Zech. v. 11). It would seem to comprehend especially the great plain land of Babylonia, as distinguished from Assyria and Elymais (Gen. xiv. 1), and probably extended to the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, if not as far as the Persian gulf. Some have, without reason, confounded it with Singara, the modern Singár.

[V.]

SINIS (Zivis), a Roman colony in the district of Melitene in Armenia Minor. (Ptol. v. 7. § 5.) The place is not mentioned by any other writer, but it is possible that it may be the same place as the one which Procopius (de Aed. iii. 4) simply calls Κολωνία. [L. S.]

SINNA. 1. (Zívva, Ptol. v. 18. §§ 11, 12), the name of two towns in Mesopotamia, one on the S. declivity of Mount Masius, the other more to the SE., on the Tigris.

2. (vva, Strab. xvi. p. 755), a mountain fortress in Libanon.

[T. H. D.] SINO'NIA (Zannone), was the name given in ancient times to the smallest of the three islands known as the Isole di Ponza. It is situated about 5 miles to the NE. of Pontia (Ponza), the principal island of the group (Plin. iii. 6. s. 12; Mel. ii. 7. § 18).

[E. H. B.]

| of the Bosporus, and divided with Byzantium the lucrative tunny fisheries in that sea. In the time of Ptolemy Soter, Sinope was governed by a prince, Scydrothemis, to whom the Egyptian king sent an embassy. (Tac. Hist. iv. 82, foll.) Its great wealth, and above all its excellent situation, excited the cupidity of the kings of Pontus. It was first assailed in B. C. 220, by Mithridates IV., the greatgrandfather of Mithridates the Great. Polybius (iv. 56), who is our principal authority for this event, describes the situation of Sinope in the following manner: It is built on a peninsula, which advances out into the sea. The isthmus which connects the peninsula with the mainland is not more than 2 stadia in breadth, and is entirely barred by the city, which comes up close to it, but the remainder of the peninsula stretches out towards the sea. It is quite flat and of easy access from the town; but on the side of the sea it is precipitous all around, and dangerous for vessels, and presents very few spots fit for effecting a landing. This description is confirmed by Strabo (xii. p. 545), for he says that the city was built on the neck of the peninsula; but he adds, that the latter was girt all around with rocks hollowed out in the form of basins. At high water these basins were filled, and rendered the shore inaccessible, especially as the rocks were everywhere so pointed that it was impossible to walk on them with bare feet. The Sinopians defended themselves bravely against Mithridates, and the timely aid of the Rhodians in the end enabled them to compel the agressor to raise the siege. Pharnaces, the successor of Mithridates IV., was more successful. He attacked the city unexpectedly, and finding its inhabitants unprepared, easily overpowered it, B. c. 183. From this time Sinope became the chief town, and the residence of the kings of Pontus. (Strab. I. c.; Polyb. xxiv. 10.) Mithridates, surnamed Euergetes, the successor of Pharnaces, was assassinated at Sinope in B. c. 120 (Strab. x. p. 477). His son, Mithridates the Great, was born and educated at Sinope, and did much to embellish and strengthen his birthplace: he formed a harbour on each side of the isthmus, built naval arsenals, and constructed admirable reservoirs for the tunny fisheries. After his disaster at Cyzicus, the king intrusted the command of the garrison of Sinope to Bacchides, who acted as a cruel tyrant; and Sinope, pressed both from within and from without, was at last taken by Lucullus, after a brave resistance. (Strab. I. c.; Plut. Lucull. 18; Appian, Bell. Mithr. 83; Memnon, in Phot. Cod. p. 238, ed. Bekker.) Lucullus treated the Sinopians themselves mildly, having put the Pontian garrison to the sword; and he left them in possession of all their works of art, which embellished the city, with the exception of the statue of Autolycus, a work of Sthenis, and the sphere of Billarus. (Strab. Plut. ll. cc.; Cic. pro Leg. Man. 8.) Lucullus restored the city to its ancient freedom and independence. But when Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, had been routed at Zela, Caesar took Sinope under his protection, and esta

