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same place seems to be alluded to by Frontinus (iii.
2. § 9), who calls it Suenda. Hamilton (Researches,
ii. p. 286, foll.) identifies it with Ssoghanli Dere, a
place situated on a rock, about 8 miles on the
south-west of Karahissar, but other geopraphers
place it in a different locality.
[L. S.]
SOAS. [SONUS.]

SOATRA (Zóarpa), or probably more correctly Savatra (Zavarpa), as the name appears on coins, was an open town in Lycaonia, in the neighbourhood of Apameia Cibotus, on the road from thence to Laodiceia The place was badly provided with water (Strab. xiv. p. 668; Ptol. v. 4. § 12; Hierocl. 672; Tab. Peut), whence travellers are inclined to identify its site with the place now called Su Vermess, that is, "there is no water here." [L. S.]

bourhood of their city, on the little river Meles,
where the poet was said to have composed his works.
Smyrna was at all times not only a great commercial
place, but its schools of rhetoric and philosophy also
were in great repute. The Christian Church also
flourished through the zeal and care of its first
bishop Polycarp, who is said to have been put to
death in the stadium of Smyrna in A. D. 166 (Iren.
iii. p. 176). Under the Byzantine emperors the city
experienced great vicissitudes: having been occupied
by Tzachas, a Turkish chief, about the close of the
11th century, it was nearly destroyed by a Greek
fleet, commanded by John Ducas. It was restored,
however, by the emperor Comnenus, but again sub-p.
jected to severe sufferings during the siege of Ta-
inerlane. Not long after it fell into the hands of
the Turks, who have retained possession of it ever
since. It is now the great mart of the Levant
trade. Of Old Smyrna only a few remains now
exist on the north-eastern side of the bay of Smyrna;
the walls of the acropolis are in the ancient Cyclopean
style. The ancient remains of New Smyrna are
more numerous, especially of its walls which are of
a solid and massive construction; of the stadium
between the western gate and the sea, which, how-
ever, is stripped of its marble seats and decorations;
and of the theatre on the side of a hill fronting the
bay. These and other remains of ancient buildings
have been destroyed by the Turks in order to obtain the
materials for other buildings; but numerous remains
of ancient art have been dug out of the ground at
Smyrna. (Chandler's Travels in Asia, pp. 76, 87;
Prokesch, Denkwürdigkeiten, i. p. 515, foll.; Ha-
milton, Researches, i. p. 46, foll.; Sir C. Fellows,
Asia Minor, p. 10, foll.)
[L. S.]

COIN OF SMYRNA.

SMYRNAEUS SINUS (Zuvpvalov RÓATOS), also
called the bay of Hermus ("Epuelos KóλTOS), from
the river Hermus, which flows into it, or the bay of
Meles (MeλnTou K.), from the little river Meles, is
the bay at the head of which Smyrna is situated.
From its entrance to the head it is 350 stadia in
length, but is divided into a larger and a smaller
basin, which have been formed by the deposits of the
Hermus, which have at the same time much nar-
rowed the whole bay. A person sailing into it
had on his right the promontory of Celaenae, and on
his left the headland of Phocaea; the central part of
the bay contained numerous small islands. (Strab.
xiv. p. 645; Pomp. Mela, i. 17; Vit. Hom. 2;
Steph. Β. 8. v. Σμύρνα.)
[L. S.]

SOANAS (odvas, Ptol. vii. 4. § 3), a small
river of Taprobane (Ceylon), which flowed into the
sea on the western side of the island. Lassen (in
his map) calls it the Kilau. On its banks lived a
people of the same name, the Soani. (Ptol. vii.
4. § 9.)

[V.]

SOANDA or SOANDUM (Zóavda or Zóavdov), a castle of Cappadocia, between Therma and Sacoena. (Strab. xiv. p. 663; It. Ant. p. 202.) The

SOATRAE, a town in Lower Moesia (Itin. Ant. p. 229), variously identified with Pravadi and Kiopikeni. In the Tab. Peut. and by the Geogr. Rav. (iv. 6) it is called Scatrae [T.H.D.]

