Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1093

 SYRACUSAE. monument. (D'Orville, Sicula, p. 1 73 ; Swinburne, vol. ii. p. 318.) The topoEcraphy of Syracuse attracted attention fioiii an early perlu<l after the revival of letters; and the leading features are so clearly marked by nature that they could not fail to be recognised. But the earlier descriptions by Fazello, Bonanni, and Mira- bella, are of little value. Cluverius, as usual, in- vestigated the subject with learning and diligence; and the ground has been carefully examined by several modern travellers. An excellent survey of it was also made by British engineers in 1808; and the researches and excavations carried on by the duke of Serra di Falco, and by a commission ap- pointed by the Neapolitan government in 1839 have thrown considerable light upon the extant remains of antiquity, as well as upon some points of the to- pogi-aphy. These have been discussed in a separate memoir by the architect employed, SaverioCavallari, and the whole subject has been fully investigated, ■n-itli constant reference to the ancient authors, in an elaborate and e.xcellent memoir by Cul. Leake. The above article is based mainly upon the researches of the last author, and the local details given in the COINS OF SYRACUSAE. SYRIA. 10G9 great work of the duke of Sen-a di Falco, the fourtli volume of which is devoted wholly to the antiquities of Syracuse. (Fazell. de Reh. Sic. iv. 1 ; Bonanni, Le Antiche Siracuse, 2 vols. fol. Palermo, 1717; Mirabella, Bichiarazione della Pianta dell' antiche Siracuse, reprinted with the preceding work; Clu- ver. Sicil. i. 12; D'Orville, ^zra/a, pp. 175 — 202; &myi & Sicihj, pp. 162 — 176; Swinburne, Travels in the Two Sicilies, vol. ii. pp. 318 — 346; Hoare, Classical Tour, vol. ii. pp. 140 — 176; Leake, Notes on Syracuse, in the Transactions of the Roijal Society of Literature, 2nd series, vol. iii. pp. 239 — 354; Serra di Falco, Antichita della Sicilia, vol. iv; Cavallari, Zur Topographic von Syralcns, 8vo. Got- tingen, 1845.) [E. H. B.] SYRASTRE'NE (IvpaaTpnvr,, Perijjl. M. E. c. 41; Ptol. vii. 1. § 2), a district of ancient India, near and about the mouths of the Indus. There can be no doubt that it is represented by the modern Saurashtrdn, for a long time the seat of a powerful nation. Surashtra means in Sanscrit " the beautiful kingdom." Ptolemy (I. c.) mentions a small village Syrastra, which may have once been its capital. It is probable that the Syrieni of Pliny (vi. 20. s. 23) were inhabitants of the same district. [] SYRGIS (2up7is, Herod, iv. 123), a consider- able river of European Sarmatia, which flowed from the country of the Thyssagetae through the terri- tory of the Maeotae, and discharged itself into the Palus jMaeotis. Modern geographers, have variously attempted to identify it. Eennell {Geoijr. of Herod. p. 90) considers it to be one of the tributaries of the Wolf/a. Gatterer (^Comment. Soc. Gott. xiv. p. 36) takes it to be the Donetz, whilst Reichard identifies it with the Irgitz, and Linder {Scythien, p. 66) with the Don itself. [T. H. D.] SY'PJA (Supi'a : Eth. 'S.vpi.os), the classical name for the country whose ancient native appellation was Aram, its modern Esh-Sham. I. Name. — The name Aram (D"1S!), more com- prehensive than the limits of Syria Proper, extends, with several qualifying adjuncts, over Mesopotamia and Chaldaea. Thus we read (I.) of Aram of the two rivers, or Aram Naharaim (D^TilJ DTI^?i LXX. tV VieaoTTOTafj.tai', Gen. xxiv. 10), equivalent to Padan-Aram, or the Plain of Aram (D'lX JjlS' LXX. Trjs MecroTTOTUfxias l,vpias. Gen. xxv. 20, xxviii. 2, 5, 6, 7, xxxi. 18), but comprehended also a mountain district called " the mountains of the east" (^Num. xxii. 5, xxiii. 7; Deut. xxiii. 4). (2.) Aram Sobah (nniV D^N*, LXX. 2oi/ga, 1 Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Scim. viii. 3,' x. 6, 8). (3.) Aram of Damascus (pK'^!!T D^X. LXX. 2u/Jia AaixaaKov, 2 Sam. viii. 5). (4.) Aram Beth-Rehob (ninTJT'a D"1X, LXX. 'Po^g, 2 Sam. X. 6, 8). (5.) Aram Maacah {TOV.'O, LXX. Maaxa, 1 Chron. xix. 6). Of these five districts thus dis- tinguished, the first; has no connection with this article. With regard to the second, fourth, and lilth, it is doubtful whether Sobah and Rehob were in Jleso- potamia or in Syria Proper. Gesenius supposes the empire of Sobah to have been situated north-east of Damascus ; but places the town, which he identifies with Nesebin, Nisibi.s, and Antiochia Mygdoniac, in Jlesopotamiu {Lex. s. vv. D^S and HJliV); but a comparison of 2 Sam. x. 6 with 1 Chron. xix. 6 seems ratlier to imply that Rchob was in Meso- potamia, Soba and JIaacha in Syria Proper ; fur, in