Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/850

 SIDONIUS

778

SIDYMA

It by degrees, owing to the Turkish invasions, and lack of water. At present the deserted ruins are called Eski Adalia, Old Attalia, in the sanjak of Adalia and the vilayet of Koniah. They consist of a temple, basilica, gymnasium, aqueduct, public bath, theatre, ramparts, etc. and some inscriptions. Sidon is mentioned in 1 Machabees, xv, 23, among the cities and countries to which the Roman letter pro- claiming their alliance with the Jews was sent. Christianity was early introduced into Sidon. St. Nestor, martjT in 251, was Bishop of Pergi, not of Sidon as Le Quien (Oriens Christ., I, 995) believed The first known bishop was Epidaurus, presiding at the Council of Ancyra, 314. Others are John, fourth eenturj-; Eustathius, 381; Amphilochius, 426-45S, who played an important part in the his- tory of the time; Conon, 536; Peter, 553; John, 680-692; Mark, 879; Theodore, 1027-1028; An- thimus, present at the Council of Constantinople where Michael Cerularius completed the schism with Rome, 1054; John, then counsellor to the Em- peror Michael VH Ducas, presided at a council on the worship of images, 1082; Theodosius and his successor Nicetas, twelfth century. John, present at a Council of Constantinople 1156. The "Notitia? Episcopatuum " continued to mention Sidon as a metropolis of Pamphylia until the thirteenth cen- tury. It does not appear in the "Notitia" of An- dronicus III. From other documents we learn that in 1315 and for some time previous to that, Sidon had bishops of its own — the Bishop of Sinope was called to the position, but was unable to leave his own diocese; this call was repeated in 1338 and 1345. In 1397 the diocese was united with that of Attalia; in 1400 the Metropolitan of Perge and Attalia was at the same time the administrator of vSidon. Since then, the city has disappeared from history.

Sidon was the home of Eustachius of Antioch (see Eustathius), of the philosopher Troilus, the master of Socrates, himself a teacher; of the cele- brated fifth-century ecclesiastical writer Philip; of the famous law>'er Tribonianus (sixth century).

Smith, Diction, of Greek and Roman Geog. (London, 1870), B. v.; ToMASCHEK, Zur historischen Topographie von Kleinasien im MUtelaller (Vienna, 1891), .59; Alishan, Sisseuan (Venice, 1899), 364; Texier, Asie Mineure (Paris, 1862), 721 sqq.; Lanckoronski, Les Mies de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie (Paris, 1890), 131 seq.; Beaufort, Karamania, 147 sqq.; Fellows, Asia Minor, 201; Leake, Asia Minor, 195 sqq.; Ramsay, Asia Minor, 420 and passim ; Wachter, Der Verfall des Griechen- tuma in Kleinasien im XIV Jahrhunderl (Leipzig, 1903), 29 sqq.

S. P^TRIDfcs.

Sidonius ApoUinaris (Caius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius), Christian author and Bishop of Clermont, b. at Lyons, 5 November, about 430; d. at Clermont, about August, 480. He was of noble descent, his father and grandfather being Christians and prefects of the pretorium of the Gauls. About 452 he married Papianilla, daughter of Avitus, who was proclaimed emperor at the end of 455, and who set up in the Forum of Trajan a statue of his son-in- law. Sidonius wrote a panegyric in honour of his father who had become consul on 1 Jan., 456. A yea,r had elapsed before Avitus was overthrown by Rici- mer and Majorian. Sidonius at first resisted, then yielded and wrote a second panegyric on the occasion of Majorian's journey to Lyons (458). After the fall of Majorian, Sidonius supported Theodoric II, King of the Visigoths, and after Theodoric's assassination hoped to see the empire arise anew during the con- sulate of Anthemius. He went to Rome, where he eulogized the second consulate of Anthemius fl Jan., 468) in a panegyric, and became prefect of the city. About 470 he returned to Gaul, where contrary to his wishes he was elected Bishop of the Arveni (Clermont in Auvergne). He had been chosen as the only one capable of maintaining the Roman power against the attacks of Euric, Theodoric's successor. With the

general Ecdicius, he resisted the barbarian army up to to the time when Clermont fell, abandoned by Rome (474). He was for some time a prisoner of Euric, and was later exposed to the attacks of two priests of his diocese. He finally returned to Clermont, where he died (Epist., IX, xii).