SOBU'RA (Zo6oupas európiov), a place on the eastern coast of Hindostan, mentioned in the Periplus (p. 34). It is probably the same as the modern Sabras, between Pondicherry and Madras. (See Lassen's map.) [V.]

SOCANAA or SOCANDA (Σωκανάα οι Σωκάν da), a small river of Hyrcania, noticed by Ptolemy (vi. 9. § 2). It is probably the present Gurgan. Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of a place called Socunda, on the shores of the Hyrcanian or Caspian sea (xxiii. 6). [V.]

SOCRATIS INSULA (Σωκράτους νῆσος), an island of the Sinus Arabicus (Red Sea), placed by Ptolemy (vi. 7. § 44), who alone mentions it, in long. 70°, lat. 16° 40', and therefore off the N. coast of his Elisari, the Sabaei of other geographers, 30' east of his Accipitrum Insula ('Iepákov) and 2° 20' south of them. They are probably identical with the Farsan islands, of the E. I. Company's Chart, described by commanders Moresby and Elwon, in their Sailing Directions for the Red Sea, as "the largest all along this coast, situated upon the extensive banks west of Gheesan. They are two in number, but may be considered as forming one island, being connected by a sandy spit of shoalwater, across which camels frequently pass from one to the other." The westernmost is Farsan Kebeer (= the greater), 31 miles in length, extending from lat. 16° 35' long. 42° 13' to lat. 16° 54' long. 41° 47'. Farsan Seggeer (=the smaller) is, on its NE. side, 18 miles in length, and extends to lat. 17° 1: their whole breath is only 12 miles. The land is of considerable height, interspersed with some plains and valleys: the hilly parts are coral rock (pp. 38, 39; C. Müller, Tabulae in Geog. Graec. Min. tab. viii). In other comparative atlases, adopted by Arrowsmith, the modern name is given as Kotumbul. Is., considerably to the N. of the Farsan, described by the same writers as lying only 2 miles from the main, a small island about a mile in length and therefore not likely to have been noticed by Ptolemy, who obviously mentions only the more important. (Sailing Directions, p. 50.) Mannert identifies the Socratis Insula with Niebuhr's Firan, where the traveller says the inhabitants of Loheia have a pearl fishery. This name does not occur in the "Sailing Directions," but is probably the same as Farsan. (Mannert, Geographie von Arabien, p. 49; Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 201.) [G. W.] SOCUNDA. [SOCANAA.] SODOM (Tà Zódoua, Strab. xv. p. 764; Steph. B.

