Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1014

 994 SICYOX. followed by the existing foundations of the houses: they run Yith mathematical precision from NE. to SW.. and from NV. to SE., thus following the rule of Vitruvius. Few of the ruins rise above the ground ; but there is a Roman building better pre- served, and containing several chambers, which lies near the ridge separating the two levels of tlie hill. Leake supposes that this building was probably the praetorium of the Komau governor during the period between the destruction of Corinth by IIummius and its restoration by Julius Caesar, when Sicyon was the capital of the surrounding country; but more recent observers are inclined to think that the ruins are those of baths. West of this building are the tlieatre and the stadium ; and the modern road which leads from Vasillkd to Stymphalus runs be- tween this Roman building and the theatre and then through a portion of the stadium. The theatre was cut out of the rock, separating the two levels of the hill, as already described; its total diameter was about 400 feet, and that of the orchestra 100. Each wing was supported by a mass of masonry, pene- trated by an arched passage. To the KW. of the theatre are the remains of the stadium, of which the total length, including the seats at the circular end, is about 680 feet. Col. Leake remarks that " the stadium resembles that of Messene, in having had seats which were not continued through the whole length of the sides. About 80 feet of the recti- hnear extremity had no seats; and this part, instead of being excavated out of the hill like the rest, is ibrmed of factitious ground, supported at the end by a wall of polygonal masonry, which still exists." There are also, in various parts of the hill, remains of several subterraneous aqueducts, which supplied the town with water. The opening of one of them is seen on the SE. side of the theatre; and there is another opening now walled up W. of the modern village. The tyrant Nicocles escaj^ed through these Kubterraueous passages when Sicyon was taken by Aratus. (Plut. Arat. 9.) V. Topography of the Slcyonia. — The territory of Sicyon was very small, and, in fact, was httle more than the valley of the Asopus. In the upper part of its course the valley of the Asopus is con- iined between mountains, but near the sea it opens out into a wide plain, which was called Asoplv. ('AffcoTTia, Strab. viii. p. 382, ix. p. 408; Pans. ii. 1. § 1.) This plain was celebrated for its fertility (/le'ya cppoveiv inl T(ti rh 'SiKvuviov TrtSiov yeuipyitf, Lucian, Icarom. c. 18), and was especially adapted for the cultivation of the olive. (" Sicyonia bacca," Virg. Georg. ii. 519; Ov. Ep. ex Pont. iv. 15. 10; Stat. Theb. iv. 50.) The neighbouring sea supplied an abundance of excellent fish. (Athen. i. p. 27.) It was separated from the Corinthia on the E. by the river Nemea, and from the territory of Pellene on the W. by the Sythas; and on the S. it was bounded by the territories of Phlius and Cleonae. At one time the territory of Sicyon must have ex- tended even beyond the Sythas, since Gonussa or DoNUSSA, which lay W. of this river, is described by Pausanias as belonging to the Sicyouiaus. [Pel- lene, p. 571, a.] Between the Helisson and the Sythas was probably the river Selleeis, with the neighbouring village of Ephyra, mentioned by Slrabo (viii. p. 338). [Ephvka, No. 3.] Sixty stadia S. of Sicyon, and near the frontiers of Phliasia, was Titane or Titana, the most important of the dependencies of Sicyon. [Titane.] Forty stadia beyond Titane was Phlius; but this road, which SIDE. was too narrow fur carriages, was not the direct road from Sicyon to Phlius. The direct road was to the right of the Asopus; and the circuitous road through Titane to the left of that river. Between these two roads, at the distance of 20 stadia from Sicyon, was a sacred grove, containing a temple of the Eumenides. (Pans. ii. 1 1. § 3, seq.) East of Sicyon was Epieicia, on the river Nemea. [Epieicla.] In the same direction was the fortress Derae. (Ae'pai, Xen. EelL vii. 1. § 22.) There was also a fortress Phoebia, taken by Epaminondas in his march through the valley of the Asopus : it is probably the same place as Buphia. [Buphia.] Strabo (ix. p. 412) mentions a demus Plataeae in the Sicyonia. (Hagen, Sicyonia, Regimont. 1831 ; Gompf, Si- cyoniacorum Spec. Berol. 1832, Torg. 1834; Bo- brik, De Sicyoniae Tojwgi-aphia, Regimont. 1 839 ; Leake, Morea, vol. iii. p. 351, seq. ; Boblaye, Recherches, cfc. p. 30, seq.; Ross, Reisen iin Pelo- po?mes, p. 39, seq.; Curtius, Pehponnesos, vol. ii. p. 482, seq. ; Beule', Etudes sur le Peloponese, p. 343, seq.) COIN OF SICYON. SIDAE (2i5ai), a place in Boeotia, celebrated for its pomegranates. Hence the Boeotians called this fruit ctiStj, though the more usual name was poia. As the Athenians are said to have contended with the Boeotians for the possession of the place, it must have been upon the borders of Attica, but its exact site is unknown. (Athen. xiv. pp. 650, 651.) SIDE (St'S?): Eth. 'S.iS-Ijttjs), a town with a good harbour on the coast of Pamphylia, 50 stadia to the west of the river Jlelas, and 350 east of Attaleia. {Stad. Mar. Mag. § 214, foil.) The town was founded by Cumae in Aeolis. (Scylax, Peripl. p. 40; Strab. xiv. p. 667, comp. p. 664; Steph. B. S.V.; Pomp. Mela, i. 15.) Arrian (^«a6. i. 26), who admits the Cumaean origin of the place, relates a tradition cuiTent at Side itself, according to which the Sidetae were the most ancient colonists sent out from Cumae, but soon after their establishment in their now home forgot the Greek language, and formed a peculiar idiom for themselves, which was not understood even by the neighbouring barbarians. When Alexander appeared before Side, it surrendered and received a Macedonian garrison. In the time of Antiochus the Great, a naval engagement took place oif Side between the fleet of Antiochus, commanded by Hannibal, and that of the Rhodians, in which the former was defeated. (Liv. xxxv. 13, 18, xsxvii. 23, 24.) Polybius (v. 73) states that there existed great enmity between the people of Side and As- pendus. At the time when the pirates had reached their highest power in the Mediterranean, they made Side their principal port, and used it as a market to dispose of their prisoners and booty by auction. (Strab. xiv. p. 664.) Side continued to be a town of considerable importance under the Roman emperors, and in the ultimate division of the province it became the metropolis of Pamphylia Prima. (Hierocl.