Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/907

 SAMAICA. Massilia first brought the Romans into the country of the Salves; and in b. c. 154 the Oxybii and Deceates, or Deciates, who were threatening Massilia, were defeated by the consul Q. Opiniius. The Salyes or Salluvii are not named on this ocrasion by the historians, and the Deceates and Oxybii, wlio were certainly Ligurians, may have been two smaller tiibes included under the general name of Salyes or Salluvii. [Deciates; Oxybii.] The consul M. Fulvius Flaccus in b. c. ]25 defeated the Salyes, and in b. c. 123 the consul C. Sextius Calvinus completed the .subjugation of this people, and founded Aquae Sestiae (Aix) in their territory. Ptolemy (ii. 10. § 15) enumerates Tarascon, Glanum, Arelatum (Arelute) Colonia, Aquae Sex- tiae Colonia, and Ernaginum as the towns of the Salyes. Tarascon, Glanum {St.Remi), Arelate, and Krnaginnm [Eknaginum] all lie west of Aquae Sextiae {Aix) and of Marseille ; and we may con- clude that the country of the Salyes is the western half of the tract between the Var and the Rhone, and between the Durance and the Jlediterranean. The tribes east of the Salyes, the Albici, Surtri, Nernsi, Oxybii, and Deciates, and there may be some others [Commoni], were perhaps sometimes included under the name of the more powerful nation of the Salyes; but Strabo's statement does not ap- 1 rar to be strictly correct, when he makes the Sa- lves extend along the coast to Antipoiis. The coast immediately west of the Var belonged to the Dece- ates and Oxybii. Pliny says '" Ligurium celeberrimi ultra Alpes, Salluvii, Deciates, Oxybii" (iii. 5); the three tribes of Transalpine Ligures whose names occur ill the history of the Roman conquestof this country. In Pliny's list of the Coloniae in the interior of Narbonensis east of the Rhone there is " Aquae Sextiae Salluviorum," and we may conclude that the head-quarters of the Salyes or Salluvii were in the plain countr}' above Aix, and thence to Aries. ( iwing to their proximity to the Greeks of Massilia they would be the first of the Ligures or the mixed Galli and Ligurians who felt the effect of Greek civilisation, and there can be no doubt that their race was crossed by Greek blood. Possessing the town of Arelate, at the head of the delta of the Rhone, they would have in their hands the n.avi- gation of the lower part of the river. The history of this brave and unfortunate people is swallowed up in the blood-stained annals of Rome; and the race was probably nearly extirpated by the consul Cal- vinus selling them after his conquest. [G. L] SAMAICA (■Sap.aiK-n, Ptol. iii. 1 1. § 9), is de- scribed by Ptolemy as a (TTparriyia of Thrace, on the borders of JIacedonia and the Aegean. [J. R.] SAMACHOXI'TIS LACUS (l.af^ax'^v'iris MfJ-vr, al. 2€iuex'^^'s), the name given by Josephu.s to the small lake of the Upper Jordan, called in Scrip- ture the " waters of Meroni," where Joshua routed the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, which city, accord- ing to Josepbus, was situated above the lake. (Comp. Josh. xi. 5, 7, and Judff. iv. with Josepbus, A7it. v. 5. § 1.) He elsewhere describes the lake as 60 .stadia long by 30 broad, extending its marshes to a place called Daphne, which Reland is probably right in altering to Dane, i. e. Dan, as Josepbus im- mediately identifies it with the temple of the Golden Calf. (Joseph. JS. J. iv. 1. § 1; Reland, Palaest. p. 263.) The name, which is not elsewhere found, has been variously derived, but the most probable etymology would connect it iu .^ense with the He- brew name Merom = aquae superiores, deriving the SAMARIA, SEBASTE. 887 word from the Arabic "samaca," alUtsfuii. (Reland, I. c. p. 262.) It is singular that no other notices OLXur of this lake in sacred or in other writings. Its modern name is Bahr-el-TIuleh. Pococke writes : " Josepbus says the lake was 7 miles long, but it is not above 2 miles broad, except at the north end, where it may be about 4. The waters are muddy and esteemed unwholesome, having something of the nature of the water of a morass." {Observatlmis on Palaestine, vol. ii. p. 73.) Dr. Robinson " estimated its length at about 2 hoiirs, or from 4 to 5 gen- graphical miles; its breadth at the northern end is probably not less than 4 miles." It had the ap- pearance almost of a triangle, the northern part being far the broadest; " or rather the map gives to it iu some degree the shape of a pear." Bihl. Res. vol. iii. pp. 339, 340, BibUoth. Sacr. vol. i. p. 12; Stan- ley. Sinai and. Palestine, p. 3S3, n. 1.) [G. W.J SAMAJIYCII. [Syrtica.] SA'MARA. [Frudis ; Sajiarobrita. ] SAMA'KIA (2a(Uap6?Tis, LXX., Joseph.; X'^P" ^ajxapeaiv, Sa/^api'j, 2a/^apeia, Ptol.). The district has been already described in general, under Pa- LAESTi>'A [p. 518], where also the notice of Jo- sepbus has been cited [p. 532]. It remains to add a few words concerning its extent, its special cha- racteristics, and its place in classical geography. It lay, according to Josepbus, " between Judaea and Galilee (comp. St. John, iv. 4), extending from a village called Ginaea in the great plain (Esdraelon) to the toparchy of Acrabatta." Ginaea there can be no difficulty in identifying with the modern Jenin, at the southern extremity of the plain, on the road from N^abli'is to Nazareth. The toparchy of Acra- batta, mentioned also by Pliny, it is difficult to de- fine: but it certainly lay between Nablus and Jericho, and therefore probably east of the toparchy of Gophua and in the same parallel of latitude. (Eusebius, Onomust. s. v. 'KKpaSSeiv ; Reland, Palaest. p. 192.) The northern boundary of Samaria is well de- fined by a continuous line of hills, which, commencing with Mount Cannel on the W., runs first in a SV direction and then almost due E. to the valley of the Jordan, bounding the great plain of Esdraelon on the S. Its southern boundary is not so distinctly marked, but was probably conterminous with the northern limits of the tribe of Benjamin. It com- prehended the tribe of Epliraim, and the half of Ma- nasseh on this side Jordan, and, if it be extended as far E. as Jordan, included also some part of Issa- char, that skirted these two tribes on the E. Pliny (v. 13) reckons to Samaria the towns Neapolis, for- merly called Mamortba, Sebaste, and Gamala, which l.ast is certainly erroneous. [Gamai.a.] Ptolemy names Neapolis and Thena (Qrjva, v. 16. § 5), which last is evidently identical with Thanath (QavkB) of the tribe of Joseph, mentioned by Eu.sebiu.s (Ono- mast. s. v.), and still existing in a village nam<d Thena, 10 miles E. of Neapolis, on the descent to the .Jordan. St. Jerome notes that the most precious oil was produced in Samaria (('« Hoseam, cap. xii.), and its fertility is attested by Josepbus. [G. W.] SAMARIA, SEI5ASTE (Sayua'peia, SeeafrrTj), the Hebrew ShomkoN, the capital city of the kingdom of Israel, and the royal residence from the time of Omri (cir. b. (. 925). of whom it is said that " he bought the hill Samaria of Sbemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the ii.ame of the city which he built after the name of Shemer, owner of the bill, Samaria" (llcb. .S7/«- mcron). (1 Kings, xvi. 24.) Mr. Stanley thinki 3 L i