Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1031

 siriA. Steplianus B. when he speaks of 'S'^pviov ttotjj- piov. Siphhos possessed a city of the same name (Ptol. iii. 15. § 31), and also two other towns, Apollonia and Jlinoa, mentioned only by Stephanus B. The ancient city occupied the same site as the modern town, called Kastron or Seragliu, which lies upon the eastern side of the island. There are some re- mains of the ancient walls; and fragments of marble are found, with which, as we have already seen, the public buildings in antiquity were decorated. A range of mountains, about 3000 feet in height, runs across Siphnos from SE. to NW. ; and on the high ground between this mountain and the eastern side of the island, about 1000 feet above the sea, lie five neat villages, of which Stavri is the principal. These villages contain from 4000 to .5000 inhabitants; and the town of Kastron about another 1000. The climate is healthy, and many of the inhabitants live to a great age. The island is well cultivated, but does not produce sufficient food for its popu- lation, and accordingly many Siphnians are obliged to emigrate, and are found in considerable numbers in Athens, Smyrna, and Constantinople. (Tournefort, Voyage, <fc. vol. i. p. 134, seq. transl.; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 125, seq.; Ross, Reise auf den Griech. Iiiseln, vol. i. p. 138, seq.) SIPYLUS. 1011 COIN OF SIPHNOS. SIPIA, in Gallia, is placed by the Table on a route from Condate (Retmes) to Juliomagus (A ngers). The distance from Condate to Sipia is xvi. and this distance brings us to a little river Seche at a place called Vi-seche, the Vi being probably a corruption of Vaduni. The same distance xvi. measured from Vi-seche brings us to Combaristum (Combre) on the road to Angers. But see the article Combaristum. TJie Seche is a branch of the Vilaine (D'Anville, Notice, <fc). [G. L.] SIPONTUM, or SIPUNTUM, but in Greek al- ways SIPUS (SiTToCy -ovvTos : Eth. 'SmovvTios, Si- pontinus: Sta Maria di Sijionto), a city of Apulia, situated on the coast of the Adriatic, immediately S. of the great promontory of Garganus, and in the bight of the deep bay formed by that promontory with the prolongation of the coast of Apulia. (Strab. vi. p. 284.) This bay is now called tlie Gnlf of Manfredonia, from the city of that name which is situated within a few miles of the site of Sipontum. The Cerbalus, or Cerraro, and the Candelaro fall into this bay a short di.stance S. of Sipontum, and form at their mouth an extensive lagune or salt- water pool (aTO,uaXi/xvT], Strab. I. c), now called the Pantano Salso. Like most places in this part of Apulia the foundation of Sipontum was ascribed to Diomed (Strab. ;. c): but with the exception of this vague and obscure tradition, which probably means no more than that the city was one of those belonging to the Daunian tribe of Apulians, we have no ac- count of its being a Greek colony. The name is closely analogous in form to others in this part of Italy (Hydruntum, Butuntum, &c.): and its (ireck derivation from o-rinia, a cuttle-fish (Strab. I.e.), is in all probability fictitious The Greek fonn Sipus, is adopted also by the Roman poets. (Sil. Ital. viii. 633; Lucan. V. 377.) The only mention of Sipontum in history before the Roman conquest is that of its capture by Alexander, king of Epirus, about u. c. 330. (Liv. viii. 24). Of the manner in which it passed under the yoke of Rome we have no account; hut in B. c. 194 a colony of Roman citizens wa.s settled there, at the same time that those of Salernuni and Buxentum were established on the other sea. (Liv. xxxiv. 45.) The lands assigned to the colo- nists are said to have previously belonged to the Arpani, which renders it probable that Sipontum itself had been merely a dependency of that city. The new colony, however, does not seem to have prospered. A few years later (b.c. 184) we are told that it was deserted, probably on account of malaria; but a fresh body of colonists was sent there (Liv. xxxix. 22), and it seems from this time to have become a tolerably flourishing town, and was frequented as a seaport, though never rising to any great consideration. Its principal trade was in corn. (Strab. vi. p. 284; Mel. ii. 4. § 7; Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Ptol. iii. 1. § 16; Pol x. 1.) It is, how- ever, mentioned apparently as a place of some im- portance, during the Civil Wars, being occupied by 51. Antonius in b. c. 40. (Appian, B. C. v. 56; Dion Cass, xlviii. 27.) We learn from in- scriptions that it retained its municipal govern- ment and magistrates, as well as the title of a colony, under the Roman Empire (Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 927—929) ; and at a later period Panlus Diaconus mentions it as still one of the " urbes satis opulentae" of Apulia. (P.Diac. Hist. Lang. ii. 21.) Lucan notices its situation immediately at the foot of Mount Garganus ('• subdita Sipus montibus," Lucan, v. 377). It was, however, actually situated in the plain and immediately adjoining the marshes at the mouth of the Candelaro, which must always have rendered the site unhealthy; and in the middle ages it fell into decay from this cause, till in 1250 JIanfred king of Naples removed all the remaining population to a site about a mile and a half further N., where he built a new city, to which he gave the name of Manfredonia. No ruins of the ancient city are now extant, but the site is still marked by an ancient church, which bears the name oi Sta Maria di Siponto, and is still tenned the cathedral, the archbishop of Manfredonia bearing officially the title of Archbishop of Sipontum. (Craven's Southern Tour, p. 67 ; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 209) The name of Sipontum is found in the Itineraries (^Itin. Ant. p. 314; Tab. Pent.), which give a liric of road pro- ceeding along the co;ist from thence to Barium, passing by the Salinae at the mouth of the Palus Salapina, and therefore following the narrow strip of beach which separated that lagune from the sea. There is still a good horse-road along this beach; but the distances given in the Itineraries are certainly C(jrrupt. [E. H. B.] Sl'PVUIS (SiTTD/Vos), a mountain of Lydia be- tween the river Hermus and the town of Smyrna; it is a branch of Mount Tmolus, running in a north- western direction along the Hermus. It is a rugged, much torn mountiiin, which seems to owe its prevent form to violent convnl.-'ions of the eartli. 'J'lie mountain is mentioned even in the Iliad, ami w;is rich in metal. {Uom. 11. xxiv. 615; Strab. i. p. 58, xii. p. 57'.), xiv. p.6St).) On the eastern .slope of liio 3t 2