Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1036

 1016 wSITTACE. lie wills InmseK Siwmn-Iainen or Hamclaintn. On the other hand, it is the Lap of /Vnmark that is called a Fin, and it is the Norwegian who tails liini bo. [Fknxi.] [H. G.L.J SITTACE (SiTTUKTj, Ptol. vi. 1. § G), a town of ancient Assyria, at the southern end of this province, on the road between Arteiiiita and iSnsa. (Strab. xvi. p. 744.) It is called fcjitta (Si'tto) by Diodorus (xvii. 110). It was the capital of the district of .Sittacene, which appears to have been called in later times Apolloniatis (Strab. xi. p. 524), and which adjoined the province of Susis (sv. p. 732). I'liny, who gives the district of Sittacene a more northerly direction, states that it bore also the names of Arbe- litis and Palaestine (vi. 27. s. 31). It is probably the same country which Cm tins calls Satrapene (V. 2). ■ [V.] SITTACE'NE. [Sittacic] .SITTOCATIS (2«TT(jKaTis, Arrian, Iml. c. 4), a navigable river, which, according to Arrian, flowed into the Ganrjes. It has been conjectured by Man- iiert that it is the same as the present Sind, a tributary of the Jumna, near Rampur (v. pt. i. p. 09). [V.J SIUPH (2iou<^, Herod, ii. 172), a town of the Sai'tic nome in the Delta of Egypt. It does not ap- pear to be mentioned by any other writer besides Herodotus. ' [T. H. U.] SIVA (Si'oua), a town in the prefecture of Cilicia in Cappadocia, on the road from Mazaca to Tavium, at a distance of 22 miles from Mazaca. (Ptol. v. 6. S 15; Tah. Pent.) [L. S.] SJIARAGDUS JIONS {S.jxdpayZos Spos, Ptol. iv. 5. § 15), was a portion of the chain of hills which runs along the western coast of the Ited Sea from tile Heroopolite gulf to the straits of Bah-el-Man- deh. Between lat. 24° and 2.j° in this range is the Mount Smaragdus, the modern ]>jtbel Zabareli, which derived its name from the emeralds ibund there, and early attracted by its wealth the Aegyp- tians into that barren region. The principal mine was at Jjjebel-Zabareh; but at Bender-el-Sogheir to N., and at Sekket to S., each a portion of Jlount Smaragdus, there are traces of ancient mining ope- rations. Small emeralds of an inferior quality are still found in this district. (Mannert, Geor/rapk. vol. X. p. 21.) Strabo (xvii. p. 815) and Pliny (xsxvii. 15. s. 16) mention the wealth obtained from these mines. At Sekket there is a temple of the Ptolemaic era; but the mines were knovvn and wrought at least as early as the reign of Amunoph III., in the 18th dynasty of the native kings of Aesrvpt. [W. B. D.J SMENUS. [LACONi.i, p. 114, b.] SMILA. [Crossaea.] SMYRNA (l/xupva: Eth. 2,uuf)i'aros, Smyrnaeus: Smyrna or Izmir), one of the most celebrated and mast flourishing cities iuAsia Minor, was situated on the east of the mouth of the Hermus, and on the bay which received from the city the name of the Smyr- naeus Sinus. It is said to have beeu a very ancient town founded by an Amazon of the name of Smyrna, who had previously conquered Ephesus. In con- .vequence of this Smyrna was regarded as a colony of Ephesus. The Ephesian colonists are said after- wards to have been expelled by Aeolians. who then occupied the plai;e, until, aided by the Colojihonians, tiie Ephesian colonists were enabled to re-establish themselves at Smyrna. (Strab. xiv. p. 633 ; Steph. I>. s. v.; Plin. v. 31.) Herodotus, on the other hand (i. 150), states that Smyrna originally belonged to SMYRNA. the Aeolians, who admitted into their city some Colophonian exiles ; and that these Colophoniaiis afterwards, during a fe5tial which was celebrated outside the town, made themselves masters of tiie place. From that time Smyrna ceased to be an Aeolian city, and was received into the Ionian con- federacy (Comp. Pans. vii. 5. § 1.) So far then as we are guided by authentic history, Smyrna belonged to the Aeolian confederacy until the year b. c. 688, when by an act of treachery on the part of tiie Colophonians it fell into the hands of the lonians, and became the 13th city in the Ionian League. (Herod. I. f. ; Paus. I. c.) The city was attacked by the Lydian king Gyges, but successfully resisted the aggres.sor (Herod, i. 14: Paus. ix. 29. § 2.) Alyattes, however, about u. c. 627, was more suc- cessful ; he took and destroyed the city, and hence- forth, for a period of 400 years, it was deserted and in ruins (Herod, i. 16; Strab. xiv. p. 646), though soiue inhabitants lingered in the place, living Kw/xTjSdv, as is stated by Strabo, and as we must infer from the fact that Scylax (p. 37) speaks of Smyrna as still existing. Alexander the Great is said to have formed the design of rebuilding the city (Paus. vii. 5. § 1); but he did not live to carry this jiian into efiett; it was, however, undertaken by Antigonus, and finally completed by Lysimachus. The new city was not built on the site of the ancient one, but at a distance of 20 stadia to the south of it, on the southern coast of the bay, and partly on the side of a hill which Pliny calls Mastusia, but prin- cipally in the plain at the foot of it extending to the sea. After its extension and embellishment by Lysimachus, new Smyrna became one of the most magnificent cities, and certainly the finest in all Asia Minor. The streets were handsome, well paved, and drawn at right angles, and the city contained several squares, porticoes, a public library, and immerous temples and otiier public buildings; but one great drawback was that it had no drains. (Strab. I. c. ; Harm. Oxon. n. 5.) It also pos- sessed an excellent harbour which could be closed, and continued to be one of the wealthiest and most flourishing commercial cities of Asia ; it after- wards became the seat of a conventus juridicus which embraced the greater part of Aeolis as far as Magnesia, at the foot of Jlount Sipylus. (Cic. ii. Flacc. 30; Plin. v. 31.) During the war between the Romans and Mithridates, Smyrna remained faithful to the former, for which it was rewarded with various grants and privileges. (Liv. xxxv. 42, xxxvii. 16, 54, xxxviii. 39.) But it afterwards suflijred much, when Treboiiius, one of Caesar's murderers, was besieged there by Dolabella, who in the end took the city, and put Trebonius to death. (Strab. ;. c; Cic. Phil. xi. 2; Liv. Epit. 119; Dion Cass, xlvii. 29.) In the reign of Tiberius, Smyrna had conferred upon it the equivocal honour of being allowed, in preference to several other Asiatic cities, to erect a temple to the emperor (Tac. Ann. iii. 63, iv. 56). During the years A. d. 178 and 180 Smyrna suffered much from earthquakes, but the emperor JI. Aurelius did much to alleviate its sufti^rings (Dion Cass, l.xxi. 32.) It is well known that Smyrna was one of the places claiming to be the biith place of Homer, and the Smyrnaeans them- selves were so strongly convinced of their right to claim this honour, that they erected a temple to the great bard, or a 'O/xvpeiw, a splendid edifice con- taining a statue of Homer (Strab. /. c; Cic. p. Arch. 8): they even showed a cave in the neigh-