Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/920

 900 SAMOS. and thus harmonises with the natural derivation of the word. In the plain which extends along the base of the mountains eastwards towards the city, Eoss says that there are traces of ancient channels made for the purpose of irrication. He regards the marsliy places near the temple to be the KaAafioi and the"Eos mentioned by Atiienaeus (xiii. p. 572) in connei tion with the expedition of I'ericles. (The former place is likewise referred to by Herodotus, ix. 96.) Across this plain, which is about two miles in length, there is no doubt that a Sacred Way extended from the sanctuary to the city, like that which connected Athens with Eleusis. Somewhere on this line {Kara rrju dShu Ti]y els rb 'Upaiov, Paus. vii. 5. § 6) was the tomb of Rhadine and Leontichus, where lovers iised to make their vows; and traces of funeral monuments are still seen at the extremity of the line, close to the city-wall. The modern town of Chora, close to the pass lead- ing through the mountains to I'aM//, is near the place of the ancient city, which was situated partly in the plain and partly on the slope of the hill. The western wall runs in a straight line from the moun- tain towards the sea, with the exception of a bend inwards near the tombs just mentioned. Here is a brackish stream (^ yv(pa.Sa), which is the Chesius, the second of the three streams mentioned by Pliny. (See Eti/m. Jifagn. s.v. 'AcrruTraAaia.) The southern wall dues not touch the sea in all its length, and is ^trengthened by being raised on vaulted substruc- tions. Here and elsewhere the ruins of Samos touch the question of the use of the arch among the Greeks. On the east side of the city the wails are very considerable, being 10 or 12 feet thick, and about 18 feet high. The masonry is partly qua- drangular and partly polygonal; there are round towers at intervals on the outside of the wall, and in one place are traces of a gate. In the eastern part of the city was the steep citadel of Astypalaea, which was fortified by Polycrates (Polyaen. Sirat. i. 2.3. § 2), and here probably was what Suetonius calls the palace of Polycrates. (Suet. Calig. 21.) In the higher part of the town the theatre is dis- tinctly visible; the marble seats are removed; un- derneath is a large cistern. The general area is covered with small fragments, many of the best having furnished materials for the modern castle of Lyeurgus near the shore on the SE.; and little more remains of a city which Herodotus says was, under Polycrates, the greatest of cities, Hellenic or Barbarian, and which, in the time of comparative decay, is still called by Horace Concinna Samos. Herodotus makes especial mention of the harbour and of an immense tunnel which formed an aque- duct for the city. The former of these works (to Tiydvi., as it is now called, from being shaped like a frying-pan) is below Astypalaea; and, though it is now accessible only to small craft, its famous moles remain, one extending eastwards from the castle of Lyeurgus, the other extending to meet it from the extremity of the east city-wall southwards. Here lloss saw subterranean passages hewn in the rock, one of which may possibly be the KpvTrTr) Siwpv^ e/c rf)? aKpoirdXeos (pfpovda iirl ddkaaffav (Herod, iii. 146), constructed by Maeandrius after the death of Polycrates. The tunnel has not been clearly identified; but, from what ^I. llusuras told Prof. Ross, it is probable that it is where Toumefort placed it, and that it penetrated the hill from Mele- linous to Chora, and that thence the water was taken into the city by a covered ciiamiel, traces of which re- SAMOSATA, main. It is clear that it cannot be in the quarry pointed out to Ro.ss; both because the cleavage of the rock is in the wrong direction, and because water from such a height would fall like a cascade on the city. The authorities, to which reference has been made in this article, are. Tournefort (^Voyage du Levant, 1717, pp.404 — 436), who has given a very copious account of the island ; and Ro.ss (^Reisen avf den Griecliischen Inschi des Agiiischer Meeres, vol. ii. 1843, pp. 139 — 155), who has examined the sites and remains of the ancient city and Heraeum more carefully than any one else. (See also Clarke, rrnfe/«,vol. ii. pp. 192 - 194, vol. iii. pp.364— 367.) Maps of the island will be found in Tournefort and Choiseul-Gouffier; but the best delineation of it is given in three of the English Admiralty charts. There is a small sketch of the neighbourhood of the city in Kiepert's Hellas (1841), and a larger one in Ross. In Kiepert's general map the rivers Im- brasus and Chesius are wrongly placed, and also (probably) the ridge of Ampelus. It is very ques- tionable whether the point called Poseidion can be where it is (doubtfully) placed in Ross's plan: the position of the little island Naithecis in the strait seems to show that this promontory ought to be further to the cast. (See Strab. xiv. p. 637.) A little Volume was published in London, and dedi- cated to James Duke of York, in 1678, entitled " A Descriptio7i of the j^resent State oj" Samos. Xicar la, Patmos, and Blount Athos, by Joseph Georgirenes (^ca)p7€lp7)^'7)s), Archbishop of Samos, now living in London, translated by one that knew the author in Constantinople." From this book it appears that Dapper has taken much directly, and Tournefort indirectly. Panofka has written a book on Samos (Res Sa?niorinn, Berlin, 1822): and more recently (1856) Gue'rin has published a work on this island and Patmos. [J. S. H.] COIN OF SAMOSw SAMOS, in Triphylia. [Samicum.] SAMOS or SAilE', in Cephallenia. [Same.] SAMOSATA (2aiJ.6aaTa), a strongly fortified city of Syria, placed by Ptolemy (v. 15. § 11) and Strabo in the district of Commagene. It con- tained the royal residence, and was a province in the time of Strabo, surrounded by a small but very rich country, and situated at th: bridge of the Euphrates. (Strab. xvi. 2. §3,p. 749.) Its distance from the bor- ders of Cappadocia in the vicinity of Tomisa across Mount Taurus was 450 stadia. (lb. xiv. 2. § 29, p. 664.) It was besieged and taken by Mark Antony during his campaign in Syria. (Joseph, ^w^ xiv. 15. §8.) Its strategic importance is intimated by Cae.sen- nius Paetus, prefect of Syria under Vespasian, who, having represented that Antiochus, king of Comma- gene, was meditating an alliance with the Parthians to enable him to throw oft" the Roman yoke, warned his imperial master " that Samosata, the largest city of Commagene, was situated on the Euphrates, and would therefore secure the Parthians an ea.sy passage