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s. v.; Sodoina, -orum, Tertul. Apolog. 40; Sodoma, -ae, Sever. Sulp. i. 6; Sedul. Carm. i. 105; Sodomum, Solin. 45. § 8; Sodomi, Tertull. Carm. de Sodom. 4), the infamous city of Canaan situated near the Dead Sea in an exceedingly rich and fruitful country, called in its early history "the plain of Jordan" and described as "well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest to Zoar." (Gen. xiii. 10-12.) It is also reckoned one of "the cities of the plain" (xiii. 12. xix. 29), and was probably the capital of the Pentapolis, which consisted of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, afterwards Zoar (Deut. xxix. 23; Gen. xiv. 8, xix. 22), all of which towns, however, had their several petty kings, who were confederate together against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and his three allies, Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, and Tidal king of nations. After Chedorlaomer had succeeded in reducing these sovereigns to subjection, they served him twelve years; in the thirteenth year they revolted, and in the fourteenth year were again vanquished by their northern enemies, when the conquerors were in their turn defeated by Abraham, whose nephew Lot had been carried captive with all his property. The sacred historian has preserved the names of four of the petty kings who at this time ruled the cities of the plain, viz. Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, and Shemeber of Zeboiim; and the scene of the engagement was "the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea" (Gen. xiv.), an expression which seems clearly to imply that the battle-field, at least, was subsequently submerged; the admission of which fact, however, would not involve the consequence that no lake had previously existed in the plain; although this too may be probably inferred from the earlier passage already cited, which seems to describe a wide plain watered by the river Jordan, as the plain of Egypt is irrigated by the Nile: and as this vale of Siddin was full of slime-pits (beds of bitumen), its subsidence naturally formed the Asphalt Lake. The catastrophe of the cities, as described in the sacred narrative, does not certainly convey the idea that they were submerged, for fire and not water was the instrument of their destruction (Gen. xix.; S. Jude 7); so that the cities need not necessarily have been situated in the middle of the valley, but on the sloping sides of the hills which confined the plain, from which they would still be appropriately denominated "cities of the plain." (Reland, Palaestina, p. 255.) This is remarked in order to remove what has been regarded as a fundamental objection to the hypotheses of a late traveller, who claims to have recovered the sites of all the cities of the Pentapolis, which, as he maintains, are still marked by very considerable ruins of former habitations. Whatever value may be attached to the identification of the other four, there is little doubt that the site of Sodom is correctly fixed near the south-western extremity of the lake, where the modern native name Usdom or Esdom, containing all the radicals of the ancient name, is attached to a plain and a hill (otherwise called Khashm or Jebelel-Milhh, i. e. the salt hill), which consequently has long been regarded as marking the site of that accursed city. This singular ridge has been several times explored and described by modern travellers, whose testimony is collected and confirmed by Dr. Robinson (Bibl. Res. vol. ii. p. 481-483); but it was reserved for the diligence or imagination of M. de

| Saulcy to discover the extensive débris of this ancient city, covering the small plain and mounds on the north and north-east of the salt-ridge, and extending along the bed of Wady Zuweirah (Voyage autour de la Mer Morte, vol. ii. pp. 7174). On the other side of the question M. Van de Velde is the latest authority. (Syria and Palestine in 1851 and 1852, pp. 114, 115, note). Lieut. Lynch, of the American exploring expedition, has given a striking view of this salt mountain, illustrative of his description of the vicinity of Usdom. (Ezpedition to the Dead Sea, pp. 306-308.) [G.W.]

SODRAE (Zódpai), a tribe met with by Alexander the Great in the lower Panjab, near Pattalene, according to Diodorus (xvii. 102). The name is probably of Indian origin, and may represent the caste of the Sudras. [V]

SOGDI (Zóydo1), one of the smaller tribes noticed by Arrian (Anab. vi. 15) as encountered by Alexander in the lower Panjab. By their name, they would appear to represent an immigration from the north. [V.]

SOGDIA'NA ( Zoydiarý, Strab. ii. p. 73, xi. p. 516; Ptol. vi. 12, &c.), a widely extending dis trict of Central Asia, the boundaries of which are not consistently laid down by ancient authors. Generally, it may be stated that Sogdiana lay between the Oxus and the Jaxartes, as its N. and S. limits, the former separating it from Bactriana and Ariana, the latter from the nomad populations of Scythia. (Strab. xi. pp. 511, 514; Ptol. vi. 12. § 1.) To the W. the province was extended in the direction of the Caspian sea, but, in early times at least, not to it; to the E. were the Sacae and the Seres. The district comprehended the greater part of the present Turkestan, with the kingdom of Bokhara, which bears to this day the name of Sogd. The character of the country was very diversified; some part of it being very mountainous, and some part, as the valley of Bokhara, very fertile and productive. The larger extent would seem to have been, as at present, a great waste. (Arrian, Anab, iv. 16; Curt. vii. 10. § 1.) At the time when Alexander visited the country, there appear to have been extensive forests, filled with all manner of game, and surrounded, at least in some parts, with walls, as preserves. Alexander is said to have hunted down 4000 wild beasts. (Curt. viii. I. § 19.)

