Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/849

 S Y N S Y R 813 he was able to enjoy the literary leisure that was most congenial to him, varying his studies with gardening and hunting and the quiet pleasures of domestic life. His marriage took place at Alexandria in 403 ; in the previous year he had visited Athens. In 409 or 410 Syne.sius, whose Christianity had until then been by no means very pronounced, was popularly chosen to be bishop of Ptole- mais, and, after long hesitation on personal and doctrinal grounds, he ultimately accepted the office thus thrust upon him, being consecrated by Theophilus at Alexandria. One personal difficulty at least was obviated by his being allowed to retain his wife, to whom he was much attached ; but as regarded orthodoxy he expressly stipulated for personal freedom to dissent on the questions of the soul's creation, a literal resurrection, and the final destruction of the world, while at the same time he agreed to make some concession to popular views in his public teaching (TO. p.v OLKOL </)iAocro^)wi', TO, 8' ew (^tAo/zi^wv). His tenure of the bishopric, which was comparatively brief, was troubled not only by domestic bereavements but also by barbaric invasions of the country, and by conflicts with the prefect Andronicus, whom he excommunicated for interfering with the church's right of asylum. The date of his death is un- known, but he died probably not later than 414. His extaut works are (1) a speech before Arcadius, DC Rccjno ; (2) Dio, sive de suo ipsius Instituto, in which he signifies his purpose to devote himself to true philosophy ; (3) Encomium Calvitii, a literary jeu d'esprit, suggested by Dio Chrysostom's Praise of Hair ; (4) De Providentia, in two books ; (5) De Insomnris ; (6) 157 Epis- tolse ; (7) 12 Hymni ; and several homilies and occasional speeches. The editio princeps is that of Turnebus (Paris, 1553) ; it was followed by that of Morell, with Latin translation by Petavius (1612, greatly enlarged and improved 1633 ; reprinted by Migne, 1 859). The Epistolse, which for the modern reader greatly exceed his other works in interest, have been edited by Demetriades (Vienna, 1792) and by Glukus (Venice, 1812), the Calvitii En- comium by Krabinger (Stuttgart, 1834), the DC Providentia by Krabinger (Sulzbach, 1835), the De Regno by Krabinger (Munich, 1825), and the Hymns by Flach (Tiibingen, 1875). See Clausen, De Synesio Philosopho (Copenhagen, 1S31); Volkmann, .s ro Cyrene (Berlin, 1869) ; and Miss Alice Gardner's monograph in "The Fathers for English Readers " (London, 1S86). SYNOD. See COUNCIL and PRESBYTERIANISM. SYPHILIS. See PATHOLOGY, vol. xviii. pp. 404, 405, and SURGERY, p. 686 above. SYRA, or SYKOS, a Greek island in the middle of the Cyclades, which in the 19th century has become the com- mercial centre of the Archipelago, and is also the residence of the nomarch of the Cyclades and the seat of the central law courts. In ancient times this island was remarkably fertile, as is to be gathered not only from the Homeric description (Od. xv. 403), which might be of doubtful application, but also from the remains of olive presses and peculiarities in the local nomenclature. The destruction of its forests has led to the loss of all its alluvial soil, and now it is for the most part a brown and barren rock, covered at best with scanty aromatic scrub, pastured by sheep and goats. The length of the island is about 10 miles, the breadth 5, and the area is estimated at 42^ square miles. The population is now estimated to number about 33,700, of whom about 20,500 are in the chief town. Commerce is the main occupation of the islanders, though they also build ships, have extensive tanneries, large steam flour-mills, a steam weaving and rope factory, and a hand- kerchief factory, and grow vegetables for export. Hermopolis, as the chief town is called, is built round the harbour on the east side of the island. It is governed by an active munici- pality, whose revenue and expenditure have rapidly increased. Among the public buildings are a spacious town-hall in the central square, a club-house, an opera-house, and a Greek theatre. Old Syra, on a conical hill behind the port town, is an interesting place, with its old Roman Catholic church of St George's still crowning the summit. This was built by the Capuchins, who in the Middle Ages chose Syra as the headquarters