Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1027

 SINIS. Zfi-h. V. II). It would seem to comprelieiij espe- cially the great plain land of Babylonia, as dis- tinguished from Assyria and Elymais (Gen. xiv. 1), and probably extended to the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, if not as far as the Persian gulf. Some have, without reason, confounded it with Sin- gara, the modern Singdr. [V.] SINIS (2iws), a Roman colony in the district of Jlelitene in Armenia Minor. (Ptol. v. 7. § 5.) The place is not mentioned by any other writer, but it is possible that it may be the same place as the one which Procopius (de Aed. iii. 4) simply calls KoAoim'o. [L. S.] SINNA. 1. (SiVi/a, Ptol. V. 18. §§ 11, 12), the name of two towns in Mesopotamia, one on the S. declivity of Mount Masius, the other more to the SE., on the Tigris. 2. (^i-vva, Strab. svi. p. 755), a mountain for- tress in Lebanon. [T. H. D.] SINO'NIA {Zannone), was the name given in ancient times to the smallest of the three islands known as the hole di Ponza. It is situated about 5 miles to the NE. of Pontia {Ponza'), the principal island of the group (PUn. iii. 6. s. 12; Mel. ii. 7. § 18). [E. H. B.] SINO'PE (Sivcorrrj : Elh. SifcoTreus), the most important of all the Greek colonies on the coast of the Euxine, was situated on a peninsula on the coast of Paphlagonia, at a distance of 700 stadia to the east of Cape Carambis (Strab. xii. p. 546; Marcian, p. 73 ; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 775.) It was a very ancient place, its origin being referred to the Argo- nauts and to Sinope, the daughter of Asopus. (ApoUon. Pthod. ii. 947 ; Val. Flacc. v. 108.) But the Sinopians themselves referred the foundation of their city to Autolycus, a companion of Heracles, and one of the Argonauts, to whom they paid heroic honours (Strab. I. c). But this ancient town was small and powerless, until it received colonists from Miletus. The Milesians were in their turn dis- possessed by the Cimmerians, to whom Herodotus (iv. ] 2) seems to assign the foundation of the city ; but when the Cimmerians were driven from Asia Minor, the Ephesians (in b. C. 632) recovered posses- sion of their colony. (Scymn. 204, foil.; Anonym. Peripl. P. E. p. 8.) The leader of the first Slilesian colony is called Ambron, and the leaders of the second Cous and Critines; though this latter state- ment seems to be a mistake, as Eustathius and Stephanus B. (s. v.) call the founder Critius, a native of Cos. After this time Sinope soon rose to great power aid prosperity. About the commencement of the Peloponnesian War the Sinopians, who were then governed by a tyrant, Timesileon, received assist- ance from the Athenians ; and after the expulsion of the tyrant, 600 Athenian colonists were sent to Sinope (Pint. I'ericl. 20). At the time of the retreat of the Ten Thousand under Xenophon, Sinope was a wealthy and tiourishing city, whose donuniun extended to the river Halys, and which exercised great influence over the tribes of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, independently of its colonies of Cerasus, Cotyora, and Trapezus. It was mainly owing to the assistance of the Sinopians, that the return- ing Greeks were enabled to procure ships to convey them to Heracleia(Xenoph. Anab. v. 5. § .'5; Arrian, Peripl. P. £. p. 17; Diod. Sic. xiv. 30, 32; Amm. ]Iarc. xxii. 8). Strabo also acknowledges that the fleet of the Sinopians held a distinguished position among the naval powers of the Greeks ; it was mistress of the Euxine as far as the entrance SIXOPE. 1007 of the Bosporus, and divided with Byzantium the lucrative tunny fisheries in that sea. In the time of Ptolemy Soter, Sinope was governed by a prince, Scydrotherais, to whom the Egyptian king sent an embassy. (Tao. Hist. iv. 82, foil.) Its great wealth, and above all its excellent situation, excited the cupidity of the kings of Pontus. It was first assailed in u. c. 220, by Mithridates IV., the great- grandfather of Mithridates the Great. Polybius (iv. 56), who is our principal authority for this event, describes the situation of Sinope in the follow- ing manner : It is built on a peninsula, which advances out into the sea. The isthmus which connects the peninsula with the mainland is not more than 2 stadia in breadth, and is entirely barred by the city, which comes up close to it, but the remainder of the peninsula stretches out towards the sea. It is quite flat and of easy access from the town; but on the side of the sea it is precipitous all around, and dangerous for vessels, and presents very few spots fit for effecting a landing. This de- scription is confirmed by Strabo (xii. p. .545), for he says that the city was built on the neck of the peninsula; but he adds, that the latter was girt all around with rocks hollowed out in the form of basins. At high water these basins were filled, and rendered the shore inaccessible, especially as the rocks were everywhere so pointed that it was impossible to walk on them with bare feet. The Sinopians defended themselves bravely against Blithridates, and the timely aid of the Rhodians in the end enabled them to compel the agressor to raise the siege. Pharnaces, the successor of Mithridates IV., was more successful. He attacked the city unexpectedly, and finding its inhabitants unprepared, easily overpowered it, b. c. 1 83. From this time Sinope became the chief town, and the residence of the kings of Pontus. (Strab. I. c; Polyb. sxiv. 10.) Mithridates, surnamed Euergetes the successor of Pharnaces, was assassinated at Sinope in B.C. 120 (Strab. x. p. 477). His son, Mithridates the Great, was born and educated at Sinope, and did much to embellish and strengthen his birthplace : he formed a harbour on each side of the isthmus, built naval arsenals, and constructed admirable reservoirs for the tunny fisheries. After his disaster at Cyzicus, the king intrusted the command of the gamson of Sinope to Bacchides, who acted as a cruel tyrant ; and Sinope, pressed both from within and from without, was at last taken by Lucullus, after a brave resistance. (Strab. /. c. ; Plut. Lucull. 18; Appian, Bell. Milkr. 83; Memnon, in Phot. Cod. p. 238, ed. Bekker.) Lu- cullus treated the Sinopians themselves mildly, having put the Poutian garrison to the sword; and he left them in possession of all their works of art, which embellished the city, with the exception of the statue of Autolycus, a work of Sthenis, and the sphere of Billarus. (Strab. Plut. //. cc; Cic. jn-u Leg. Man. 8.) Lucullus restored the city to its ancient freedom and indej)endence. But when Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, had been routed at Zela, Caesar took Sinope under his protection, and esta- blished Roman colonies there, as we must infer from coins bearing the inscription Col. Jul. C;ies. Eelix Sinope. In the time of Strabo Sinope was still a large, splendid, and well fortified city ; for he describes it as surrounded by strong walls, and adorned with fine porticoes, squares, gyimiasia, and other public edifices. Its connnerce indeed declined yet the tunny fisheries formed an inexhaustible