Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/131

Rh  (E. H. B.; M. O. B. C.; Author:Ernest Arthur Gardner)

SAMOSATA (Σαμόσατα, -ατων, Ptol. V. 15 § 11; Strabo xvi. 749), called in Arabic literature Sumeisāt, is now represented by the village of Samsat, occupying a corner of the ancient site. On a broad plain 1500 ft. above sea-level, Samosata practically marks the place where the mountain course of the Euphrates ends (see ). When the water is high enough it is possible to descend in a kelek in one day to Bīrejiḳ. The rocky banks contain many ancient cave-dwellings.

The stele found there and published by Humann and Puchstein (Reisen in Kleinasien u. Nord-Syrian, Atlas, plate xlix. 1-3) shows that it was at an early time a Hittite centre, probably marking an important route across the Euphrates: whether or not it was the place where later the Persian “ royal road ” crossed the Euphrates, in Strabo's time it was connected by a bridge with a Seleucia on the Mesopotamian side, and it is now connected by road with Severek and Diarbekr and with Rakka, connecting further, through Edessa and Ḥarrān, with other eastward routes. The Hittite sculptured object referred to above shows influences of an Assyrian type (P. Jensen, Hittiter u. Armenier, 1898, 13); but no cuneiform text referring to Samosata by name seems yet to have been published. Kummukh, however, the district to which it belonged, was overrun by early Assyrian kings. In consequence of revolt it was made an Assyrian province in 708 When the Assyrian empire passed through the hands of Babylon and Persia into those of the successors of Alexander, Samosata was the capital of Kummukh, called in Greek Commagene. How soon it became a Greek city we do not know. Although its ruler Ptolemy renounced allegiance to Antiochus IV. the dynasty of Iranian origin which ruled at Samosata, described by Strabo (l.c.) as a fortified city in a very fertile if not extensive district, allied itself with the Seleucids, and bore the dynastic name of Antiochus. There, not long after the little kingdom was in 72 made a province by the Romans, and its capital received the additional name of Flavia (Suet. Vesp. 8; Eutrop. 8. 19), the celebrated Greek writer Lucian the Satirist was born in the 2nd century (see ), and more than a century later another Lucian, known as the Martyr, and Paul called &ldquo; of Samosata.&rdquo; The remains of a fine aqueduct that once brought water from the Kiakhta Chai, which begins some 6 m. above the town, are probably of the 3rd century (Geog. Journ. viii. 323). Under Constantine Samosata gave place as capital of Euphratensis to Hierapolis (Malal. Chron. xiii. p. 317). It was at Samosata that Julian had ships made in his expedition against Sapor, and it was a natural crossing-place in the struggle between Heraclius and Chosroes in the 7th century. Mas'ūdi in the 10th century says it was known also as Ḳal'at aṭ-Ṭīn (“ the Clay Castle ”). It was one of the strong fortresses included in the county of (q.v.). In the 13th century, according to Yāqūt, one of its quarters was exclusively inhabited by Armenians. It is now a Kurdish village, which in 1894 consisted of about 100 houses, three of which were Armenian (Geog. Journ. viii. 322).

SAMOTHRACE (Turk. Semadrek), an island in the N. of the Aegean Sea, nearly opposite the mouth of the Hebrus, and lying N. of Imbros and N.E. of Lemnos. The island is a kaza of the Lemnos sanjak, and has a population of 3500, nearly all Greek. It is still called Samothraki, and though of small extent is, next to Mount Athos, by far the most important natural feature in this part of the Aegean, from its great elevation—the group of mountains which occupies almost the whole island rising to the height of 5240 ft. Its conspicuous character is attested by a well-known passage in the Iliad (xiii. 12), where the poet represents Poseidon as taking post on this lofty summit to survey the plain of Troy and the contest between the Greeks and the Trojans. This mountainous character and the absence of any tolerable harbor—Pliny, in enumerating the islands of the Aegean, calls it “ importuosissima omnium ”—prevented it from ever attaining to any political importance, but it enjoyed great celebrity from its connexion with the worship of the Cabeiri (q.v.), a mysterious triad of divinities, concerning whom very little is known, but who appear, like all the similar deities venerated in different parts of Greece, to have been a remnant of a previously existing Pelasgic mythology. Herodotus expressly tells us that the “ orgies ” which were celebrated at Samothrace were derived from the Pelasgians (ii. 51). The only occasion on which the island is mentioned in history is during the expedition of Xerxes ( 480), when the Samothracians sent a contingent to the Persian fleet, one ship of which bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Salamis (Herod. viii. 90). But the island appears to have always enjoyed the advantage of autonomy, probably on account of its sacred character, and even in the time of Pliny it ranked as a free state. Such was still the reputation of its mysteries that Germanicus endeavoured to visit the island, but was driven off by adverse winds (Tac. Ann. ii. 54).

After visits by travellers, including Cyriac of Ancona (1444), Richter (1822), and Kiepert (1842), Samothrace was explored in 1857 by Conze, who published an account of it, as well as the larger neighbouring islands, in 1860. The “ Victory of Samothrace,” set up by Demetrius Poliorcetes c. 305, was discovered in the