Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/926

 906 SAEAVUS of the seven islands of Zenobia, which are itlentified with the islands of Kurian Murian. The i.shmd of Sarapis is therefore correctly placed by D'Anville at ilfozeira. It is described in the Periplus as about 120 stadia distant from the coast, and about 200 stadia wide. It had three villages, and was inha- bited by the sacred caste of the Ichthyophagi. They spoke Arabic, and wore girdles of cocoa leaves. The island produced a variety and abundance of tortoises, and was a favourite station for the merchant vessels of Cane. [G. "V.] SARA'TJS, a river of Gallia, a branch of the Jlosella (Mosel). The Itins. place the Pons Saravi on the Saravus, on a road fiom Divodurum (Metz) to Argentoratum (Sti-assburff). [Pons Saravi.] The Saravus is mentioned in the poem of Auso- nius on the Mosella (v. 367): — " Naviger undisona duduni me mole Saravus Tota veste vocat, longum qui distulit amnem, Fessa sub Augustis ut volveret ostia muris." The Saravus is the Sarre, which joins the Mosel on the right bank a few miles above Augusta Tre- virorum {Trier). In an inscription the river is named Sarra. [G. L.] SAEBACU5I {-ZapeaKov, Ptol. iii. 5. § 29), a town of Sarniatia, upon an affluent of the Tanais, probably a Graecised form of the Slavonic Srhec. (Schafarik, Shn: Alt. vol. i. pp. .512, 514.) [E.B.J.] SAKDAlSAi-E. [Siga.] SAKDEJIISUS, a southern branch of Mount Taurus on the frontiers of Pisidia and Pamphylia, extending as far as Phaselis ; it is also connected with Mount Climax on the frontiers between Milyas and Pisidia Proper. (Pomp. Mela, i. 14 : Plin. v. 26.) [L. S.] SAPiDE'NE (SapSeVr;), a mountain of iIysia, on the northern bank of the Hermus, in the neiglibour- hood of Cyme; at its foot was the town of Neon- teichos. (Horn. Ep. i. 3; Vit. Horn. 9.) [L. S.] SARDES (2ap5eis or 2ap5is : FAh. 'S.ap'Si.avos), the ancient capital of the kingdom of Lydia, was situated at the northern foot of Mount Tmolus, in a fertile plain between this mountain and the river Hermus, from which it was about 20 stadia distant. (Arrian, Anab. i. 17.) The small river Pactolus, a tributary of the Hermus, flowed through the agora of Sardes. (Herod, v. 101.) This city was of more recent origin, as Strabo (xiii. p. 62o) remarks, than the Trojan times, but was nevertheless very ancient, and had a very strong acropolis on a precipitous height. The town is first mentioned by Aeschylus {Pers. 45); and Herodotus (i. 84) relates that it was fortified by a king Bleles, who, according to the Chronicle of Eusebius, preceded Candaules. The city itself was, at least at first, built in a rude manner, and the houses were covered with dry reeds, in consequence of which it was repeatedly destroyed by fire; but the acropolis, which some of the ancient geographers identified with the Homeric Hyde (Strab. xiii. p. 626 ; comp. Plin. v. 30; Eu- Btath. ad Dion. Per. 830), was built upon an almost inaccessible rock, and surrounded with a triple wall. In the reign of Ardys, Sardes was taken by the Cimmerians, but they were unable to gain possession of the citadel. The city attained its greatest pro- sperity in the reign of the last Lydian king, Croesus. After the overthrow of the Lydian monarchy, Sardes became the residence of the Persian satraps of Western Asia. (Herod, v 25 ; Paus. iii. 9. § 3.) Oa the revolt of the lonians, excited by Aristagoras SARDES. and Histiaeus, the lonians, assisted by an Athenian force, took Sardes, except the citadel, which was defended by Artaphernes and a numerous garrison. The city then was accidentally set on fire, and burnt to the ground, as the buildings were constructed of easily combustible materials. After this event the lonians and Athenians withdrew, but Sardes was rebuilt; and the indignation of the king of Persia, excited by this attack on one of his principal cities, determined him to wage war against Athens. Xerxes spent at Sardes the winter preceding his expedition against Greece, and it was there that Cyrus the younger assembled his forces when about to march against his brother Artaxerxes. (Xenoph. Anab. i. 2. § 5.) When Alexander the Great ar- rived in Asia, and had gained the battle of the Granicus, Sardes surrendered to him without resist- ance, for which he rewarded its inhabitants by re- storing to them their freedom and their ancient laws and institutions. (Arrian, i. 17.) After the death of Alexander, Sardes came into the possession of Antigonus, and after his defeat at Ipsus into that of the Seleucidae of Syria. But on the murder of Seleucus Ceraunus, Achaeus set liimself up as king of that portion of Asia Jlinor, and made Sardes his residence. (Polyb. iv. 48, v. 57.) Antioclius the Great besieged the usurper in his capital for a whole year, until at length Lagoras, a Cretan, scaled the ramparts at a point where they were not guarded. On this occasion, again, a great part of the city was destroyed. (Polyb. vii. 15, &c. viii. 23.) When Antiochus was defeated by the Romans in the battle of Magnesia, Sardes passed into the hands of the Romans. In the reign of Tiberius the city was reduced to a heap of ruins by an earthquake; but the emperor ordered its restoration. (Tac. ^?m. ii. 475 Strab. xiii. p. 627.) In the book of Revelation COIN OF SiVKDES.