The principal mountain chains are those called the Montes Oxii to the N. (at present the Pamer Mountains,) the Comedarum Montes (probably the range of the Ak-tagh or White Mountains) to the S., and the Montes Sogdii (the modern name of which is not certain, there being a doubt whether they comprehend the Belur-tagh as well as the Kara-tagh). The two great rivers of the country were those which formed its boundaries; the Oxus (Gihon or Amu-Darja) and the Jaxartes (Sikon or Syr-Darja). There are, also, besides these main streams, several smaller ones, feeders of the great rivers, as the Demus, Bascatis, and the Polytimetes, the latter, doubtless, the stream which flows beside the town of Sogd. The generic name of the inhabitants of Sogdiana is Sogdii or Sogdiani (Arrian, iv. 16, 18; Plin. vi. 16; Curt. iii. 2. § 9, &c.), a race who, as is stated by Strabo (xi. p. 517), appear, in character at least, to have borne a great resem blance to their neighbours of Bactriana. Besides these, Ptolemy and other writers have given a list of other names, those, probably, of local tribes,

who occupied different parts of the province. Many of these show by the form of their name that if not directly of Indian descent, they are clearly connected with that country. Thus we have the Pasicae, near the Montes Oxii; the Thacori (Takurs) on the Jaxartes; the Oxydrancae, Drybactae, and Gandari (Gandháras), under the mountains; the Mardyeni (Madras), Chorasmii (Khwaresmians), near the Oxus; and the Cirrodes (Kirátas) near the same river. (Wilson, Ariana, p. 164.)

The historians of Alexander's march leave us to suppose that Sogdiana abounded with large towns; but many of these, as Professor Wilson has remarked (1. c.), were probably little more than forts erected along the lines of the great rivers to defend the country from the incursions of the barbarous tribes to its N. and E. Yet these writers must have had good opportunity of estimating the force of these places, as Alexander appears to have been the best part of three years in this and the adjoining province of Bactriana. The principal towns of

portant town on the coast of Cilicia, between the mouths of the rivers Lamus and Pyramus, from each of which its distance was about 500 stadia. (Strab. xiv. p. 675; Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. § 170, &c.) The town was founded by Argives joined by Lindians from Rhodes. (Strab. xiv. p. 671; Pomp. Mela, i. 13; Liv. xxxvii. 56.) It is first mentioned in history by Xenophon (Anab. i. 2. § 24) as a maritime town of Cilicia; it rose to such opulence that Alexander the Great could fine its citizens for their attachment to Persia with 200 talents. (Arrian, Anab. ii. 5. § 5; Curt. iii. 17.) During the Mithridatic War the town of Soli was taken and destroyed by Tigranes, king of Armenia, who probably transplanted most of its inhabitants to Tigranocerta. (Dion Cass. xxxvi. 20; Plut. Pomp. 28; Strab. xi. p. 532.) But the place was revived by Pompey, who peopled it with some of those pirates who had fallen into his hands, and changed its name into Pompeiupolis. (Пournïoúroλis, Plut. l. c.; Strab. xiv. p. 671; Appian, Mithr. 105; Ptol. v. 8. § 4; Plin. v. 22; Steph. B. s. v.; Tac. Ann. ii. 58; Hierocl. p. 704.) Soli was the birthplace of Chrysippus the philosopher, and of two distinguished poets, Philemon and Aratus, the latter of whom was believed to be buried on a hill near the town. The Greek inhabitants of Soli are reported to have spoken a very corrupt Greek in consequence of their intercourse with the natives of Cilicia, and hence to have given rise to the term solecism (σoλviktoμós), which has found its way into all the languages of Europe; other traditions, however, connect the origin of this term with the town of Soli, in Cyprus. (Diog. Laert. i. 2. § 4; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 875; Suid. s. v. 6λo.) The locality and the remains of this ancient city have been described by Beaufort (Karamania, p. 261, foll.). "The first object that presented itself to us on landing," says he, [V.] was a beautiful harbour or basin, with parallel sides and circular ends; it is entirely artificial, being formed with surrounding walls or moles, which are 50 feet in thick

