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Rh is alleged to have brought the Stone of Destiny, on which the Celtic kings were crowned, from Dunstaffnage Castle on Loch Etive, and to have deposited it in Scone, whence it was conveyed to Westminster Abbey (where it lies beneath the Coronation Chair) by Edward I. in 1296. Most of the Scottish kings were crowned at Scone, the last function being held on the 1st of January 1651, when Charles II. received the crown. Apparently there was never any royal residence in the town, owing to the proximity of Perth. Probably the ancient House of Scone, which stood near the abbey, provided the kings with temporary accommodation. Both the abbey and the house were burned down by the Reformers in 1559, and next year the estates were granted to the Ruthvens. On the attainder of the family after the Gowrie conspiracy in 1600, the land passed to Sir David Murray of the Tullibardine line, who became 1st viscount Stormont (1621) and was the ancestor of the earl of Mansfield, to whom the existing house belongs. Sir David completed in 1606 the palace which the earl of Gowrie had begun. The 5th viscount—father of the 1st earl of Mansfield, the lord chief justice of England (b. at Scone 1705)—entertained the Old Pretender for three weeks in 1716, and his son received Prince Charles Edward in 1746. The present palace, which dates from 1803, stands in a beautiful park. It contains several historic relics, the most interesting being a bed adorned with embroidery worked by Mary Queen of Scots during her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle. The gallery in which Charles II. was crowned, a hall 160 ft. long, has been included in the palace. Two hundred yards east of the mansion is an ancient gateway, supposed to have led to the old House of Scone, and near it stands the cross of Scone, removed hither from its original site in the town.

SCONE, the Scots name of a species of cake made of wheat or barley meal and baked on a griddle. The cakes are round and are usually cut into four pieces, thus giving the familiar shape of a wedge with circular edge. The broad lowland bonnet was called a “ scone ” or “ scone-cap ” from its shape. The word appears to have been a shortened form of a Low Ger. Schonbrot, i.e. fine bread, explained in the Bremen Glossary (1771), quoted in the New English Dictionary, as a sort of white loaf with two acute and two obtuse angles. The Hamburg dialect word schönroggen, fine rye, was adopted into Swedish and Icelandic in the sense of biscuit.

SCOOP (from M. L. Ger. or M. Du. schope, cf. Du. schoep, a bailing vessel, Ger. schöpfen, and, from M. Du. schoppe, Ger. Schüppe, shovel), properly a utensil or implement for ladling or bailing out water or liquid from a vessel, and so used of the bucket of a water-wheel or of a dredger; in its most usual sense the word is applied to a small kind of shovel with a short handle and a sharply curved blade, often covered in towards the handle end, and used for the moving and lifting of loose materials or for cutting out a rounded piece from any substance. In journalistic slang, originally American, a “ scoop " is an exclusive piece of information obtained by a newspaper.

SCOPAS, probably of Parian origin, the son of Aristander, a great Greek sculptor of the 4th century B.C. Although classed as an Athenian, and similar in tendency to Praxiteles, he was really a cosmopolitan artist, working largely in Asia and Peloponnesus. The extant works with which he is associated are the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. In the case of the Mausoleum, though no doubt the sculpture generally belongs to his school, we are unable to single out any special part of it as his own. But we have good reason to think that the pedimental ngures from Tegea, some of which are at Athens, while some are kept in the local museum, are Scopas' own work. The subjects of the pedimental compositions were the hunting of the Calydonian boar and the battle between Achilles and Telephus. Four heads remain, that of Hercules, that of Atalanta and two of warriors: also part of the body of Atalanta and the head of the boar. Unfortunately all these are in very poor preservation; but it is allowed that they are our best evidence for the style of Scopas. The head of a helmeted warrior (see 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Greek Art, Plate III. fig. 63) is especially valuable to us. It is very powerful, with massive bony framework; the forehead is projecting, the eyes deep-set and heavily shaded, the mouth slightly open and full of passion. It shows us that while in general style Scopas approached Praxiteles, he differed from him in preferring strong expression and vigorous action to repose and sentiment. The temple at Tegea was erected after 395 B.C.; and the advanced character of the sculpture seems to indicate a date at least twenty years later than this. Attempts have been made, through comparison of these heads, to assign to Scopas many sculptures now in museums, heads of Heracles, Hermes, Aphrodite, Meleager and others. It is, however, very risky thus to attribute works executed in Roman times, and often thoroughly eclectic in character. Ancient writers give us a good deal of information as to works of Scopas. He made for the people of Elis a bronze Aphrodite, riding on a goat (copied on the coins of Elis); a Maenad at Athens, running with head thrown back, and a torn kid in her hands was ascribed to him; of this Dr Treu has published a probable copy in the Albertinum at Dresden (Mélanges Perrot, p. 317). Another type of his was Apollo as leader of the Muses, singing to the lyre. The most elaborate of his works was a great group representing Achilles being conveyed over the sea to the island of Leuce by his mother Thetis, accompanied by Nereids riding on dolphins and sea-horses, Tritons and other beings of the sea, “ a group,” says Pliny (36. 25), “which would have been remarkable had it been the sole work of his life.” He made also an Aphrodite which rivalled the creation of Praxiteles, a group of winged love-gods whom he distinguished by naming them Love, Longing and Desire, and many other works.

Jointly with his contemporaries Praxiteles and Lysippus, Scopas may be considered as having completely changed the character of Greek sculpture. It was they who initiated the lines of development which culminated in the schools of Pergamum, Rhodes and other great cities of later Greece, In most of the modern museums of ancient art their influence may be seen in three-fourths of the works exhibited. At the Renaissance it was especially their influence which dominated Italian painting and through it modern art. (P. G.)

SCOPE (through Ital. scopo, aim, purpose, intent, from Gr. σκοπός, mark to shoot at, aim, σκοπεῖν, to see, whence the termination in telescope, microscope, &c.), properly that which is aimed at, purpose, intention; hence outlook, view, range of observation or action; more generally, the sphere or field over which an activity extends, room or opportunity for play or action.

SCORDISCI, in ancient geography, a Celtic tribe inhabiting the southern part of lower Pannonia between the Savus, Dravus and Danuvius. Some Roman authorities consider them a Thracian stock, because of their admixture with an older Thraco-Illyrian population. As early as 175 B.C. they came into collision with the Romans by assisting Perseus, king of Macedonia; and after Macedonia became a Roman province they were for many years engaged in hostilities with them. In 135 they were defeated by M. Cosconius in Thrace (Livy, epit. 56); in 118, according to a memorial stone discovered near Thessalonica (W. Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum, i. No. 247, 1883 edition), Sextus Pompeius, probably the grandfather of the triumvir, was slain fighting against them near Stobi. In 114 they surprised and destroyed the army of Gaius Porcius Cato in the Servian mountains, but were defeated by Q. Minucius Rufus in 107. Nevertheless, they still from time to time gave trouble to the Roman governors of Macedonia, whose territory they invaded in combination with the Maedi and Dardani. They even advanced as far as Delphi and plundered the temple; but Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus finally overcame them in 88 and drove them across the Danube. In Strabo's time they had been expelled from the valley of the Danube by the Dacians (Strabo vii. pp. 293, 313).

See Mommsen, ''Hist. of Rome'' (Eng. trans.), bk. iv. ch. 5, who puts the final conquest of the Scordisci by the Romans not later than 91. Also H. Pomtow, “ Die drei Brände des Tempels zu Delphi " in Rheinisches Museum, li. p. 369 (1896); A. Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz, ii. (1904).