Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/81

 SIWAH his artistic career. He has composed a num- ber of concertos, fantasias, and other pieces. SIWAH (anc. Ammon or Ammonium), an oasis in N. W. Egypt, near the boundary of the disputed territory between Egypt and Tri- poli, about 330 m. W. S. W. of Cairo, and about 160 m. from the coast of the Mediter- ranean sea; pop. about 8,000. It consists of several detached tracts, the principal of which is about 8 in. long and 3 m. broad. Its surface is undulating, rising on the north into high limestone hills. There are numerous ponds and springs, salt and fresh. The soil of the E. part is exceedingly fertile, its chief product being dates. The climate is delightful. The inhabitants are Berbers and negroes, all Mo- hammedans, governed by sheikhs or elders, some of. whom hold office for life, others for ten years. The people understand Arabic, but have a mixed idiom of their own. Their principal town, Siwah (according to Eohlfs, who last visited it in February, 1874, in lat. 29 12' N., km. 25 30' E.), is defended by a citadel on a rock, and by strong walls. The streets are irregular, narrow, and dark. It is divided into an upper and a lower town. No stranger is admitted to the former, nor are na- tive bachelors permitted to live there. About 3 m. S. E. of the town are the ruins of the ancient temple of Jupiter Ammon, now called Om Baydah, sculptures of Ammon, with the attributes of the ram-headed goat, being among the remains. Near the temple is what is sup- posed to be the fountain of the sun, a pool 80 ft. long and 55 ft. wide, formed by springs, whose water appears to be warmer by night than by day, and is heavier than that of the Nile. In the vicinity are other ruins and in- scriptions of Greek; Roman, and Roman-Egyp- tian character. In the W. part of the oasis is a lake, called Birket Arashiah, containing an island from which strangers were till late- ly excluded. In ancient times this oasis was celebrated as the seat of the oracle of Am- mon. Besides the temple, with its images of Jupiter Ammon set in precious stones, it con- tained a royal castle surrounded by three walls, and a remarkable spring called the " fountain of the sun," the water of which was quite cold at noon and boiling hot at midnight. Cambyses made an unsuccessful attempt to take the temple. In 331 B. C. Alexander the Great marched through the desert to visit it, and the priest addressed him as the son of the god. The emperor Justinian built here a Christian church. See Reise zu dem Tempel des Jupiter Ammon und nach Ofteragypten, by Minutoli (Berlin, 1824) ; " Adventures in the Libyan Desert," by Bayle Saint John (Lon- don, 1849) ; and Das Orakel und die Oase des Ammon, by Parthey (Berlin, 1862). SIX NATIONS. See IROQUOIS. SIX PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS, a small religious sect which first appeared in this country as a separate organization in Rhode Island in 1639. Their church polity and views on baptism are SIXTUS 73 the same as those of the Baptists. In doctrine they are Arminian. They oppose the pay- ment of any regular salary to their preachers, and have never connected themselves with any missionary efforts, or benevolent or re- formatory societies. They hold as their dis- tinguishing doctrines the six principles laid down in Heb. vi. 1, 2, viz. : repentance from dead works ; faith toward God ; the doctrine of baptisms, of which they distinguish four kinds, viz. : John's baptism, the baptism of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, the baptism of Christ's sufferings, and apostolic or Christian baptism, which alone remains since the resurrection of Christ; laying on of hands, which they regard as equally necessary with baptism ; the resurrection of the dead ; and eternal judgment. In 1874 they had 20 church- es, 12 ordained ministers, and 2,000 members, mainly in Rhode Island. SIXTHS, the name of five popes, of whom the following are the most important. I. Six- tns IV. (FEANOESCO D'ALBESCOLA DELLA Ro- VEEE), born at Celle, near Savona, July 21, 1414, died in Rome, Aug. 13, 1484. He was a Franciscan monk and a protege of Cardinal Bessarion, taught philosophy and theology in the principal schools of Italy, and was chosen general of his order in 1464. He was created cardinal Sept. 18, 1467, and was elected pope Aug. 9, 1471. The efforts which he immedi- ately made to reform the religious orders and general church discipline were thwarted by his endeavor to unite all Christian princes in a crusade against the Turks, for which pur- pose he vainly tried to reconcile Louis XI. of France and Duke Charles the Bold of Burgun- dy. He levied tithes on all church property in Christendom to equip a fleet, which, with con- tingents from Venice and Naples, only succeed- ed in capturing Smyrna. Louis XL promised assistance in return for an extension of the royal power over benefices and all church rev- enues, and the abolition of ecclesiastical courts and immunities ; but on these points Sixtus re- fused to yield. He has been justly reproached, however, with a too great facility in granting favors, and an excessive nepotism. To secure the cooperation of the Spanish and Austrian princes against the Turks, he sanctioned the nomination to the see of Saragossa of a child six years old, an illegitimate son of the house of Aragon ; and he raised successively to the cardinalate five of his own nephews. Two of these cardinals, Riario and San Giorgio, were implicated in the conspiracy of the Pazzi in 1478, which caused the pope to be solemnly arraigned by the Florentine clergy as privy to the intended murder of Lorenzo de' Medici and the death of his brother Giuliano. The Flor- entine magistrates having hanged Archbishop Salviati of Pisa, one of the conspirators, they were excommunicated, and the city was laid under interdict. The republic was sustained by France, Venice, and the duke of Milan ; the other Italian sovereigns sided with the pope,