which the names have been handed down to us, were Cyreschata or Cyropolis, on the Jaxartes (Steph. B. s. v.; Curt. vi. 6); Gaza (Ghaz or Ghazna, Ibn Haukíl, p. 270); Alexandreia Ultima (Arrian, iii. 30; Curt. l. c.; Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6), doubtless in the neighbourhood of, if not on the site of the present Khojend; Alexandreia Oxiana (Ptol. vi. 12. § 5; Steph. B. s. v.); Nautaca (Arrian, iii. 28, iv. 18), in the neighbourhood of Karshi or Naksheb; Branchidae (Strab. xi. p. 518), a place traditionally said to have been colonised by a Greek population; and Marginia (Curt. vii. 10. § 15), probably the present Marghinan. (Droysen, Rhein. Mus. 2 Jahr. p. 86; Mannert, iv. p. 452; Burnes, Travels, i. p. 350; Memoirs of Baber, p. 12; De Sacy, Notices et Extraits, iv. p. 354; Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vi. p. 284.)

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SOGDII MONTES. [SOGDIANA.] SOGIUNTII, an Alpine people mentioned by Pliny (iii. 20. s. 24). Nothing but resemblance of name gives us any indication of the position of many smallness and 7 in height. Opposite to the entrance of mountain tribes, but the names remain frequently very little changed. The position of the Sogiuntii is conjectured to be shown by the name Sauze or Souches, NE. of Briançon in the department of Hautes Alpes. But this is merely a guess; and even the orthography of the name Sogiuntii is not certain. [G. L.]

SOLE, a small town in the interior of Hyrcania, mentioned by Ammianus (xxiii. 6). [V.]

SOLEN (wλhy, Ptol. vii. 1. §§ 10, 34), a small river of S. India, which has its sources in M. Bettigo, and flows thence into the Sinus Colchicus or Gulf of Manaar. It is not certain which of two rivers, the Vaiparu or the Tamraparni, represent it at present: Lassen inclines to the latter.

SOLENTA. [OLYNTA INSULA.]
SOLENTUM. [SOLUS.]

[V.]

SOLETUM (Soleto), a town of Calabria, situated in the interior of the Iapygian peninsula, about 12 miles S. of Lupiae (Lecce). It is mentioned only by Pliny, in whose time it was deserted ("Soletum desertum," Plin. iii. 11. s. 16), but it must have been again inhabited, as it still exists under the ancient name. That the modern town occupies the ancient site is proved by the remains of the ancient walls which were still visible in the days of Galateo, and indicated a town of considerable magnitude (Galateo, de Sit. Iapyg. p. 81; Romanelli, vol. ii. p.26.)[E. H. B.]

The The city

the harbour a portico rises from the surrounding
quay, and opens to a double row of 200 columns,
which, crossing the town, communicates with the
principal gate towards the country. Of the 200
columns no more than 42 are now standing; the
remainder lie on the spot where they fell, intermixed
with a vast assemblage of other ruined buildings
which were connected with the colonnade.
theatre is almost entirely destroyed.
walls, strengthened by numerous towers, entirely
surrounded the town. Detached ruins, tombs, and
sarcophagi were found scattered to some distance
from the walls, on the outside of the town, and it is
evident that the whole country was once occupied
by a numerous and industrious people." The natives
now call the place Mezetlu. (Comp. Leake, Asia
Minor, p. 213, foll.) The little river which passed
through Soli was called Liparis, from the oily nature

