Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/908

 8SS SAMARIA, SEBASTE. that Oiiiri built it merely as a palatial residence (Siiiai and Palestine, p. 240); but Dr. Robinson perhaps more justly concludes that it was chosen as the site of the capital, and remarks that " it would be difficult to find in all Palestine a situation of equal strength, fertility, and beauty combined." (^Bibl. Res. iii. p. 146.) Its great strength is at- tested by the fact that it endured a siege from all the power of the Syrian army under Hazael, in the days of Jehoram (cir. b. c. 892), little more than 30 years after its first foundation, and was not taken notwithstanding the frightful effects of the famine within the walls (2 Kinr/s, vii. 24 — viii. 20); and when subsequently besieged by the Assyrians (cir. B. c. 721) it was only reduced after a siege of three years (.xviii. 9, 10). After the captivity it was taken by John Hyrcanus, after a year's siege, when he is said to have sapped the foundations of it with water and destroyed all traces of a city. It was subse- quently occupied by the .Jews until Tompey restored it to its own inhabitants. It was further restored by Gabinius. (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 10. § 3, 15. § 4, xiv. 4. § 4, 5. § 3, xiii. 10. § 3, 15. § 4.) It was granted to Herod the Great by Augustus on the death of Antony and Cleopatra, and was by him con- verted into a Roman city under the name of Sebaste =Augusta, in honour of his imperial patron. {Ant. XV. 3. §§ 3, 7, 8. § 5, B. J. i. 20. § 3.) The town was surrounded with a wall 20 stadia in length: in the middle of the town was a temple built in honour of Caesar, itself of large dimensions, and standing in a temenos of 1 ^ stadium square. It was colonised with 6000 veterans and others, to whom was as- signed an extremely fertile district around the city. (B. J. i. 21. § 2.) Dr. Robinson imagines that it was in this city that Philip first preached the Gos- pel, and that the church was founded by the apostles St. Peter and St. John {Acts, viii. 5, &c.); but con- sidering the absence of the article in the original, supplied in the English translation, and comparing the passage with the identical expression in St. John (iv. 5), it is more probable that the same town is in- tended, viz. Sychar, or Neapolis, the chief seat of the Samaritan worship. Nor does the expression in Acts (viii. 14), that '" Samaria had received the word of God," militate against this view ; for here also the country may be very well understood, and it is well remarked by Dr. Robinson that " it is sometimes difficult to distinguish whether, under the name Sa- maria, the city or the region is meant." {Bihl. lies. iii. p. 146.) It is most probable, however, that the sacred writers would have used the classical name then in vogue had they had occasion to mention the city. Septimius Severus placed a colony there in the beginning of the third century (Ulpian, quoted by Robinson, I. c. p 148, n. 1), and it was probably .it that time an episcopal see; for its bishop, Marius or Marinus, was present at the Council of Nicaea and subscribed its acts. (Le Quien, Oriens Christianus , vol. iii. col. 549 — 552.) The tradition which as- signs Sebaste as the place of St. John Baptist's im- prisonment and martyrdom is first found in St. Je- rome {Comment in Osee, i. 5), who also places there the tombs of Obadiah and Elisha {Comment, in Ah- diam, i. 1, Epitaph. Paulae, c. 6), and militates against Josephus, whose statement, however, is inad- missible. [JIachaerus.] The modern village Vfhich represents in its name and site the magnificent city of Herod the Great is situated on an isolated hill 6 miles N. of Nabliis, reckoned by Josephus a day's journey from Jerusalem. {Ant. xv. 11.) SAMBROCA. The village occupies only the eastern extremity of the hill, and stands at the height of about 926 feet above the sea. Its only conspicuous building is the ruined church of St. John, overhanging the brow of the eastern declivity: at the further extremity of the hill, are the remains of an ancient gateway, and near it stand 60 columns in situ, the commencement apparently of a colonnade which extended the whole length of the hill, for at some distance eastward 20 more still stand, and others, whole or in fragments, lie prostrate over the whole hill, while the debris of the buildings have raised the surrounding valleys, remarkably fulfilling the prophecy of Jlicah (i. 6): " I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof." At about half its height the hill is girt about with a distinct belt of level ground, while similar terraces, not so well defined, may be traced above and below, which it is thought may have once served as the streets of the city. (Ritter, Erd- kunde Paldstina, iii. pp. 661 — 666.) Coins of the city are quoted by Vaillant, Noris, Eckhel, and others, chiefly of the earlier emperors. [G. V.] SAJIARIANE, a town of Hyrcania, mentioned by Strabo (xi. p. 508). It is no doubt the same as that called Samaranne by Ptolemy (vi. 9. § 2), and by Ammianus Marcellinus, Saramanna (xxiii. 6). It cannot be identified with any modern place. [V.] SAMAROBRI'VA, in Ga'llia, the ford or passage of the Samara, was a town of the Ambiani en the Samara {Somme). Caesar held a meeting of the states of Gallia at Samarobriva in the autumn of B. c. 54, before putting his troops in winter-quarters. Caesar himself stayed at Samarobriva, as his narrative shows {B. G. V. 24, 46, 47, 53), and as appears from those letters of Cicero addressed to his friend Trebatius, who was about Caesar at that time {ad Fam. vii. 11, 12, 16). Ptolemy mentions Samaro- briva as the chief town of the Ambiani (ii. 9. § 8). The town afterwards took the name of '• Ambiani urbs inter alias eminens" (Amm. Marc. xv. 11), or " Civilas Ambianorum" in the Notitia Prov. Gallia. The name of Samarobriva appears in the Antonine Itin. and in the Table ; biU. the Itin. has Ambiani also. There seems no reason for fixing Samarobriva at any other site than Amiens, though some geo- graphers would do so. [G. L.] SAMBANA {'Zd^iava), a small place mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (xvii. 27). There can be little doubt that it is the same as the Sabata of Pliny (vi. 27. § 31). It was situated about two days' journey N. of Sittake and E. of Artemita. [V.] SAMBASTAE (2o;ugoo-Tai), one of the many small tribes in the district of Pattaleue mentioned by Arrian (vi. 15) as noticed by Alexander and his troops near the mouths of the Indus. It has been conjectured that the present ruins of Setcistan or Schwan indicate the site of the chief fortress of this people ; and Brimes appears to believe that this is the same place noticed by Curtius (ix. 8) as a strong- hold of the Brachmani (Burnes, Travels in Bokhara, iii. p. 57). [V.] SAJIBRACITA'NUS SINUS, in Gallia, is placed in the Maritime Itin. between Forum Julii and Heraclea. It is the gulf of Grimaud. [G. L.] SA'MBROCA {-ZaixSpoKa, Ptol. ii. 6. § 20), a river of Hispania Tarraconensis, which entered the sea between the Pyrenees and the Iberus. Ukert (ii. pt. i. p. 292) takes it to be the same river called Alba by Pliny (iii. 3. s. 4); the modern Ter. [T. H. D.]