Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1035

 SITACE. (/<. Ant. pp. 259, 260, 265, 266, 272, 274; Plin. iii. 28.) According to Pliny the name Segestica belonged only to the island, and the town was called tjiscia; while Strabo (vii. p. 314) says that Siscia was a fort in the neighbourhood of Segestica; but if this was so, it must be supposed that subsequently the fort and town became united as one place. (Comp. Strab. iv. p. 202, v. p. 214, vii. p. 218; Appian, Illi/r. 1 6, 23, &c.) Siscia was from the first a strongly fortified town; and after its capture by Tiberius, in the reign of Augustus (Appian, Dion Cas-s., U. cc. ; Veil. Pat. ii. 1 13), it became one of the most important places of Pannonia; for being situ- ated on two navigable rivers, it not only carried on considerable commerce (Strab. v. pp. 207, 214), but became the central point from which Augustus and Tiberius carried on their undertakings against the Pannonians and Illyrians. Tiberius did much to enlarge and embellish the town, which as early as tliat time seems to have been made a colonia, for Pliny mentions it as such : in the time of Septimius Severus it received fresh colonists, whence in in- scriptions it is called Col. Septimia Siscia. The town contained an imperial mint, and the treasury jbr what was at a later time called the province Savia; at the same time it was the station of the small fleet kept on the Savus. Siscia maintained its importance until Sirmium began to ri.se, for in jjroportion as Sirmium rose, Siscia sank and declined. (Comp. Zosim. ii. 48; Orelli, Inscript. n. 504, 505, 2703, 3075, 3346, 4993.) The modern town of Sisstk, occupying the place of the ancient Siscia, contains many interesting remains of antiquity. (Mansili, Danuhius, p. 47; Schbnwisner, Antiq. Siihariae, p. 52, foil. ; filuchar, Norikum^ i. p. 159.) [L. S.] SITACE (SiToKrj), a large town, first noticed by Xenophon {Anab. ii. 4. § 13), situated about 8 parasangs from the l^Iedian Wall, and 15 from the Tigris and the mouth of the Physcus. The exact situation cannot be now determined, but several travellers have noticed, in this neighbourhood, ex- tensive ancient remains, which may perhaps belong to this city. (Illannert, v. pt. ii. p. 281; Niebuhr, ii. p. 305; Ives, Travels, (fc p. 133.) [V.J SITACUS (SiTaxds, Arrian, Ind. c, 38), a river of Persis, to which Nearchus came in liis celebrated coasting voyage. It is in all probability the same as that called by Pliny Sitiogagus (vi. 23. s. 26); although his statement that, from its mouth, an siscent could be made to Pasargada in 7 days, is manifestly erroneous. There is no reason to doubt that it is at present represented by a stream called Sihi-RhegidH. (Vincent, Vuy. of Nearchus, i. p. 385 ; D'Anville, Mem. de i'Acad. sxx. p. 158 ; Kitter, Erd/cwide, vii. p. 763.) [V.] SITHO'NIA (2i0a)f(7j, Herod, vii. 123; Steph. B.; Virg. Bucol. x. 66; Hor. Carm. i. 18. 9: Lorujos), the central of the three prongs which run out into the Aegean from the great peninsula of Chaleidice, forming a prolongation to the peak culled SobmuH or Kholumm. The Sithonian penin- sula, which, though not so liilly as that of Acte, is not so inviting as J'allene, was the first, it appears, to be occupied by the Chalcidic colonists. A list of its towns is given in Ciialcidice. [E. P>. J.] SITIA, a place in Hispania Baetica. (Plin. iii. l.s. 3.) [T, ll.l).] SITIFI (2iT((/)i, Ptol. iv. 2. § 34), a town in the interior of Mauretiinia Cacsariensis, situated in an extensive plain not far from the borders of srroNEs. 1015 Nuniidia, and on the road from Carthage to Cirta. (/</«. ylM<. pj). 24, 29, 31, &c.; comp. Amin. Marc xxviii. 6.) At first, under the Numidian kiug.s, it was but an unimportant place; but under thePonum dominion it became the frontier town of the new province of Numidia, was greatly enlarged and ele- vated to be a colony; so that on the subsequent division of Mauretunia Caesar, into two smaller pro- vinces it became the capital of Jlauretania Sitifensis. Under the dominion of the Vandals, it was the capital of the district Zabe. (Zd§7j, Procop. B. Valid, ii. 20.) It is still called Setif, and lies upon an eminence in a delightful neighbourhood. Some ruins of the ancient town are still to be seen. (Shaw's Travels, p. 49.) [T. H, I),] SITILLIA, in Gallia, is placed by the Tai)le on a road from Aquae Bormonis (hourbon t Archambault) to Pocrinium, supposed to be Perriyni, Sitillia is xvi. from Aquae Bormonis and xiiii. from Pocrinium Sitillia is probably a place named Tiel. (D'Anville Notice, ij-c.) [G. L.] SITIOGAGUS. [Sjtacu-s.] SITOMAGUS, a town of the Iceni or Simeni, in the E. part of Britannia Eomana. (^Itiii. Ant. p. 480.) Camden (p. 456) identifies it with Thetford'm Nor- folk, whilst others seek it at Stoicmarkel, Southwold, and Sctxmund/iam. In the 7ib. Pent, it is errone- ously written " Sinomachus." [T. H. D.] SITONES, a population conterminous with the Suiones, from whom they differ only in being governed by a female : " in tantum non modo a libertate sed etiam a servitute degener<,uit. Hie Sueviae finis.'' (Tac. Gei-m. 45.) The Sitonian locality is some part of Finland ; probably the northern half of the coast of the Gulf of Buthnia. The statement that they were under a female rule I is explained as follows. The name by which the East Botlmian Fiiilanders designate themselves is A'fetw?«-laiset (in the singular Kainu-VMnQn). The Swedes call them Qvaens (^Kwains). The mediaeval name for their countiy is Cajan-ia.. Now qviima in the Norse language = woman, being our vords queen and quean ; and in the same Norse tongue the land of the Qvaens would be Cvenu-land ; as it actually is, being Civaen-land (^Queen-land) in Anglo- Saxon. Hence the statement of Tacitus arises out of information concerning a certain Cwaen-a.nd, erroneously considered to be a terra feminarmn, in- stead of a terra Qtuieiwrum. The reader who thinks this fanciful should be informed that in Adam of Bremen, writing in the 12th century, when the same country comes under notice, the same confu.sion ajipears, and that in a stronger form. The Sitonian country is actually terra faninarum. More than this, the feininae become Amazons: "circa ]iae(' litora Baltici maris ferunt esse Ainazonas, quod nunc terra feminarum dicitur, quas aijuae gustu aliqui dicunt concipere Ilae simul vivenles, spernunt consortia virorura, quos etiam, si advenerint, a se virilitcr repellimt," c. 228. (Zeuss, Lie Beutschen, (jc, s. r. Kioenen.) It is worth noticing that King Alfred's locality of the Cwenas is, in respect to their relations to tho Svim, exactly that of Tacitus, — C'fc/Mi-land succeed- ing Suea-land. The Sitones seem to have bci-n the ancient repre- sentatives of the I'inns of Piidand, — the I'eiini of the ancients being the Laps. This is not only what the words Sitones and Qvatii suggest, but the inler- encc from the word Fcnni also. To the Finlander, Fin is a strange nunic. The Swede calls him Qvav/t; 3x4