Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/854

Rh 842 SISYGAMBIS. preserved. (Cic. Brut. 64, 88, de Ug. i. 2 ; Gell. xvi, 9 ; Inscrip. Graec. ap. Brlsson. de Formulis, p. 224 ; comp. Gruter, C. I. diii. ; Appian, Mithrid. 95 ; Dion Cass, xxxvi. 2 ; Ovid. Trist. ii. 443 ; Ritschl, de veteribtis Flauti interpret. § 8, in his Farergon Flautin. 8vo. Lips. ] 845, p. 37C ; Krause, Vitae et Fragmenta Ilistoricorum Horn. 8vo. Berol. 1833, p. 299 ; C. L. Roth, L. Cornelii Sisennae hist. Rom. Vita, Basil. 1834.) [W. R.] SISENNA, A. GABI'NIUS. [Gabinius, No. 6.] SISENNA,NU'MMIUS,consul under Hadrian, A.D. 133, with M. Antonius Hiberus (Fasti). SISENNA TAURUS, STATI'LIUS. [Tau- rus.] SISINES (Sto-ri'T/s), a Persian, who, according to Curtius (iii. 4), was sent on an embassy to Philip of Macedon by the satrap of Egypt, and was induced to remain in the Macedonian service. He accompanied Alexander the Great on his expe- dition into Asia ; and, while the army was in Cilicia, in B. c. 333, he received a letter from Nabarzanes, a Persian officer, urging upon him the assassination of Alexander. The letter, how- ever, had previously fallen into the king's hands, who had re-sealed it, and caused it to be delivered to Sisines, with the view of testing his fidelity. Sisines intended to acquaint Alexander with its contents, but several days elapsed without his finding an opportunity of doing so, and Alexander, therefore, feeling sure of his treachery, ordered him to be put to death. The name Sisines appears to be only another form of Asisines. (See Arr. Anab. i. 25.) [E. E.] SISINN A was, according to Appian (B. C. v. 7), the name of the son of Glaphyra, to whom Antony gave the kingdom of Cappadocia. Other writers, however, call him Archelaus, under which head an account of him is given. [Archelaus, No. 4.] SISPES. [SosPES.] SISYGAMBIS (2to-v7ajLtgjs), mother of Dareius Codomannus, king of Persia, appears to have been a daughter of Ostanes, a younger brother of Ar- taxerxes Mnemon, though some writers consider her as a daughter of Artaxerxes himself. (See Wesseling ad Diod. xvii. 5.) She was married to her brother (or cousin) Arsames, and bore seven children, of whom Dareius was the only one that grew up to manhood. (Curt. x. 5. § 23.) After the accession of her son, Sisygambis was treated with the utmost reverence and honour, according to the Persian custom, and accompanied Dareius on his campaign against Alexander in B. c. 333, which terminated in the disastrous battle of Issus. After that defeat she fell, together with the wife and daughters of Dareius, into the hands of the con- queror, who treated them with the greatest gene- rosity and kindness, and displayed towards Sisy- gambis, in particular, a reverence and delicacy of conduct, which is one of the brightest ornaments of his character. (Arrian. Anab. ii. 11, 12 ; Plut. Alex. 21 ; Diod. xvii. 37, 38 ; Curt. iii. 3. § 22, 11. §21—26, 12; Justin, xi. 9.) So great, indeed, was the influence which she continued to enjoy, that she ventured, on one occasion, to intercede in favour of Madates, a Persian, who had especially incurred the wrath of Alexander, and her prayer was imme- diately granted. (Curt. v. 3. § 12.) It is probable that the generous and magnanimous character of Si- sygambis herself, — of which she afforded a striking proof by refusing to avail herself of the confusion SISYPHUS, during the battle of Arbela to make her escape, — contributed much to maintain the respect and af- fection with which Alexander appears to have regarded her, and which he displayed on various occasions by the most delicate and deferential at- tentions. (Curt. iv. 10. § 20, 15. § 10, v. 2. § 17—21 ; Diod. xvii. 59.) On her part, the captive queen had conceived so strong an attach- ment for her conqueror, that she felt his death as a blow not less severe than that of her own son ; and overcome by this long succession of misfortunes, put an end to her own life by voluntary starvation. (Diod. xvii. 118; Curt. x. 5. § 19—24 ; Justin, xiii. ].) [E. H. B.] SI'SYPHUS {:Zi(Tv(pos), a son of Aeolus and Enarete, whence he is called AeoHdes (Horn. 11. vi. 154; Horat. Carm.ii. 14.20). He was accordingly a brother of Cretheus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Dei'on, Magnes, Perierps, Canace, Alcyone, Peisidice, Calyce and Perimede (Apollod. i. 7. $ 3; Pans. x. 31. § 2). He was married to Merope, a daughter of Atlas or a Pleiad (Apollod. i. 9. § 3 ; Ov. Fast. iv. 175 ; comp. Merope), and became by her the father of Glaucus, Orny- tion (or Porphyrion, Schol. ad Apollon. Jihod. iii. 1094), Thersandrus, and Halmus (Pans, ii, 4. § 3, ix. 34. § 5). In later accounts he is also called a son of Aufolycus, and the father of Sinon (Serv. ad Aen. ii. 79) and Odysseus, who is hence called Sisyphides (Ov. Met. xiii. 31 ; Serv. ad Aen. vi. 529 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 344 ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1701). He is said to have built the town of Ephyra, afterwards Corinth (Horn. //. vi. 153 ; Apollod. i. 9. § 3), though, according to another tradition, Medea, on leaving Corinth, ,gave him the government of that city (Pans. ii. 3,. in fin.). As king of Corinth he promoted navi- gation and commerce, but was fraudulent, ava- ricious, and altogether of bad character, and his whole house was in as bad repute as he himself (Hom. II. vi. 153; Theogn. 703,712; Schol. ad Aristoph. Acharn. 390, ad Soph Aj. 190 ; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1701 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 980 ; Ov. Her. xii. 204 ; Horat. Sat. ii. 17. 12). He is said to have found the body of Melicertes on the coast of Co-^ rinth, to have buried it on the isthmus, and to have founded the Isthmian games in honour of him (Ino and Palaemon, Paus. ii. 1. § 3 ; Apollod. iii. 4. § 3 ; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1240 ; Tzetz ad Lycoph. 107, 229). His wickedness during life was severely punished in the lower world, where he had to roll up hill a huge marble block, which as soon as it reached the top always rolled down again (Cic. Tmc. i. 5 ; Virg. Georg. iii. 39 ; Ov. Met. iv. 459, Ih. 175; Lucret. iii. 1013). The special reasons for this punishment are not the same in all authors ; some say that it was because he had betrayed the designs of the gods (Serv. ad Aen. vi. 616"; Schol. ad Hom. 11. i. 180, vi. 153), others because he attacked travellers, and killed them with a huge block of stone. He was slain, according to some, by Theseus (Schol. ad Slat. Tlieb. ii, 380), while other traditions relate that Sisyphus lived in enmity with his brother Sal- moneus, and consulted the oracle how he might get rid of him. Apollo answered, that if he begot sons by Tyro, the wife of his brother, they would avenge him. Sisyphus indeed became the father of two sons by Tyro, but the mother killed them immediately after their birth. Sisyphus took cruel vengeance on iier, and was punished for it