His works form two groups, the "Carmina" and the " Epistulaj ". The poems are the three panegyrics with their appendixes; two epithalamia; an acknowl- edgment to Faustus of Reji (now Riez), a eulogy of Narbonne, or rather, of two citizens of Narbonne; a description of the castle {burgas) of Leontius, etc. The letters have been divided into nine books, the ap- proximate dates of which are: I, 469; II, 472; V-VII, 474-475; IX, 479. Although written in prose, these letters contain several metrical pieces. After his con- version to Christianity, Sidonius ceased to write pro- fane poetry. The poems of Sidonius are written in a fairly pure latinity. The prosody is correct, but the frequent alliterations and the use of short verses in lengthy compositions betray the poet of a decadent period. The excessive use of mythological and alle- gorical terms and the elaboration of details make the reading of these works tiresome. The sources of his inspiration are usually Statins and Claudian. His defects are atoned for by powerful descriptions (sketches of barbarian races, landscapes, details of court intrigues) noticeable particularly in his letters, in the composition of which he took as models Sj'm- machus and Pliny the Younger. Most of them are genuine letters, only somewhat retouched before their insertion in the collection. They abound more in mannerisms than the poems and contain also many archaic words and expressions borrowed from every period of the Latin language; he is very diffuse and runs to antithesis and plays upon words. He fore- shadows the artificial diction of the "Hisperica Ta- mina", only the artistic skill of the painter and the story-teller makes up for these defects. These letters exhibit a highly coloured and unique picture of the times. Sidonius wished to unite the service of Christ and that of the Empire. He is the last representative of the ancient culture in Gaul. By his works as well as by his career, he strove to perpetuate it under the aegis of Rome; eventually he had to be content with saving its last vestiges under a barbarian prince.

The writings of Sidonius were edited by Sirmond (Paris, 1652) ; for new editions see Luetjohann in Mon. Ger. Hist.: Aucl. antiq., VIII (Berlin, 1887); Mohr in Bihliotheca Teubneriana (Leipzig). For an exhaustive bibliography see Chevalier, Repertoire; Idem, Bio-bibl., 8. v.; Rooer, L'enseignement dea lettres clasaiques d'Anaone d Alcuin (Paris, 1905), 60-88.

Paul Lejay.

Sidyina, a titular see in Lycia, suffragan of Myra; mentioned by Ptolemy, V, 3, 5; PHny, V, 28; Hierocles, 684, 15; Stephanus Byzantinus, s. v., Cedrenus (ed. Bonn) 344. Near the sea and to the west of Patara it was built on the southern slope of Cragus, to the north-west of the estuary of the Xanthus. Its history is unknown; its ruins, wl\ich prove it to have been an unimportant place, are near the village of Doodoorgar, in the vilayet of Koniah, and consist of a theatre, agora, temples, tombs, and some in.scriptions. Le Quien, "Oriens christianus", I, 973, mentions three of its bishops: Hypatius, who signed the letter of the bishops of Lycia to the Em- peror Leo, 458; Zemarchus, at the councils of Con- stantinople in 680 and 692; Nicodemus, at Nica'a, 787; Eustathius, present at the Council of Seleucia, 359, was bishop both of Pinara and of Sidyma (see Le Quien, ibid., 975). The see is mentioned by the Greek "Notitiae episcopatuum" until the thirteenth century.

Fellows, Lycia, 151 seq.; Smith, Diet, of Greek and Roman Geog., 8. v.; Ramset, i4«to Minor, 425; Texier, Asie mxneure,

S. PfiXEIDiJS.