Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/716

Rh 704 SANCHUNIATHON. thus invented a high antiquity for his Plioenician authority, he pretended that his writer had taken the greatest pains to obtain information, that he had received some of his accounts from Hierom- bahis, the priest of the god Jevo, and had collected others from inscriptions in the temples and the public records preserved in each city. This is all pure invention,, to impose more effectually upon the public. The general nature of the work is in itself sufficient to prove it to be a forgery ; but in addition to this we find an evident attempt to show that the Greek religion and mythology were derived from the Phoenician, and a confusion be- tween the Phoenician and Hebrew religions, which are of themselves sufficient to convince any one that the work was not of genuine Phoenician origin. But though the work is thus clearly a forgery, the question still remains, whether the name Sanchuniathon was a pure invention of Phi- Ion or not. Movers, who has discussed the whole subject with ability', thinks that Philon availed himself of a name already in use, though it was not the name of a person. He supposes that Sanchoniathon was the name of the sacred books of the Phoenicians, and that its original form was San-Chon-idih, which might be represented in the Hebrew characters by Hn"' flS |D, that is " the entire law of Chon," Chon being the same as Bel, or, as the Greeks called him, the philosopher He- racles, or the Tyrian Heracles. Movers further supposes that Suniaethon ['2,ovviaiQa>v which occurs in the passage of Athenaeus already referred to, is a shortened form of the name, and signifies ilie whole law, the Clion being omitted. But on these etymologies we offer no opinion. The fragments of the so-called Sanchuniathon which have come down to us have been published in a useful edition by J. C. Orelli, under the title of menta de Cosmogonia at Theologia Phoenicum, Graece versa a Philone Byblio, servata ab Eusebio Caesariensi, Praeparationis Evangelicae Libro I. cap. VI. et VII., &c.," Lips. 1826, 8vo. Besides these extracts from the first book of the Praepa- ratio Evangelica, there is another short passage in Eusebius {de Laud. Constant c. 3), and tvi^o in Joannes Lydus {de Mensihus, p. 116 de Mugistr. p. 130), which are evidently taken from the pre- tended translation of Philon Byblius. Philon Byblius himself has also been made the subject of a forgery. In 1835 a manuscript, pur- porting to be the entire translation of Philon By- blius, was discovered in a convent in Portugal. Many German scholars, and among others Grote- fend,' regarded it as the genuine work of Philon. It was first published in a Gennan translation by Fr. Wagenfeld, under the title of " Urgeschichte der Phonizier, in einem Auszuge aus der wieder aufge- fundenen Handschrift von Philo's vollstan. Ueber- setzung. Mit einem Vorworte von G. F. Grotefend," Hannover, 1836. In the following year the Greek text appeared under the title of '" Sanchuniathonis Historiarum Phoeniciae Libros novem Graece versos a Philone Byblio, edidit Latinaque versione dona- vit F. Wagenfeld," Bremae, 1837. It is now, however, so universally agreed that this work is the forgery of a later age that it is unnecessary to make any further remarks upon it. (Fabric. liibl. Graec. vol. i. p. •222, &c. ; and especially Movers, Die PlmUzier^ p. B9, &c. p. 116, &c.) SANDOCES. SANCUS, SANGUS or SEMO SANCUS, a Roman divinity, is said to have been originally a Sabine god, and identical with Hercules and Dius Fidius. (Lactant. i. 15; Ov. Fast. vi. 216 ; Pro- pert, iv. 9, 74 ; Sil. Ital. viii. 421.) The name which is etymologically the same as Sanctus, and connected with Sancire, seems to justify this be- lief, and characterises Sancus as a divinity pre- siding over oaths. Sancus also had a temple at Rome, on the Quirinal, opposite that of Quirinus, and close by the gate which derived from liim the name of Sanqualis porta. This sanctuary was the same as that of Dius Fidius, which had been con- secrated in the year B. c. 465 by Sp. Postumius, but was said to have been founded by Tarquinius Superbus (Li v. viii. 20, xxxii. 1 ; Dionys. ix. 60; Ov. Fast. vi. 213, &c.), and the ancients thoroughly identified their Dius Fidius with Sancus. He is accordingly regarded as the pro- tector of the marriage oath, of the law of nations, and the law of hospitality. (Dionys. iv. 58 ; Varro, De Ling. Lot. v. ^^.^ Sancus is said to have been the father of the Sabine hero Sabus. (Dionys. ii. 49 ; August, de Civ. Dei, xviii. 19 ; Lactant. Z.c.) [L. S.] SANCTUS, St., is said by C. B. Carpzovius (De Medicis ab Eccles. pro Sanctis Jiabilis), who copies Bzovius {Nomenclator Sanctor. Professione Medicor.), to have been a physician, and a native of Otriculum (or Ocriculum), a city of central Italy, who was put to death with cruel torments in the reign of M. Aurelius Antoninus, and whose memory is celebrated on June 26. Both these writers quote as their authority for this statement, " Moni- nienta Ecclesiae Otriculanae in Sabinis." It seems probable that there is some error or confusion in this account, which the writer is not able at pre- sent to clear up quite satisfactorily. In the Metiologium Graecum (vol. iii. p. 182) St. Sanctus (Say/fTos) is called a native of Ravenna, and is said to have suffered martyrdom under M. Anto- ninus. His memory is celebrated on July 26, and he is not stated to have been a physician. In Ughelli, Italia Sacra (vol. x. p. 151), no mention is made of St. Sanctus, but St. Medicus is said to have been one of the patron saints of Ocriculum. And in the Acta Sanctorum no mention is made of St. Sanctus under June 26 or July 26 ; but St. Medicus, a native of Otriculum, but not a physician, whose history is not unlike that of St. Sanctus in Bzovius and the Menologium Graecum, is commemorated under the date of June 25. [ W. A. G.] SA'NDACUS (2aj/Savos), a son of Astynous, and a grandson of Phaethon. He is said to have migrated from Syria to Cilicia, to have founded the town of Celenderis, and to have become the father of Cinyras by Pharnace. (Apollod. iii. 1 4. § 3.) [L. S.] SANDO'CES (Sai/Sw/cTjs), a Persian, son of Thamasius, was one of the royal judges under Dareius Hystaspis, and, having given an unjust sentence under the influence of a bribe, was con- demned by the king to crucifixion. But after he had been placed on the cross, Dareius called to mind that his services outweighed his offences, and he was accordingly taken down and pardoned. In B. c. 480, he was viceroy of Cume in Aeolis, and, in the invasion of Greece by Xerxes in that year, commanded a squadron of 15 ships, which were detained behind when the main body left Sepias,
 * ' Sanchoniathonis Berytii, quae feruntur, Frag-