Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/891

 SACCASENA. be compared with ]Miii-nar;ara, a town on the Indus beluniring to the same people. (AiTian, Peripl. Mar. Enjth. § 38.) [MiN..GAKA.] [V.] SACCASE'NA, a place in Capp.aJocia, probably in the neii;libourhood ot' the modern Urgub or Urkup. {It. Ant.T^. 296.) [L. S.] SACCOTODES (Sa/c/coTrdSes), according to Strabo, a name given to the people of Adiabene in A.ssyria (xvi. p. 745). There has been a great dispute among learned men as to this name, which does not appear to be a genuine one. Bochart has .suggested Saucropodes (Saiz/fpoVoSes). On the whole, however, it would seem that the emendation of Tzschukke is the best, who reads Sai/Adn-oSes. (Grosknrd, ad Strab. vol. iii. p. 225.) [V.] SACER MOMS (jh 'Uphv upos) was the name given to a hill about 3 miles from Rome, across the Aiiio and on the right of the Via Nomentana. It is mentioned only on occasion of the two secessions of the plebeians from Rome : the first of which, in p.. c. 494, was terminated by the dexterity of Menenius Agrippa, and gave occasion to the election of the first tribunes of the people. (Liv. ii. 32; Dionys. vi. 45; Appian, B. C. i. 1.) In memory of this treaty and the "Lex Sacrata " which was passed there to confirm it, an altar was erected on the spot, which thenceforth always bore the name of " the Sacred Mount." (Dionys. vi. 90; Appian, I.e.). The se- cond occasion was during the Decemvirate ; when the plebeians, who had at first seceded only to the Aventine, on finding that this produced no effect, withdrew to the Sacred Mount (Liv. iii. 52). Cicero, on the contrary, represents the secession on this occasion as taking place first to the Sacred Jlount, and then to the Aventine (Cic. de R. P. ii. 37). Hardly any spot in the neighbourhood of Rome, not marked by any existing ruins, is so clearly identitied by the descriptions of ancient writers as the Sacer Mons. Both Livy and Cicero concur in placing it 3 miles from Rome, across the Anio ; and the former expressly tells us that the plebeians, on the second occasion, proceeded thither by the Via Nomentana, which was then called Ficulensis (Liv. ii. 32, iii. 52 ; G'lc. Brut. 14, pro Cornel., ap. Ascon. p. 76). Now the third mile along the Via Nomentana brings us to a point just across the Anio; and on the right of the road at this point is a hill overlooking the river, in .some degree isolated from the plateau beyond, with which it is, however, closely connected, while its front towards the valley of the Anio is steep and almost precipitous. On its E. side flows a small stream, descending from the Casale dei Pazzi (apparently the one known in ancient times as the Rivus Ulmanus); so that the position is one of considerable strength, especially on the side towards Rome. The site is now uninhabited, and designated by no peculiar appel- lation. (Nibby, Diniorni di Roma, vol. iii. pp. 54, 55.) [E. H. B.] SACHALl'TAE (2axaA.rTai). a people upon the S. coast of Arabia Felix (Ptol. vi. 7. §§ 1 1, 24, 25), and upon the bay called after them Sacii.vlites Sinus (SoxaAiTTjj k6k-kos'). Respecting the position of this bay there was a difference of opinion among the ancient geographers, Marinus placing it towards the west, and Ptolemy towards the east, of the pro- montory Syagrus {Has Fartak). (I'tol. i. 17. § 2, comp. vi. 7. §§ 11, 46.) Marcianus (p. 23) .agrees with Ptolemy; and says that the bay extended from this promontory to the mouth of the Persian gulf (comp. Steph. B. s. v. SaxoXirrjs wdATros). Arrian SACRIPORTUS. 871 {Peripl. J/ar. Erythr. p. 17. § 29) on the otlier hand agrees with JIarcian, and places the bay be- tween Cane and the promontory Syagrus. 1 .^ee C. Miiller, ad Arrian, I. c.) SACILI or SACILI MARTIALIUM (PHn. iii. 1. s. 3; called by Ptolemy SoKiAis, ii. 4. § 11), a town of the Turduli in Hispania Baetica, at a place near Perabad, now called Alcorrucen. (Morales, Antig. p. 96 : Florez, Esp. Sagr. p. 147.) [T. H. D.] SA'CORA (2a/copa), a town in the interior of Paphlagonia, is mentioned only by Ptolemy (v. 4. § 5). ^ [L. S.] SACORSA (Sa/copcra), a town in the interior of Paphlagonia, is mentioned only by Ptolemy (v, 4. § 6). [L. S.] SACRA'NI, was the name given by a tradition, probably of very ancient date, to a conquering people or tribe which invaded Latium at a period long before the historical age. Festus represents them as proceeding from Reate, and expelling tiie Siculi from the Septimontium, where Rome afterwards stood. He tells us that their nanie was derived from their being the offspring of a " ver sacrum." (Fest. s. v. Sacrani, p. 321.) It hence appears probable that tlie Sacrani of Festus were either the same with the people called Aborigines by Dionysius (i. 16) [Aborigines], or were at least one clan or tribe of that people. But it is very doubtful whether the name w;is ever really used as a national appellation, Virgil indeed alludes to the Sacrani as among the inhabitants of Latium in the days of Aeneas (5a- cranae acies, Aen. vii. 796), but apparently as a small and obscure tribe. Servius in his commen- tary on the passage gives different explanations of the name, all varying from one another, and from that given by Festus, which is the mo.st distinct statement we have upon the subject. In another passage {ad Aen. xi. 317) Servius distin- guishes the Sacrani from the Aborigines, but little value can be attached to his statements on .-^uch subjects. [E. H. B.] SACRARIA. [Cmtumnus.] SACRIPORTUS (6 'Uphs Kiix^v, Appian, B. C. i. 87), a place in Latium, between Signia and Praeneste, celebrated as the scene of the decisive battle between Sulla and the younger Marius, in which the latter was totally defeated, and compelled to take refuge within the walls of Praeneste, B.C. 82. (Liv. Eplt. Ixxxvii.; Appian, B. C. i. 87; Veil. Pat. ii. 26, 28; Flnr. iii. 21. § 23; Vict. Vir. III. 68, 75; Lucaii, ii. 134.) The scene of the battle is universally de- scribed as " apud Sacriportum," but with no more precise distinction of the locality. The name of Sacriportus does not occur upon any other occasion, and we do not know what was the meaning of the name, whether it were a village or small town, or merely a spot .so designated. But its locality may be approximately fixed by the accounts of the battle; this is described by Appian .as taking place near Praeneste, and by piutarcb {Sail. 28);is near Signia. We learn moreover from Appian that Sulla having besieged and taken Sctia. the younger Marius, who had in vain endeavoured to relieve it, retreated step by step before him until he arrived in the neigh- bourhood of Praeneste, when he halted at Sacriportus, and gave battle to his pursuer. It is therefore evident that it must have been situated in the plain below Praeneste, between that city and Signia, and probably not far from the opening between the Aibau hills and the Volscian mountains, through which must havo lain the line of retreat of Marius; 3 K 4