Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/942

 922 SARXA. Sinarus.) The modern name of the Saras is SiJiun or Se'than. [L. S.] SARXA, a station on the road from Philippi to Heratleia (Petit. Tab.), to the N. of the Lake Cer- cinites, between Strymon and Scotussa. Now Zikkna. (Leake, North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 227.) [E. B. J.] SASl'MA (Sacri^o), a town of Cappadocia, 24 Roman miles to the south of Nazianzus; the place contained the first church to which Gregory of Na- zianzns was appointed, and he describes it as a most miserable town. (/^ Ant. p. 144; It. Ilieros. p. 577 ; Hierocl. p. 700, with Wesselini^'s note.) Some look for its site near the modern Babloma. [L. S.] SASO {l.a.(Tw, Ptol. iii. 13. § 47; SatrcGi/. Strab. vi. p. 281), a small, rocky island, lying off the coast of Grecian Illyria, N. of the Acroceraunian promon- tory, and possessing a landing-place which served as a station for pirates. (Comp. Polyb. v. 110; Mela,ii. 7; Plin. iii. 26. s. 30; Itin. Ant. p. 489.) It is still called Saseno, Sa^suno. or Sassa. [T. H. D.] SASPI'KES, or SASPI'RI (Sacrieipes, 2a- ffweipoi, Herod, i. 104, iv. 37, 40, vii. 79: Apoll. Rhod. ii. 397, 1242; Steph. B. s. v.: cf Amm. Marc. xxii. 8. § 21), a Scythian people, dwelling to the S. of Colchis and N. of Media. According to Herodotus and Stephanus ill. cc.) they were an in- land people, but Apollonius places them on the sea- coast. They belonged to the 18th satrapy of the Persian kingdom (Herod, iii. 94), and were armed in the same manner as the Colchians, that is, with wooden helmets, small shields of untanned hide, short lances, and swords (lb. vii. 79). The Pa- risian scholiast on Apollonius derives their name from the abundance of supplies found in their coun- try. The Saspeires appear to have inhabited that district of Georgia lying on the upper course of the river Cyrus, in which Tijlls lies, which is still called Tschin Kartuel ; and as the district contains seve- ral other places, the names of which begin with the syllable Tschin, Ritter conjectm-es that the Sa- speires were identical with the eastern Iberians, re- specting whom the Greeks invented so many fables. (Rennell, Geogr. of Herod, p. 503 ; Ritter, Erdkunde, ii. p. 922; Bahr, ad Herod, i. 104.) [T. H. D.] SA'SSULA, a town of Latium, situated in the neighbourhood of Tibur, of which city it was a de- pendency. It is mentioned only by Livy (vii. 19) among the towns taken from the Tiburtines in b. c. 354, and was probably always a small place. The site has been identified by Gell and Nibby with the ruins of an ancient town, at the foot of the hill of Siciliano, between 7 and 8 miles from Tivoli (Tibur). The ruins in question, consisting of a line of walls of polygonal construction, surrounding a hill of small extent, unquestionably indicate the site of an ancient town; but as we know that the Tiburtine territory contained several other towns besides Empulum and Sassula, the only two whose names are known to us, the identification of the latter is wholly arbitrary. (Gell, Top. of Rome, p. 394: Xibbv, Dintomi, vol. iii. p. 63.) [E. H.B.J SATACHTHA (Sarax^a, or 2aTax0ai, Ptol. iv. 7. § 17), a place in Aethiopia, on the left bank of the Nile, probably near the present Korti, or else somewhat more to the S., near the half-destroyed village of Atnbucote. [T. H. D.] SA'TALA (SdraAa), an important town of Ar- menia jMinor, as may be inferred from the numerous routes which branched off from thence to Pontus and Cappadocia. Its distance from Caesareia was 325 miles, and 124 or 135 from Trapezus. The SATICULA. town was situated in a valley surrounded by monn- tains, a little to the north of the Euphrates, and was of importance, being the key to the mountain passes leading into Pontus; whence we find that in later times the Legio xv. Apollinaris was stationed there. In the time of Justinian its walls had fallen into decay, but that emperor re.stored them. (Ptol. i. 15. § 9, V. 7. § 3, viii. 17. § 41 ; Dion Cass. Ixviii. 18 ; Procop. de Aed. iv. 3 ; H. Ant. pp. 181, 183, 206, 207, 2 1 6, 2 1 7 ; iXotit. Imp. ; Tab. Pent.) The site of this town has not yet been discovered with certainty, though ruins found in various parts of the country have been identified with it by conjecture. (Tournefort, Voyages, Letter 21, c. 2. p. 17 ; Rennell, Asia Minor, ii. p. 2)9 ; Cramer, Asia Minor, ii, p. 152, foil.) [L. S.] SATARCHAE, a Scythian people on the E. coast of the Tauric Chersonesus, who dwelt in caves and holes in the ground, and in order to avoid the rigour of winter, even clothed their faces, leaving only two small holes for their eyes. (Mela, ii. 1 .) They were unacquainted with the use of gold and silver, and carried on their traffic by means of barter. They are mentioned by Pliny under the name of Scythi Sa- tarchi (iv. 26). According to Ptolemy (iii. 6. § 6) there was a town in the Tauric peninsula called Satarche (2aTdpx'))i which the scholiast {ad loc.^ says was subsequently called Matarcha(MdTapxo); but the account of the Satarchae living in caverns seems inconsistent with the idea of their having a town. Yet Valerius Fhccus also mentions a town — or perhaps a district — called Satarche, which, from his expression, " ditant suamulctra Satarchen," we may conclude to have been rich in herds of cattle. {Argon, vi. 145.) The same poet describes the Satarchae as a yellow-haired race. {lb.) [T.H.D.] SATI'CULA (Sar/KoAa, Diod.: Eth. SariKo- av6s, Steph. B.; Saticulanus, Liv. ; but Saticulu.s, Virg.), a town of Samnium, nearly on the frontiers of Campania. It is first mentioned at the outbreak of the First Samnite War (b. c. 343), when the consul Cornelius establisiied his camp there, apparently to watch the movements of the Samnites in that qufir- ter, and from thence subsequently advancing into their territory, was drawn into a defile, where he narrowly escaped the loss of his whole army, but was saved by the courage and ability of Decius. (Liv. vii. 32, 34.) Again, in b. c. 315, during the Second Samnite War, it was besieged by the Roman dictator L. Aemilius, and was considered of suffi- cient importance to engage a Roman army for nearly a year, when it was taken by Q. Fabius. The Sam- nites made a vigorous attempt to relieve it, but without effect, and it fell into the hands of the Ro- mans. (Id. ix. 21, 22; Diod. xix. 72.) From this time it continued in their power; and before the close of the war it was one of the places which they determined to occupy with a colony, which was es- tablished there in b. c. 313. (Veil. Pat. i. 14; Fest. s. V. Saticnla, p. 340, M.) Livy does not notice the establishment of a colony there on this occasion, but he afterwards mentions it as one of the "coloniae Latinae," which distinguished themselves in the Second Punic War by their zeal and fidelity. (Liv. xsvii. 10.) It is remarkable, however, that a few years before the name of Saticnla is found among the towns that had revoked to Hannibal, and were re- covered by Fabius in B.C. 215. (Liv. xxiii. 39.) But it appears that all the JISS. have " Austicula " ( Alschefski, ad he.) ; and though this name is other- wise quite unknown, it is certainly not .safe to alt<.r