέσποτ᾽ ἄναξ” Ar.Pax90 (anap.); ὦναξ δέσποτα ib.389, Fr.598; “δέσποτ᾽ ἄναξ” Men. 312.5.
2. despot, absolute ruler, Hdt.3.89, Th.6.77; “τύραννος καὶ δ.” Pl.Lg.859a; of the Roman Emperors, Ph.2.568, D.C.55.12, Hdn.1.6.4; “γᾶς καὶ θαλάσσας δ.” IG12(2).216 (Mytilene).
3. of the gods, S.Fr.535, E.Hipp.88, Ar.V.875, X.An.3.2.13.
4. dominant planet, Vett. Val.5.16.
II. generally, master, lord, owner, κώμου, ναῶν, Pi.O.6.18, P.4.207; “μαντευμάτων” A.Th.27; “τῶν Ἡρακλείων ὅπλων” S.Ph.262; ἑπτὰ δεσποτῶν, of the seven Chiefs against Thebes, E.Supp.636; “τοῦ ὄρτυγος” Poll.9.108.—Not in Hom. (for metrical reasons), though he uses δέσποινα in Od. (Prob. for δεμσποτ- 'lord of the house', cf. δόμος.）
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (22):
    • Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 32
    • Aeschylus, Eumenides, 60
    • Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, 53
    • Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, 82
    • Aeschylus, Persians, 169
    • Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 27
    • Aristophanes, Peace, 90
    • Aristophanes, Peace, 389
    • Aristophanes, Wasps, 875
    • Euripides, Hippolytus, 88
    • Euripides, Suppliants, 636
    • Herodotus, Histories, 3.89
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.91
    • Plato, Laws, 757a
    • Plato, Laws, 859a
    • Plato, Parmenides, 133d
    • Sophocles, Philoctetes, 262
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.77
    • Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.2.13
    • Sophocles, Ichneutae, 535
    • Lucian, De Syria dea, 25
    • Cassius Dio, Historia Romana, 55.12
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