SINO'PE (Zvan: Eth. ZivwEUs), the most important of all the Greek colonies on the coast of the Euxine, was situated on a peninsula on the coast of Paphlagonia, at a distance of 700 stadia to the east of Cape Carambis (Strab. xii. p. 546; Marcian, p. 73; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 775.) It was a very ancient place, its origin being referred to the Argonauts and to Sinope, the daughter of Asopus. (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 947; Val. Flacc. v. 108.) But the Sinopians themselves referred the foundation of their city to Autolycus, a companion of Heracles, and one of the Argonauts, to whom they paid heroic honours (Strab. I. c.). But this ancient town was small and powerless, until it received colonists from Miletus. The Milesians were in their turn dispossessed by the Cimmerians, to whom Herodotus (iv. 12) seems to assign the foundation of the city; but when the Cimmerians were driven from Asia Minor, the Ephesians (in B. c. 632) recovered possession of their colony. (Scymn. 204, foll.; Anonym. Peripl. P. E. p. 8.) The leader of the first Milesian colony is called Ambron, and the leaders of the second Cous and Critines; though this latter statement seems to be a mistake, as Eustathius and Stephanus B. (s. v.) call the founder Critius, a native of Cos. After this time Sinope soon rose to great power and prosperity. About the commencement of the Peloponnesian War the Sinopians, who were then governed by a tyrant, Timesileon, received assistance from the Athenians; and after the expulsion of the tyrant, 600 Athenian colonists were sent to Sinope (Plut. Pericl. 20). At the time of the retreat of the Ten Thousand under Xenophon, Sinope was a wealthy and flourishing city, whose dominion extended to the river Halys, and which exercised great influence over the tribes of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, independently of its colonies of Cerasus, Cotyora, and Trapezus. It was mainly owing to the assistance of the Sinopians, that the return-blished Roman colonies there, as we must infer from ing Greeks were enabled to procure ships to convey them to Heracleia (Xenoph. Anab. v. 5. § 3; Arrian, Peripl. P. E. p. 17; Diod. Sic. xiv. 30, 32; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8). Strabo also acknowledges that the fleet of the Sinopians held a distinguished position. among the naval powers of the Greeks; it was

coins bearing the inscription Col. Jul. Caes. Felix Sinope. In the time of Strabo Sinope was still a large, splendid, and well fortified city; for he describes it as surrounded by strong walls, and adorned with fine porticoes, squares, gymnasia, and other public edifices. Its commerce indeed declined,

source of revenue, which maintained the city in a tolerable state of prosperity. It possessed extensive suburbs, and numerous villas in its vicinity (Strab. I. c.; Plin. vi. 2). From Pliny's letter's (x. 91), it appears that the Sinopians suffered some inconvenience from the want of a good supply of water, which Pliny endeavoured to remedy by a grant from the emperor Trajan to build an aqueduct conveying water from a distance of 16 miles. In the time of Arrian and Marcian, Sinope still continued te be a flourishing town. In the middle ages it belonged to the empire of Trebizond, and fell into the hands of the Turks in A. D. 1470, in the reign of Mohammed II. Sinope is also remarkable as the birthplace of several men of eminence, such as Diogenes the Cynic, Baton, the historian of Persia, and Diphilus, the comic poet.

Near Sinope was a small island, called Scopelus, around which large vessels were obliged to sail, before they could enter the harbour; but small craft might pass between it and the land, by which means a circuit of 40 stadia was avoided (Marcian, p. 72, &c.) The celebrated Sinopian cinnabar (Ziwwikǹ μίλτος. Σινωπίς or Σινωπικὴ γῆ) was not a product of the district of Sinope, but was designated by this name only because it formed one of the chief articles of trade at Sinope. (Groskurd on Strabo, vol. ii. p. 457, foll.) The imperial coins of Sinope that are known, extend from Augustus to Gallienus. (Sestini, Num. Vet. p. 63; Rasche, Lex. Num. iv. 2. p. 1105, foll.)

between the ridge called Cercine and the right or W. bank of the Strymon, in the upper part of the course of that river, which was called from thence SINTICE (Zwτh, Ptol. iii. 13. § 30). When Macedonia was divided into four provinces at the Roman conquest, Sintice was associated with Bisaltia in the First Macedonia, of which Amphipolis was the capital (Liv. xlv. 29). It contained the three towns HERACLEIA, PAROECOpolis, Tristolus. [E.B.J.] SINTIES. [LEMNOS.]