R

Ano

PAERN

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SOLI or SOLOE (Zóλot, Ptol. v. 14. § 4), an important seaport town in the W. part of the N. coast of Cyprus, situated on a small river. (Strab. xiv. p. 683.) According to Plutarch (Sol. 26) it was founded by a native prince at the suggestion of Solon and named in honour of that legislator. The sojourn of Solon in Cyprus is mentioned by He-. rodotus (v. 113). Other accounts, however, make it an Athenian settlement, founded under the auspices of Phalerus and Acamas (Strab. I. c.), or of Demophon, the son of Theseus (Piut. . c). We learn from Strabo (l. c.) that it had a temple of Aphrodite and one of Isis; and from Galen (de Simp. Med. ix. 3, 8) that there were mines in its neighbourhood. The inhabitants were called Solii (Zoo), to distinguish them from the citizens of Soli in Cilicia, who were called oλeis (Diog. Laert. V. Solom, 4). According to Pococke (ii. p. 323), the valley which surrounded the city is still called Solea; and the ruins of the town itself may be traced in the village of Aligora. (Comp. Aesch. Pers. 889; Scyl. p. 41; Stadiasm. M. Magni, $295, seq.; Const. Porphyr. de Them. i. p. 39, Lips.; Hierocl. p. 707, &c.). [T. H. D.]

SOLIA. [ARAE HESPERI.]

SOLICI'NIUM, a town in the Agri Decumates, in South-western Germany, on Mount Pirus, where Valentinian in A. D. 369 gained a victory over the Aleinanui. (Amm. Marc. xxvii. 10, xxviii. 2, xxx. 7.) A variety of conjectures have been made to identify the site of the town, but there are no positive criteria to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. [L. S.]

SOLIMARIACA, in Gallia, is placed in the Antonine Itin. on the road from Andomatunum (Langres) to Tullum Leucorum (Toul), and nearly half-way between Mosa (Meuse) and Tullum. There is a place named Soulosse, which in name and in position agrees with Solimariaca. "The trace of the Roman road is still marked in several places by its elevation, both on this side of Soulosse and beyond it on the road to Toul." (D'Anville, Notice, &c.)[G. L.] SOLIMNIA, a small island of the Aegaean sea, off the coast of Thessaly, near Scopelos. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 23.)

SOLIS INSULA (Plin. vi. 22. s. 24), an island mentioned by Pliny between the mainland of India and Ceylon, in the strait. There can be no doubt that it is the present Ramiseram Cor, famous for a temple of Rama. It bore also the name of Kapu [CORY.] [V.]

SOLIS FONS. [OASIS, p. 458.] SOLIS PORTUS ('Hλlov λiuý, Ptol. vii. 4. § 6), a harbour near the SE. corner of Taprobane (Ceylon). It has been conjectured by Forbiger that it is the present Vendelusbai,- a name we do not discover on the best maps. Its position, south of the Malea mountains (Adam's Peak), is certain. [V.] SOLIS PROMONTO'RIUM ('Iepà 'Hλíov ǎкра), "Sacra solis extrema," a promontory of the east coast of Arabia at the south of the Persian gulf, between the mouth of the river Lar and Rhegma, in the country of the Nariti. (Ptol. vi. 7. § 14.) [LAR: RHEGMA.] [G. W.]

SO'LLIUM (ZÓAλiov: Eth. Zoλλieus), a town on the coast of Acarnania, on the Ionian sea.

Its exact site is uncertain, but it was probably in the neighbourhood of Palaerus, which lay between Leucas and Alyzia. [PALAERUS.] Leake, however, places it S. of Alyzia, at Stravolimiona (i. e. Port Stravo). Sollium was a Corinthian colony, and as such was taken by the Athenians in the first year of the Peloponnesian War (B. C. 431), who gave both the place and its territory to Palaerus. It is again mentioned in B. C. 426, as the place at which Demosthenes landed when he resolved to invade Aetolia. (Thuc. ii. 30, iii. 95, comp. v. 30; Steph. B. s. v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 18, seq.)