of a mission in the East. Louis XTIL, hearing of the dangers to which the Syra priests were exposed, took the island under his especial protection, and since that time the Roman Catholic bishops of Syra have been elected by the pope. About the beginning of the 19th century the inhabitants of Syra numbered only about 1000 ; whenever a Turkish vessel ap- peared they made off to the interior and hid themselves. On the outbreak of the war of Greek independence refugees from Chios, after being scattered throughout Tenos, Spezia, Hydra, &c. , and rejected by the people of Ceos, took up their residence at Syra under the protection of the French Hag. Altogether about 40,000 had sought this asylum before the freedom of Greece was achieved. The chief city was called Hermopolis after the name of the ship which brought the earlier settlers. Most of the immigrants elected to stay, and, though they were long kept in alarm by pirates, they have continued steadily to prosper. In 1875 1568 sailing ship's and 698 steamers (with a total of 740,731 tons) entered and 1588 sailing ships and 700 steamers (with a total of 756,807 tons) cleared this port; in 1883 3379 sailing and 1126 steam vessels (with a total of 1,056,201 tons) entered and 3276 sailing and 1120 steam vessels (with a total of 960,229 tons) cleared. Most of the sailing vessels were Greek and Turkish, and most of the steamers were Austrian, French, and Turkish. SYRACUSE (2i>paKoo-(H, StynyKoi'o-cu; Lat. Topo- Syracusse ; It. Siracwa), the chief Greek city of ancient graphy. Sicily and one of the earliest Greek settlements in the island (see SICILY, p. 15 above). The foundation legend takes several shapes (Thuc., vi. 3 ; Strabo, vi. 4, p. 269) ; but there is no reason to doubt that Syracuse was founded by Archias of Corinth as part of a joint enterprise together with Corcyra, and the received date 735 B.C. may pass as approximate. 1 The first settlement was on a small island, parted from the coast by a very narrow channel (for map, see pi. II.). It points southward, in front of a deep bay, which, with the opposite headland (Plemmyrium), it helps to shelter from the sea. This formed the Great Harbour; the Lesser Harbour of Laccius lay to the north of the island, between it and a peninsula of the mainland, with the open sea to the east and north. The peninsula consists of part of a hill which almost everywhere leaves some space between itself and the sea. To the west of the Great Harbour a marshy plain lies on each side of the river Anapus. On the south side of the river is a smaller hill. The coast of the island and of the peninsula is rocky. That of the harbour is for the most part flat, except part of the west and south sides and the headland opposite the island. From the island the city spread over the whole peninsula, while a detached suburb (Polichne) arose on the outlying hill beyond Anapus. The marshy ground between the two was not fit for building. All these additions have been gradually forsaken, and the modern town is confined to the island. The island was called Ortygia, a name connected with Island of the Delian legend of Artemis (see Holm, Gesch. Sic., i. Ortygia. 886), but often simply the Island (Liv., xxv. 24, 30). Though the lowest part of the city, its position and strength made it the citadel, and it is therefore often spoken of by Diodorus and Plutarch as if it had been a real acropolis. It is famous for the fountain of Arethusa, connected in Greek legend with the river Alpheus in Peloponnesus. 2 The sweet water perished when an earth- quake brought in the sea in 1170. 3 At the time of the first settlement the island was held by Sicels ; some have thought that a Phoenician element lingered on under both Sicels and Greeks. It is certain (Herod., vii. 166) that Syracuse and Carthage stood in relations to one another which were not usual between Greek and barbarian cities. It has also been thought from some legendary hints that Polichne was the original Syracuse, and that the plural form (2i'/oaKovo-ai) arose from the union of Ortygia and Polichne. But the plural form is common enough in other cases. The chief evidence for the belief is that the 1 See Plut., Amat. Narr., 2. 2 See Find., Nem., i. 1, and the scientific discussions in Strabo, vi. 2, p. 270 ; also Pausauias, v. 7, 2-4. 3 Hugo Falc., ed. Murat., vii. 362 ; Lumia, Sicttia sotto Guglielmo il Buono, 117.