SINUESSA (Σινούσσα or Σινόεσσα: Eth. Σιvoveσonvos, Sinuessanus: Mondragone), a city of Latium, in the more extended sense of the name, situated on the Tyrrhenian sea, about 6 miles N. of the mouth of the Vulturnus. It was on the line of the Via Appia, and was the last place where that great highroad touched on the sea-coast. (Strab. v. p. 233.) It is certain that Sinuessa was not an ancient city; indeed there is no trace of the existence of an Italian town on the spot before the foundation of the Roman colony. Some authors, indeed, mention an obscure tradition that there had previously been a Greek city on the spot which was called Sinope; but little value can be attached to this statement. (Liv. x. 21; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.) It is certain that if it ever existed, it had wholly disappeared, and the site was included in the territory of the Ausonian city of Vescia, when the Romans determined to establish simultaneously the two colonies of Minturnae and Sinuessa on the Tyrrhenian sea. (Liv. x. 21.) The name of Sinuessa was derived, according to Strabo, from its situation on the spacious gulf (Sinus), now called the Gulf of Gaeta. (Strab. v. p. 234.) The object of esta

Sinope, now called Sinab, is still a town of some importance, but it contains only few remains of its former magnificence. The wall across the isthmus has been built up with fragments of ancient archi-blishing these colonies was chiefly for the purpose of tecture, such as columns, architraves, &c., and the same is found in several other parts of the modern town; but no distinct ruins of its temples, porticoes, or even of the great aqueduct, are to be seen. (Hamilton, Researches, vol. i. p. 306, &c.) [L. S.] SINO'RIA (Ziopía, Strab. xii. p. 555), a town on the frontier of Armenia Major, a circumstance which gave rise to a pun of the historian Theophanes who wrote the name Συνόρια. The place is no doubt the same as the one called Sinorega by Appian (Mithrid. 101), by Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 7) Synhorium, by Ptolemy (v. 7. § 2) Sinibra or Sinera, and in the Antonine Itinerary (p. 208) Sinervas. The pun upon the name made by Theophanes seems to show that the form Sinoria, which Strabo gives, is the correct one. The town was a fortress built by Mithridates on the frontier between Greater and Lesser Armenia; but assuming that all the different names mentioned above are only varieties or corruptions of one, it is not easy to fix the exact site of the town, for Ptolemy and the Antonine Itinerary place it to the south-west of Satala, on the road from this town to Melitene, and on the Euphrates, while the Table, calling it Sinara, places it 79 miles to the north-east of Satala, on the frontiers of Pontus; but there can be no doubt that the Sinara of the Table is altogether a different place from Sinoria, and the site of the latter place must be sought on the banks of the Euphrates between Satala and Melitene, whence some identify it with Murad Chai and others with Seni Beli. [L. S.]

SINOTIUM. [SYNODIUM.] SINSII (Zivotoi, Ptol. iii. 8. § 5), a people in the S. of Dacia. [T. H. D] SINTI (Thuc. ii. 98; Steph. B. s.v.; Liv. xlii. 51), a Thracian tribe who occupied the district lying

securing the neighbouring fertile tract of country from the ravages of the Samnites, who had already repeatedly overrun the district. But for this very reason the plebeians at Rome hesitated to give their names, and there was some difficulty found in carrying out the colony, which was, however, settled in the following year, B. c. 296. (Liv. x. 21; Vell. Pat. i. 14.) Sinuessa seems to have rapidly risen into a place of importance; but its territory was severely ravaged by Hannibal in B. C. 217, whose cavalry carried their devastations up to the very gates of the town. (Liv. xxii. 13, 14.) It subsequently endeavoured, in common with Minturnae and other "coloniae maritimae," to establish its exemption from furnishing military levies; but this was overruled, while there was an enemy with an army in Italy. (Id. xxvii. 38.) At a later period (B. C. 191) they again attempted, but with equal ill suecess, to procure a similar exemption from the naval service. (Id. xxxvi. 3.) Its position on the Appian Way doubtless contributed greatly to the prosperity of Sinuessa; for the same reason it is frequently incidentally mentioned by Cicero, and we learn that Caesar halted there for a night on his way from Brundusium to Rome, in B. c. 49. (Cie. ad Att. ix. 15, 16, xiv. 8, ad Fam. xii. 20.) It is noticed also by Horace on his journey to Brundusium, as the place where he met with his friends Varius and Virgil. (Sat. i. 5. 40.) The fertility of its territory, and especially of the neighbouring ridge of the Mons Massicus, so celebrated for its wines, must also have tended to promote the prosperity of Sinuessa, but we hear little of it under the Roman Empire. It received a body of military colonists, apparently under the Triumvirate (Lib. Col. p. 237), but did not retain the rank of a Colonia, and

