Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1104

 1080 SYRIAE PORTAE. In tlie year 632, Syria was invaded by the Sara- cens, nominally under the command of Abu Obeidah, one of the " companions " of JIahomet, but really led by Chaled, '' the sword of God." The easy conquest of Bosra inspirited the Jloslems to attack Damascus; but here the resistance was more deter- mined, and, though invested in 633, the city was not captured till the followincr year. Heraclius had been able to collect a large force, which, however, under tiie command of his general Werdan, was completely defeated at the battle of Aisnadin; and Damascus, after that decisive engagement, though it still held out for seventy days, was compelled to yield. Heliopolis and Emesa speedily shared the fate of Bosra and Damascus. The last efforts of Her.aclins in defence of Syria, though of extraor- dinary magnitude, were frustrated by the battle of the Yermuk. Jerusalem, Aleppo, and Damascus successively yielded to the Saracen arms, and He- raclius abandoned a province which he could no longer hope to retain. Thus in six campaigns ((533 — 639) Syria was entirely wrested from the Roman empire. (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. 51 : Jlarquardt, Rom. Allerth. vol. iii.) [T. H. D.] SYRIAE PORTAE (Supiai ttuAoi), a pass be- tween Jlount Amanus and the coast of the bay of Issus, which formed a passage from Cilicia into Syria. It was 3 stadia in length, and only broad enough to allow an army to pass in columns. (Xonoph. Anab. i. 4. § 4; Arrian, Anab. ii. 8; Plin. v. 18; Ptol. v. 15. § 12; Strab. xiv. p. 676.) This mountain pass had formerly been closed up at both ends by walls leading from the rocks into the sea ; but in the time of Alexander they seem to have existed no longer, as they are not mentioned by any of his historians. Through the midst of this pass, which is now called the pass of Beilan, there flowed a small stream, which is still known under the name of Merkez-su, its ancient name being Cersus. [L. S.] SYEIAS (Supias), a headland in the Euxine, on the coast of Paphlagonia, which, to distinguish it from the larger promontory of Carambis in its vi- cinity, was also called &Kpa AeTrrTJ. (Marcian, p. 72 ; Arrian, Peripl. P. E.^. 15; Anonym. Per'ipl. P. E. p. 7.) Its modern name is Cape Indje. [L.S.j SYRIE'NI. [SVRASTRENE.] SYRNOLA {Itin. Hier. p. 568), a town in the north-western part of Thrace, between Philippopoiis and Parembole. [J. R.] SYRO-PHOENICE. [Syria, p. 1079.] SYROS or SYRUS (SCpos, also Si/pi'r?, Hom. Od. XV. 403, .and 20pa, Ding. L.aert. i. 115; Hcsych.; Snid.: Eth. Supios: Syra (2i''po), and the present inhabitants call themselves 'S.vpiwTat or Supiacoi, not Supioi), an island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades, lying between Rheneia and Cythnus, and 20 miles in circumference, according to some ancient authorities. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 22.) Syros produces good wine, but is upon the whole not fer- tile, and does not deserve the praises bestowed upon it by Homer (/. c), who describes it as rich in pas- tures, cattle, wine, and wheat. It is usually stated upon the authority of Pliny (xxxiii. 12. s. 56) that Syros produced Sil or yellow ochre; but in Sillig's edition of Pliny, Scyros is substituted for Syros. Syros had two cities even in the time of Homer (Od. XV. 412), one on the eastern, and the other on the western side of the island. The one on the eastern sitle, which was called Syros (Ptol. iii. 15. § 30), stood on the same site as the modern capital SYETICA REG 10. of the island, which is now one of the most flouri.shing cities in Greece, containing 11,000 inhabitants, and the centre of a flourishing trade. In consequence of the numerous new buildings almost all traces of the ancient city have disappeared; but there were con- siderable remains of it when Tournefort visited the island. At that time the ancient city was aban- doned, and the inhabitants had built a town upon a lofty and steep hill about a mile from the shore; this town is now called Old Syra, to distinguish it from the modern town, which has arisen upon the site of the ancient city. The inhabitants of Old Si/ra, who are about 6000 in number, are chiefly Catholics, and, being under the protection of France and the Pope, they took no part in the Greek revo- lution during its earlier years. Their neutrality was the chief cause of the modern prosperity of the island, since numerous merchants settled there in consequence of the disturbed condition of the other parts of Greece. There are ruins of the second ancient city on the western coast, at the harbour of Maria della Griizia. Ross conjectures that its name may have been Gryn- che or Gryncheia, since we find the Tpvyxvi, who are otherwise unknown, mentioned three times in the inscriptions containing lists of the tributary allies of Athens. There was another ancient town in the island, named Eschatia. (BiJckh, Insci: no. 2347, c.) Pherecydes, one of the early Greek philosophers, was a native of Syros. (Comp. Strab. X. pp. 485, 487; Scylax, p. 22; Steph. B. s.v.; Tournefort, Voyage, vol. i. p. 245, seq. Engl, tr.; Prokesch, Erinneningen, vol. i. p. 55, seq.; Ross, Eeisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 5. seq., vol. ii. p. 24, seq.; Fiedler, Reise,vo. ii. p. 164, seq.) SY'RTICA REGIO (^ LvpriKr,, Ptol. iv. 3), a tnict on the coast of N. Africa, between the Syrtis JIajor and Minor, about 100 miles in length. (Strab. xvii. p. 834, sq.; Jlela, i. 7; Plin. v. 4. s. 4.) After the third century it obtained the name of the Regio Tripolitana, from the three principal cities, whidi were allied together, whence the modern name ot Tripoli {Not. Imp. Occid. c. 45; Procnp. de Aed. vi. 3; cf. Solinus, c. 27). Mannert conjectures (s. pt. ii. p. 133) that the emperor Septimius Severus, who was a native of Leptis, was the founder of this Provincia Tripolitana, which, according to the Not. Imp. (I. c), was governed by its own duke (Dux) (Comp. Amm. Marc, xxviii. 6). The dis- trict was attributed by Ptolemy, Jlela, and Pliny to Africa Propria; but in reality it formed a sep.arate district, which at first belonged to the Cyrenaeans, but was subsequently wrested from them and annexed to Carthage, and, when the whole kingdom of the latter was subjected to the Romans, formed a part of the Roman province of Africa. For the most part the soil was sandy and little capable of cultiva- tion, as it still remains to the present day (Della Ceila, Viaggio, p. 50); yet on the borders of the river CinyjJS and in the neighbourhood of the town of Leptis, there was some rich and productive land. (Herod, iv. 198; Scylax, p. 47; Str.ab. xvii. p. 835; Ovid, ex Pont. ii. 7. 25.) Ptolemy mentions several mountains in the district, as Mount Giglius or Gigius (to riyiov upos, iv. 3. § 20), Mount Thizibi (t5 @i(i§L fSpos, ib.) Mount Zuchabbari or Chuzabarri (t& ZovxdS^api ^ Xov(d§a^^i, ib.) and Mount Vasa- luetum or Vasaleton (to OvarrdXanov r) Ovarrd- erov opos, ib. § 18). The more important pro- montories were Ccphalae (Kf<^aAal dnpov, Ptol. iv. 3. § 13), near which also, on the W., the same author