Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/934

 914 SAEDONES. SARDONES. [SoRDONEs.] SAEDO'MYX (2ap5aj^u|), a mountain or chain of mountains in Ilindostan, noticed by Ptolemy (vii. 1. §§ 20 and 65). It would seem to have been part of the range now known by the name of the Vindhya Mountains. Lassen, in his map, has identified them with the Pdgapippali Mountains on the right bank of the Narmada {Nerhudda), and Forbiger has supposed them to be the Sdlpura Mountains, a con- tinuation of the same chain. [V.] SAUDO'U.M or SAEUO'NIUJI MARE (tJ> 2ap- h^ov TreKayos, Stral>., I'ol., but rh 'Zap^oviov iriXa- yus. Herod, i. 166), was the name given by the ancients to the part of the JMediterranean sea ad- joining the island of Sardinia on the W. and S. Like all similar appellations it was used with con- siderable vagueness and laxity; there being no na- tural limit to separate it from the other parts of the l^Iediterranean. Eratosthenes seems to have applied the name to the whole of the sea westward of Sar- dinia to the coast of Spain {ap. Plin. iii. 5. s. 10), so as to include the whole of wliat was termed by other authors the Mare Hisp.ynuji or Baleaki- cuM; but this extension does not seem to have been generally adopted. It was, on the other hand, clearly distinguished from the Tyrrhenian sea. which lay to the E. of the two great islands of Sardinia and Corsica, between them and Italy, and from the Libyan sea (Mare Libycum), from which it was separated by tiie kind of strait formed by the Lilybaean promontory of Sicily, and the opposite point (^Cape Bon) on the coast of Africa. (Pol. i. 42; Strab. ii. pp. 105, 122; Agathem. ii. 14; Dionys. Per. 82.) Ptolemy, however, gives the name of the Libyan sea to that immediately to the S. of Sardinia, restricting that of Sardoum Mare to the W., which is certainly opposed to the usage of the other geographers. (Ptol. iii. 3. § 1.) Strabo speaks of the Sardinian sea as the deepest part of the Mediterranean; its greatest depth was said by Posidonius to be not less than 1000 fathoms. (Strab. ii. pp. 50, 54.) It is in fact quite un- fathomable, and the above estimate is obviously a mere guess. [E. H. B.] SAREPTA (ldp€<pea), the " Zarephath, a city of Sidon " of the Old Testament (1 Kings, xvii. 9, 10; comp. St. Luke, iv. 26), apparently at the most extreme north {Obad. 20), celebrated in the his- tory of Elijah the prophet. It is said by Joseplius to be not far from Tyre and Sidon, lying between the two. (.4«t viii. 1.3. § 2.) Pliny places it be- tween Tyre and Ornithon, on the road to Sidon (v. 19. § 17). In the Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum the name does not occur, but it is described by a periphrasis and placed viii. m. p. from Sidon (p. 583). The Arabian geographer Sherif Ibn Idris, quoted by Reland, places Zaraphand 20 miles from Tyre, 10 from Sidon. {Palaestina, p. 985.) It was formerly celebrated for its wine, and is supposed to be intended by Pliny under the name of Tyrian, which he commends with that of Tripolis and Berytus (xiv. 7). Several of the later Latin poets have also sung the praises of the " dulcia Bacchi niunera, quae Sarepta ferax, quae Gaza crearet," the quantity of the first syllable being common (ap. Reland, p. 986). The place is noticed by modern travellers. Dr. Robinson found " a large village bearing the name of Surapend^' five hours north of Tyre, three south of Sidon, near the sea-shore, where is a saint's tomb called El-Kliudr (^= St. Geoi-rje), which he imagined to mark the site of a SARMATIA. Christian chapel mentioned by travellers in the middle ages. {^Bibl. Res. vol. iii. pp. 412, 413.) [G. W.] SARGANTHA. [Serguntia.] SARGARAUSE'NE (^Zapyapavarivi)), a district of Cappadocia, on the east of Commagene and near the frontiers of Pontus, containing, according to Ptolemy (v. 6. § 13), the towns of Pbiara, Sada- gena, Gauraena, Sabalassus, Ariarathira, and JI:i- roga. (Strab. xii. pp. 534, 537; Plin. vi. 3.) [L.S.] SARGE'TIA (2ap7€Tio, Dion Cass. Ixviii. 14; 'ZapyiVTia, Tzetz. Chil.u. 61; "Zapyivrios, Tzetz. Chil. vi. 53), a river of Dacia, upon which stood the royal palace of Decebalus. This river must be identified with the Strel or Strey, a tributary of the Mai-osch, since we know that Sarmizegethusa was the residence of Decebalus. [Sarmizegethusa.] (Ukert, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 603.) SARIPHI MONTES {to. Idpitpa opv), a chain of mountains, extending, according to Ptolemy, be- tween Margiana and Ariana, and the watershed of several small streams. They are probably those now called the Hazdras. JIannert (v. 2. p. 65), has supposed them the same as the '2an(pflpoi (see Dion. Perieg. v. 1099), but this is contrary to all probability. [V.] SARMA'LIUS (It. Ant. f. 203) or SAR.MA'LIA (^apfiaAia, Ptol. v. 4. § 8), a town in Galatia, on the road from Ancyra to Tavia or Tavium, is sup- posed by some to be the modern Karadjeleh. [L. S.] SARMA'TIA (SapyiiaTia: Eth. 'Sapfj.d.Tai), the name of a countiy in Europe and Asia. For the ear- lier and Greek forms of the word see Sauromatae. That S-rm is the same root as S-rb, so that Sarmatae and Serbi, Servi, Sorabi, Srb, See, may be, not only the name for the same populations, but also the same name, has been surmised, and tliat upon not unreasonable grounds. The name seems to have first reached the Greeks through the Scythians of the lower Dnieper and Don, who applied it to a non-Scythic population. Whether this non-Scythic population used it themselves, and whether it was limited to them by the Scy- thians, is uncertain. It was a name, too, which the Getae used ; also one used by some of the Pan- nonian populations. It was, probably, the one which the Sarmatians themselves used partially, their neigh- bours generally, just like Galli, Graeci, and many others. More important than the origin of the name are the questions concerning (1) the area, (2) the po- pulation to which it applied. Our chief authority on this point is Ptolemy; Strabo's notices are inci- dental and fragmentary. The area given by Strabo to the Galatae and Germani, extends as far as the Borysthenes, or even the Don, the Tyrigetae being the most western of the non-German countries of the south- east, and the Bastamae being doubtful, — though, per- haps, German (vii. p. 289). Of a few particular nations, such as the Jazyges, Hamaxobii, and Rox- olani, a brief notice is given, without, however, any special statement as to their Sarmatian or non-Sar- matian ailinities. In Asia, the country of the Sau- romatae is called the plains of the Sarmatae, as opposed to the mountains of Caucasus. The inor- dinate size given to Germany by Strabo well nigh obliterates, not only Sarmatia, but Scythia in Europe as well. Pliny's notices are as incidental as Strabo's, and nearly as brief, — the development of Germany east-