Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1017

 SIDONES. the north side of the hill. The old city seems to liave extended further east, as may be judged from the foundations of a thick wall, that extends from the sea to the east; on the south it was probably bounded by a rivulet, the large bed of which might serve for a natural fosse ; as another might which is on the uorth side, if the city extended so far, as some seem to think it did, and that it stretched to tiie east as for as the high hill, which is about three (quarters of a mile from the present town. . . . On the north side of the town, there are great ruins of a fine fort, the walls of which were built with very large stones, 12 feet in length, which is the thickness of the wall ; and some are 1 1 feet broad, and :< deep. The harbour is now choked up This harbour seems to be the minor port mentioned by Strabo (xvi. p. 756) for the winter; the outer one probably being to the north in the open sea between iSidon and Tyre (?), where the shipping rides in safety during the summer season." (^Observations Oil Palestine, p. 86.) The sepulchral grots are cut in the rock at the foot of the hills ; and some of them are adorned with pilasters, and handsomely painted. The territory of the Sidonians, originally cir- cumscribed towards the north by the proximity of the hostile Gibbites, extended southwards to the tribe of Zebulon, and Mount Carmel ; but was after- wards limited iu this direction also by the growing power of their rivals the Tyrians. (Ritter, I. c. p. 43, &c.) SIGEUM. 997 COIN OF SIDON. SIDO'NES (SiSoifes), a tribe in the extreme east of Germany, about the sources of the Vistula (Ptol. ii. 11. § 21), and no doubt the same which appears in Strabo (vii. p. 306) under the name of SiSocej, as a bi'anch of the Bastarnae. [L. S.] SIDO'NIA. [Pkdoxia.] iSIDUS (2i5oGx, SiSoui'Tias Ku/xri, Hesych.: Eth. SiSoyi'Tios), a village in the Corinthia, on the Saronic gulf, between Crommyon and Schoenus. It was taken by the Lacedaemonians along with Crom- iiivon in the Corinthian War, but was recovered by Ip'hicrates. (Xen. Nell. iv. 4. § 13, iv. 5. § 19.) It probably stood in the plain of Siisdki. (Scylax; Steph. B. s. V. ; Plin. iv. 7. s. 11; Boblaye, Re- clwrches, <fc. p. 35 ; Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 397; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 555.) SIDUSSA (SiSoi/ffcra), a small town of Ionia, belonging to the territory of Erythrae. (Thucyd. viii. 24; Steph. B. s. j;.) Pliny (v. 38) erroneously describes it as an island off the coast of Erythrae. It is probable that the place also bore the name of Sidus (2i5oOs), as Stephanus B. («. r.) mentions a town of this name in the territoiy of Ery- thrae. [L. S.] SIDYMA (2i5u/ia : Eth. SiSi/^ieu?), a town of Lycia, on the southern slope of Mount Crugus, to the north-west of the mouth of the Xanthu.s. (Plin. v. 28 ; Steph. B. s. v. ; Ptol. v. 3. § 5 ; Ilieroclcs, p. 684 ; Cedrenus, p. 344.) The ruins of this city, on a lofty height of Mount Cragus, have first been dis- covered and described by Sir C. Fellows. {Lycia, p. 151, foil.) They are at the village of Tortuorcar Ilissd, and consist chiefly of splendidly built tombs, abomiding in Greek inscriptions. The town itself appears to liave been very small, and the theatre, agora, and temples, are of diminutive size, but of great beautv. [L. S.] SIELEDIVA. [Taprobane.] SIGA (217a, Ptol. iv. 2. § 2), a commercial town of Jlauritania Caesariensis, seated near the mouth of a river of the same name in a large bay. 'J'he mouth of the river formed the port of the city, at a distance of 3 miles from it (Sigensis Portus, /tin. Ant. p. 13), opposite to the island of Acra, on the highroad, and near Cirta, the residence of Syphax. (Strab. xvii. p. 829; Plin. v. 2. s. I.) In Strabo's time it was in ruins, but must have been subse- quently restored, since it is mentioned in the Itine- rary (p. 12) as a Roman municipium. (Comp. Ptol. I. c. ; Mela, i. 5; Scylax, 51, 52.) According to Shaw (Travels, p. 12), who, however, did not visit the place, its ruins are still to be seen by the pre- sent Tacumhrit; others identify it with the Aresch- Jcul of the Arabs, at the mouth of the Tafiia, near Rasgim. [T. H. D.] SIGA CZiya, Ptol. iv. 2. § 2), a river of Mauri- tania Caesariensis, falling into a bay of the sea op- posite to the island of Acra (now Caracoles). Scylax (p. 51) calls it Si^or'. Probably the pre- sent Tajhm. [T. H. D.] SIGE'UM ('Xiyeiov or 7; ^lyeias &Kpa), a pro- montory in Troas, forming the north-western ex- tremity of Asia Minor, at the entrance of the Hellespont, and opposite the town of Elaeus, in the Thracian Chersonesus. Near it the naval camp of the Greeks was said to have been fomied during the Trojan War. (Herod, v. 65, 94; Thucyd. viii. 101; Strab. xiii. pp. 5915, 603; Pomp. Mela, i. 18; Plin. v. 33; Ptoh V. 2. § 3; Serv. ad Aen. ii. 312.) This promontory is now called Yenisheri. Near the promontory was situated the town of Sigeum, which is said to have been an Aeolian colony, founded under the guidance of Archaeanax of Mytilene, who used the stones of ancient Troy in building this new place. But some years later the Athenians .sent troops under Phrynon and expelled the Mytileneans ; and this act of violence led to a war between the two cities, which lasted for a long time, and was conducted with varying success. Pittacus, the wise .Mytilenean, is said to have slain Phrynon in single combat. The poet Alcaeus also was engaged in one of the actions. The dispute was at length referred to Periander, of Corinth, who decided in favour of the Athenians. (Strab. xiii. p. 599; Herod, v. 95; Stoph. B. s.v.; Diog. Laert. i. 74.) Henceforth we lind the Pisistratidae in possession of Sigeum, and llippias, after being ex- pelled from Athe.i.-;, is known to have reiiivd there with his family. (Herod, v. 65). The town of Sigeum was destroyed by the inhabitants of Ilium soon after the overthrow of the Persian empire, so that in Strabo's time it no longei- existed. (Strab. xiii. p. 600 ; Plin. v. 33.) A hill near Sigeum, forming a part of the promontory, was believed in antiquity to contain the remains of Achilles, which was looked upon with such veneration that gradually a small town seems to have risen around it, under the name of Achillcum [Acmi.i.KUM]. Tliis tomb, which was visited by Alexaudcr the Great, Julius 3 s 3