Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/976

 956 SELGOVAE. SELGOVAE C^eXyooiat, Ptol. ii. 3. § 8), a people on the SW. coast uf Britannia Barbara, in the E. part of Galloway and in Dumfries- shire. Camden (p. 1194) derives the name of Solway from them. [T. H. D.] SELI'NUS {'S.iXivovs) 1. A village in the north of Laconia, described by Pausanias as 20 stadia from Gerontlirae ; but as Pausanias seems not to have visited this part of Laconia, the distances may not be correct. Leake, therefore, places Selinus at the village of Kosmas, which lies further north of Gerontlirae than '20 stadia, but where there are remains of ancient tombs. (Pans. iii. 22. § 8 ; Leake, Peloponneslaca, p. 363 ; Boblaye, Re- cherches, cj-c. p. 97 ; Curtius. Pelojmnnesos, vol. ii. p. 304.) 2. A river in the Triphylian Elis, near Scillus. [SCILLUS.] 3. A river in Achaia. [Achaia, p. 13, b. No. 6.] SELI'NUS (SeAiroi^s: Eth. %iivovvrios, Seli- nuntius : Pu. at Torre dei Pulci), one of the most important of the Greek colonies in Sicily, situated on the SW. coast of that island, at the mouth of the small river of the same name, and 4 miles W. of that of the Hypsas (Bel'ici). It was founded, as we learn from Thucydides, by a colony from the Sicilian city of Megara, or Slegara Hyblaea, under the con- duct of a leader named Pammilus, about 100 years after the settlement of that city, with the addition of a fresh body of colonists from the parent city of Megara in Greece. (Thuc. vi. 4, vii. 57 ; Scymn. Ch! 292 ; Strab. vi. p. 272.) The date of its foun- dation cannot be precisely fixed, as Thucydides indi- cates it only by reference to that of the Sicilian Megara, which is itself not accurately known, but it may be placed about b. c. 628. Diodorus indeed would place it 22 years earlier, or b. c. 650, and Hieronymus still further back, b. c. 654; but the date given by Thucydides, which is probably entitled to the most confidence, is incompatible with this earlier epoch. (Thuc. vi. 4; Diud. xiii. 59; Hieron. Chron. ad ann. 1362 ; Clinton, Fast. Hell. vol. i. p. 208.) The name is suppot^ed to have been de- rived from the quantities of wild pansley (aeXivhs) which grew on the spot; and for the same reason a leaf of this parsley was adopted as the symbol of their coins. Selinus was the most westerly of the Greek colo- nies in Sicily, and for this reason was early brought into contact and collision with the Carthaginians and the barbarians in the V. and NW. of the island. The former people, however, do not at first seem to have offered any obstacle to their progress; but as early as B.C. 580 we find the Selinuntines engaged in hostilities with the people of Segcsta (a non-Hellenic city), whose territory bordered on their own. (Diod. V. 9). The arrival of a body of emigrants from Khodes and Cnidus who subsequently foimded Lipara, and who lent their assistance to the Segestans, for a time secured the victory to that people; but dis- putes and hostilities seem to have been of frequent occurrence between tlie two cities, aud it is probable that in b. c. 454, when Diodorus speaks of the Segestans as being at war with the Lilyhaeans (xi. 86), that the Selinuntines are the people really meant. [Lilybaeum.] The river Mazarus, which at that time appears to have formed the boundary between the two states, was only about 15 miles W. of Selinus; and it is certain that at a somewhat later period the territory of Selinus ex- tended to its banks, and that that city had a fort SELINUS. and emporium at its mouth. (Diod. xiii. 54.) On the other side its territory certainly extended as far as the Halycus or Salso, at the mouth of which it had founded the colony of Minoa, or Heracleia, as it was afterwards termed. (Herod, v. 46.) It is evi- dent, therefore, that Selinus had early attained to great power and prosperity; but we have very little information as to its history, We learn, however, that, like most of the Sicilian cities, it had passed from an oligarchy to a despotism, and about B. c. 510 was subject to a despot named Peithagoras, from whom the citizens were freed by the assistance of the Spartan Euryleon, one of the companions of Dorieus: and thereupon Euryleon himself, for a short time, seized on the vacant sovereignty, but was speedily overthrown and put to death by the Seli- nuntines. (Herod. V. 46.) We are ignorant of the causes which led tlie Selinuntines to abandon the cause of the other Greeks, and take part with the Carthaginians during the great expedition of Ha- milcar, b. c. 480; but we learn that they had even promised to send a contingent to the Carthaginian army, which, however did not arrive till after its de- feat. (Diod. xi. 21, xiii. 55.) The Selinuntines are next mentioned in b. c. 466, as co-operating with the other free cities of Sicily in assisting the Syracusans to expel Thrasybulus (Id. xi. 68) ; and there is every reason to suppose that they fully shared in the prosperity of the half century that followed, a period of tranquillity and opulence for most of the Greek cities in Sicily. Thucydides speaks of Selinus just before the Athenian expedi- tion as a powerful and wealthy city, possessing great resources for war both by land and sea, and having large stores of wealth accumulated in its temples. (Thuc. vi. 20.) Diodorus also represents it at the time of the Carthaginian invasion, as having enjoyed a long period of tranquillity, and possessing a numerous population. (Diod. xiii. 55.) In B. c. 416, a renewal of the old disputes be- tween Selinus and Segesta became the occasion of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily. The Seli- nuntines were the first to call in the powerful aid of Syracuse, and thus for a time obtained the complete advantage over their enemies, whom they were able to blockade both by sea and land ; but in this extremity the Segestans had recourse to the assistance of Athens. (Thuc. vi. 6; Diod. xii. 82.) Though the Athenians do not appear to have taken any mea- sures for the immediate relief of Segesta, it is pro- bable that the Selinuntines and Syracusans withdrew their forces at once, as we hear no more of their operations against Segesta. Nor does Selinus bear any important part in the war of which it was the inunediate occasion. Nicias indeed proposed, when the expedition first arrived in Sicily (b. c. 415), that they should proceed at once to Selinus and compel that city to submit on moderate terms (Thuc. vi. 47); but this advice being overruled, the etlbrts of the armament were directed against Syra- cuse, and the Selinuntines in conse!]uence bore but a secondary part in the subsequent operations. They are, however, mentioned on several occasions as fur- nishing auxiliaries to the Syracusans; and it was at Selinus that the large Peloponnesian force sent te the support of Gylippus landed in the spring of 413, having been driven over to the coast of Africa by a tempest. (Thuc. vii. 50, 58; Diod. xiii. 12.) The defeat of the Athenian armament left the Segestans apparently at the mercy of their rivals; they in vain attempted to disarm the hostility of the