Donusa

• a small island in the Aegean Sea, east of Naxos, now Denusa, a place of banishment under the emperors, Mel. 2, 7, 11; Plin. 4, 12, 23, § 69; Verg. A. 3, 125; Tac. A. 4, 30.

DONU´SA or DONY´SA (Δόνυσα; whence come the corrupt forms Δονουσία, Steph. B. s.v.; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 530; Dionysia, Mel. 2.7), a small island near Naxos, said by Stephanus to have been the island to which Dionysus carried Ariadne from Naxos, when pursued by her father Minos. This tale, however, appears to have arisen from confounding Donusa, the name of the island, with Dionysus, the name of the god. Stephanus also states, though we know not on what authority, that the island belonged to Rhodes. Virgil (Aen. 3.125) gives to Donusa the epithet of viridis,w hich Servius explains by the colour of its marble; but this statement is probably only invented to explain the epithet. Donusa was used as a place of banishment under the Roman empire. (Tac. Ann. 4.30.)

(Δόνυσα) or Donusia (Δονουσία). One of the smaller Sporades in the Aegaean Sea near Naxos. It produced green marble, whence Vergil calls the island viridis. Under the Roman emperors it was used as a place of banishment.