DIE. - City and ancient diocese of France, now the capital of an arrondissement in the département of Drôme.
A sanctuary of the goddess Andarta, situated in a valley in the land of the Vocontii, was called Dea Augusta, whence the name D. Christianity was established there at a very early date, as is attested by Christian funerary monuments; at the Council of Nicaea (325) the bishop of D., Nicasio, was present, but it cannot be said whether he was the first in the series. Thereafter Audenzio, about the middle of the 5th century, Petronio, and Marcello, likewise in the same century, are known. In the 6th century, Secolare, Lucrezio, and Paolo; in the 7th, Massimo; in the 9th, Remigio, Aurelio, and Enrico. In 1276 Pope Gregorio X, in order to strengthen the diocese of Valence against the count of Valentinois, united the diocese of D. with that of Valence; this situation lasted until 1687, when D. again became independent; it was suppressed in 1790 and united with Valence, whose bishop has assumed its title.
In the municipal palace and in private collections there are preserved fragments of three notable Christian sarcophagi. The first, divided by columns, contains in the centre the crux invicta, the beheading of St. Paolo, the final arrest of St. Pietro, and the sacrifice of Cain and Abel. The second has Christological scenes; the third preserves the representation of the Logos handing over the symbols of labour to the first parents and the scene of the wedding at Cana.