and the Jebusite city afterwards; Josephus repre- | gulf, which was said to have derived its name from seuts him as taking the lower city first, and after- Tiphys, the pilot of the Argonauts. In the time of wards the citadel. There can be no doubt, therefore, Pausanias the inhabitants of Siphae pointed out the that in Josephus's view, Sion was the lower city, spot where the ship Argo anchored on its return and the Jebusite city the citadel;" for a comparison from its celebrated voyage. The same writer menof the 7th with the 9th verse in 2 Sam. v., and of tions a temple of Hercules at Siphae, in whose the 5th with the 7th verse in 1 Chron. xi. can leave honour an annual festival was celebrated. (Pans, no doubt that the intermediate verses in both pas-1.c.) Thucydides (l. c.), Apollonius Rhodius (i. 105), sages relate to the particulars of occupation of Sion, and Stephanus B. (8. v. Zípai) describe Siphae as a which particulars are narrated by Josephns of the dependency of Thespiae; and it is accordingly placed occupation of the upper city, here called by him by by Müller and Kiepert at Alikes. But Leake draws the identical name used by the sacred writer, of the attention to the fact that Pausanias describes it as castle in which David dwelt; therefore they called lying W. of Thisbe; and he therefore places it at it the city of David; " and this poúpiov of Josephus port Sarándi, near the monastery dedicated to St. is admitted by Mr. Thrupp to be the upper city (p. Taxiarches, where are the remains of a small Hel56, note 2). That the name Sion was subsequently lenic city. On this supposition the whole of the used in a much wider acceptation, and applied par- territory of Thisbe would lie between Thespiae and ticularly to the sanctuary, is certain; and the fact is Siphae, which Leake accounts for by the superiority easily explained. The tent or tabernacle erected by of Thespiae over all the places in this angle of David for the reception of the ark was certainly on Boeotia, whence the whole country lying upon this Mount Sion, and in the city of David (2 Sam. vi. part of the Corinthian gulf may have often, in com12; 1 Chron. xv. 1, 29), and therefore in all the mon acceptation, been called the Thespice. (Leake, language of his own divine compositions, and of the Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 515.) other Psalmists of the conclusion of his and the commencement of Solomon's reign, Sion was properly identified with the sanctuary. What could be more natural than that, when the ark was transferred to | the newly-consecrated temple on the contiguous hill, which was actually united to its former restingplace by an artificial embankment, the signification of the name should be extended so as to comprehend the Temple Mount, and continue the propriety and applicability of the received phraseology of David's and Asaph's Psalms to the new and permanent abode of the most sacred emblem of the Hebrew worship? But to attempt to found a topographical argument on the figurative and frequently elliptical expressions of Psalms or prophecies is surely to build on a foundation of sand. It was no doubt in order not to perplex the topography of Jerusalem by the use of ecclesiastical and devotional terminology that Josephus has wholly abstained from the use [G. W.]

of the name Sion.

