Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1065

 SUEVI. properly fixed, the Suctri were in the northern part of the diocese of Frejiis. [G. L.] SUEVI (2o^eoi or 'S.oviiSoi), is the designation for a very large portion of the population of ancient Germany, and comprised a great miinherof separate tribes with distinctive names of their own, such as the Semnones. German authors generally connect the name Suevi with Swiban, i. e. to sway, move unsteadily, and take it as a designation of the un- steady and niigatory habits of the people, to dis- tinguish them from the Ingaevones. who dwelt in villages or fixed habitations (Zeuss, Die. Bentschen, p. 55, foil.); others, however, and apparently with good reason, regard the name as of Celtic or even Slavonian origin ; for the Romans no doubt em- ployed the name, not because indigenous in Ger- many, but because they heard it from the Celts in Gaul. We must, however, from the first dis- tinguish between the Suevi of Cae.sar (/?. G. i. 37, 51, 54, iii. 7, iv. 1, &c.) and those of Tacitus (Germ. 38, &c.): the Suevi in Caesar occupied the eastern banks of the Rhine, in and about the country now called Baden, while Tacitus describes them as occupying the country to the north and east of the Suevi of Caesar, so that tlie two writers assign to them quite a diil'erent area of country. Strabo (vii. p. 290) again states that in his time the Suevi ex- tended from the Rhenus to the Albis, and that some of them, such as the Hermunduri and Longobardi, had advanced even to the north of the Albis. AVhether the nations called Suevi by Caesar and Tacitus are the same, and if so, what causes induced them in later times to migrate to the north and east, are questions to which history furnishes no answers. It is possible, however, that those whom Caesar encountered were only a branch of the great body, Ijerhajis Chatti and Longobardi. That these latter were pure Germans cannot be doubted ; but the Suevi of Tacitus, extending from the Baltic to the Danube, and occupying the greater part of Germany, no doubt contained many Celtic and still more Sla- vonic elements. It has in fact been conjectured, with great probability, that the name Suevi was applied to those tribes which were not pure Ger- mans, but more or less mixed with Slavonians; for thus we can understand how it happened that in their habits and mode of life they ditlered so widely from the other Germans, as we see from Tacitus; and it would also account for the fact that in later times we find Slavonians peaceably established in countries jjrcviously occupied by Suevi. (Comp. Plin. iv. 28 ; I'tol. ii. 11. § 15; Oros. i. 2.) It deserves to be noticed that Tacitus {Germ. 2, 45) calls all the country inhabited by Suevian tribes by the name Suevia. The name Suevi appears to have been known to the Romans as early as b. c:. 123 (Sisenna, up. Nori. s. v. lancea), and they were at all times re- garded as a powerful and warlike peojile. Their country was covered by mighty forests, but towns (oppida) also are tpoken of. (Caes. B. G. iv. 19.) As Germany became better known to the Romans, the generic name Suevi fell more and more into disuse, and the separate tribes were called by their own names, although Ptolemy still applies the name of Suevi to the Senmones, Longobardi, and Angli. In the second half of the third century we again find the name Suevi limited to the country to which it had been applied by Caesar. (Annn. Marc. xvi. 10; Jornand. Get. 55; Tub. Pent.) These Suevi, from whom the modern Suabia and the Suabians de- rive their names, seem to have been a body of ad- SULCL 1045 venturers from v<irious German tjibes, who assrmicd the ancient and illustrious name, which was as ap- plicable to them as it was to the Suevi of old. These later Suevi appear in alliance with the Ale- niannians and Burgundians, and in possession ot the German side of Gaul, and Switzerland, and even in Italy and Spain, where they joined the Visigoths. Ricimer, who acts so prominent a part in the history of the Roman empire, was a Suevian. (Comp. Zeuss, I. c. ; Willielm, Germnnien, p. 101, &e. ; Grimm, Beutsclie Gram. i. pp. 8, 60 ii. p. 25, Gesch. der Deutschen Spr. i. p. 494 ; Latham, on Tacit. Germ. Epileq. p. Ixxi.) [L. S.] SUEVICUJI MARE, is the name given by Ta- citus {Germ. 45) to the Baltic Sea, which Ptolemy calls the ^ap/xuTtKus 'ClKeai'ds (vii. 5. § 2, viii. 10. § 2.) [L. S.] SUFES a place in By/.acena (ftin. Ant. jip. 47, 48, 49. 51, 55). Now Sbiba or Sbiludi. [T. H. I).] SUFE'TULA a town of Byzacene, 25 miles S. of Sufes. In its origin it seems to have been a later and smaller place than the latter, whence its name as a diminutive — little Sufes. In process of time, however, it became a very con- siderable town, as it appears to have been the centre whence all the roads leading into the interior radi- ated. Some vast and magnificent ruins, consisting of the remains of three temples, a triumphal arch, &c., at the present Sfuitla, which is seated on a lofty plateau on the right bank of the Wed Dschmila, 80 kilometres SW. of Kairwan, attest its ancient importance. (See Shaw's Travels, p. 107 ; Pe- lisbier, in Revue Archeol. July 1847.) [T. H. 1).] SUIA (2oio, Steph. B. s. v.: Elh. Suiarij?, 2i/i'6us; 2u§a, Stadiasm, §§ 331, 332), the harbour of Elyrus in Crete, 50 stadia to the W. of Poeci- lassus, situated on a plain. It probably existed as late as the time of llierocles, though now entirely uninhabited. Mr. Pashley {Travels, vol. ii. p. lOU) found remains of the city walls as well as other public buildings, but not more ancient than the time of the Roman Empire. Se'eral tombs exist resembling those of Uayhio Ky'rko ; an aqueduct is also remaining. [E. B. J.] SUILLUM [Hklvillum.] SUINDINUM. [Cenomani.] SUIONES, are mentioned only by Tacitus {Germ. 44) as the most ncnthern of the German tribes, dwelling on an island in the ocean. He was no doubt thinking of Scandia or Scandinavia; and Suiones un- questionably contains the root of the modern name ISwedeii and Siuedes. [L. S.] SUISSA, a town in Armenia Minor {It. Ant. pp. 207, 21C), where, according to the Notitiu Imperii (p. 27), the Ala I. Ulpia Dacornm was stationed ; but its site is now unknown. [L. S.] SUISSATIUJI (in Ptol. lovimdaiov, ii. 6. § 65), a town of the Caristi in Hispania Tarra- concnsis. The Geogr. Rav. (iv. 45) calls it Seu- statium. It is the modern Viltorin. [T. II. D] SULCI {^uKKoi, .Stcph. 1'.., Ptol.; 2oPAxoi,Strab.; 2t''AKoi, Paus. : Eth. Snicitanns: .S'. Antioco), one of the most considerable cities of S;irdinia, sitiiatcd in the SW. corner of the island, on a small island, now cjilled /.wla di S. A?itioci>, which is, however, joined to the mainhnid by a narrow istlnnus or neck of sand. S. of this isthmus, between the island and the niaiidand, is an extensive Imy, now called the Golfo di J'ulmas, which was known in ancient times as the Sulcitanns Portus (Ptol). The I'omul- utiou of Sulci is expressly attributed to the Cartba- 3. a