SIPH or ZIPH (LXX. Alex. Zip, Vat. 'Oi6: Eth. Zipaios), a city of the tribe of Judah, mentioned in connection with Maon, Carmel, and Juttah (Josh. xv. 55). The wilderness of Ziph was a favourite hiding-place of David when concealing | himself from the malice of Saul. (1 Sam. xxiii. 14, 26, xxvi. 1; Psalm liv. title.) This wilderness of Ziph was contiguous to the wilderness of Maon (1 Sam. xxiii. 25); and this Maon is connected with Carmel in the history of Nabal and Abigail (xxv. 2). The three names are still found a few miles south of Hebron, as Kirmel, Main, Ziph. The ruins lie on a low ridge between two small wadys, which commence here and run towards the Dead Sea. "There is here little to be seen except broken walls and foundations, most of them of unhewn stone, but in dicating solidity, and covering a considerable tract of ground. Numerous cisterns also remain." (Robinson, Bibl. Res. vol. ii. p. 191). Ziph is placed by St. Jerome 8 miles E. of Hebron (S. would be more correct), and the desert of Ziph is frequently mentioned in the annals of the recluses of Palestine, while the site of the town was identified by travellers at least three centuries ago. (Fürer, Itinerarium, p. 68.) [G.W.] SIPHAE or TIPHA (Zipai, Thuc. iv. 76; Seylax, p. 15; Steph. B. s. v.; Ptol. iii. 15. § 5; Plin. iv. 3. s. 4; Típa, Paus. ix. 32. § 4: Eth. Tupaios, Tipareus), a town of Boeotia, upon the Corinthian

SIPHNOS or SIPHNUS (Zipvos: Eth. Ziprios: Siphno Gr., Siphanto Ital.), an island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades, lying SE. of Seriphos, and NE. of Melos. Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22. § 66) describes it as 28 miles in circuit, but it is considerably larger. The same writer says that the island was originally called Merope and Acis: its ancient name of Merope is also mentioned by Stephanus B. (8. v.). Siphnos was colonised by Ionians from Athens (Herod. viii. 48), whence it was said to have derived its name from Siphnos, the son of Sunius. (Steph. B. s. v.) In consequence of their gold and silver mines, of which remains are still seen, the Siphnians attained great prosperity, and were regarded, in the time of Polycrates (B. C. 520), as the wealthiest of all the islanders. Their treasury at Delphi, in which they deposited the tenth of the produce of their mines (Paus. x. 11. § 2), was equal in wealth to the treasuries of the most opulent states; and their public buildings were decorated with Parian marble. Their riches, however, exposed them to pillage; and a party of Samian exiles, in the time of Polycrates, invaded the island, and levied a contribution of 100 talents. (Herod. iii. 57, 58.) The Siphnians were among the few islanders in the Aegaean who refused tribute to Xerxes, and they fought with a single ship on the side of the Greeks at Salamis. (Herod. viii. 46, 48.) Under the Athenian supremacy the Siphnians paid an annual tribute of 3600 drachmae. (Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr. n. 52.) Their mines were afterwards less productive; and Pausanias (1. c.) relates that in consequence of the Siphnians neglecting to send the tenth of their treasure to Delphi, the gods destroyed their mines by an inundation of the sea. In the time of Strabo the Siphnians had become so poor that Zipriov àσтpάyaλov became a proverbial expression. (Strab. x. p. 448; comp. Eustath. ød Dionys. Per. 525; Hesych. 8. v. Ziprios àppaßév.) The moral character of the Siphnians stood low; and hence to act like a Siphnian (Zipriá(eir) was used as a term of reproach. (Steph. B.; Suid.; Hesych.) The Siphnians were celebrated in antiquity, as they are in the present day, for their skill in pottery. Pliny (xxxvi. 22. § 159, Sillig) mentions a particular kind of stone, of which drinking cups were made. This, according to Fiedler, was a species of talc, and is probably intended by

SIPONTUM, or SIPUNTUM, but in Greek always SIPUS (TOûS -OûVTOS: Eth. ZITOUνTIOS, Sipontinus: Sta Maria di Siponto), a city of Apulia, situated on the coast of the Adriatic, immediately S. of the great promontory of Garganus, and in the bight of the deep bay formed by that promontory with the prolongation of the coast of Apulia. (Strab. vi. p. 284.) This bay is now called the Gulf of Manfredonia, from the city of that name which is situated within a few miles of the site of Sipontum. The Cerbalus, or Cervaro, and the Candelaro fall into this bay a short distance S. of Sipontum, and form at their mouth an extensive lagune or saltwater pool (σToμaλíμvn, Strab. I. c.), now called the Pantano Salso. Like most places in this part of Apulia the foundation of Sipontum was ascribed to Diomed (Strab. I. c.): but with the exception of this vague and obscure tradition, which probably means no more than that the city was one of those belonging to the Daunian tribe of Apulians, we have no account of its being a Greek colony. The name is closely analogous in form to others in this part of