SOLMISSUS (Zoλuoσós), a hill near Ephesus, rising above the grove of Leto, where the Curetes, by the loud noise of their arms, prevented Hera from hearing the cries of Leto when she gave birth to her twins. (Strab. xiv. p. 640.) [L. S.]

SOLOMATIS (Zoλóuaris, Arrian, Ind. c. 4), a river named by Arrian as one of the feeders of the Ganges. There has been much difference of opinion as to what modern stream this name represents. Mannert thinks that it is one of the affluents of the Jumna (v. pt. i. p. 69); while Benfey, on the other hand, considers it not unlikely that under the name of Solomatis lurks the Indian Sarasvati or Sarwoli, which, owing to its being lost in the sands, is fabied by the Indians to flow under the earth to the spot where the Ganges and Jumna join, near Allakabad. (Benfey, art. Indien, in Ersch und Gruber, p. 4.)

[V.]

SOLO'NA (Eth. Solonas: Città del Sole), a town of Gallia Cispadana, mentioned only by Pliny among the municipal towns of the 8th region (Plin. iii. 15. s. 20), but the name of the Solonates is found also in an inscription, which confirms its municipal rank (Gruter, Inscr. p. 1095. 2). Unfortunately this inscription, which was found at Ariminum, affords no clue to the site of Solona: it is placed conjecturally by Cluver at a place called Città del Sole about 5 miles SW. of Forli: but this site would seem too close to the important town of Forum Livii. (Cluver. Ital. p. 291.) [E. H. B.]

SOLO'NIUM (Zoxóvtov), in Gallia Narbonensis, where C. Pomptinus defeated the Allobroges, B. C. 61. (Dion Cass. xxxvii. c. 48; Liv. Epit. 103, where it is said, "C. Pontinius Praetor Allobroges qui rebellaverant ad - Salonem (Solonem ?) domuit.") It has been conjectured that Solonium is Sallonaz, in the department of Ain, near the sinall river Bricas; but this is merely a guess. The narrative of Dion is useless, as usual, for determining anything with precision. Other guesses have been made about the position of Solonium; one of which is too absurd to mention. [G. L.]

SOLO'NIUS AGER (Zoλáviov, Plut.), was the name given to a district or tract in the plain of Latium, which appears to have bordered on the territories of Ostia, Ardea, and Lanuvium. But there is some difficulty in determining its precise situation or limits. Cicero in a passage in which he speaks of a prodigy that happened to the infant Roscius, places it "in Solenio, qui est campus agri Lanyvini" (de Div. i. 36); but there are some reasons to suspect the last words to be an interpolation. On the other hand, Livy speaks of the Antiates as making incursions "in agrum Ostiensem, Ardeatem, Solonium" (viii. 12). Plutarch mentions that Marius retired to a villa that he possessed there, when he was expelled from Rome in B. C. 88; and from thence repaired to Ostia. (Plut. Mar. 35.) But

the most distinct indication of its locality is afforded | by a passage of Festus (s. v. Pomonal, p. 250), where he tells us "Pomonal est in agro Solonio, via Ostiensi, ad duodecimum lapidem, diverticulo a miliario octavo." It is thence evident that the ager Solonius" extended westward as far as the Via Ostiensis, and probably the whole tract bordering on the territories of Ostia, Laurentum, and Ardea, was known by this name. It may well therefore have extended to the neighbourhood of Lanuvium also. Cicero tells us that it abounded in snakes. (De Div. ii. 31.) It appears from one of his letters that he had a villa there, as well as Marius, to which he talks of retiring in order to avoid contention at Rome (ad Att. ii. 3).

The origin of the name is unknown; it may probably have been derived from some extinct town of the name; but no trace of such is found. Dionysius, indeed, speaks of an Etruscan city of Solonium, from whence the Lucumo came to the assistance of Romulus (Dionys. ii. 37); but the name is in all probability corrupt, and, at all events, cannot afford any explanation of the Latin district of the [E. H. B.]

name.

(Itin. Ant. p. 91; Tab. Peut.) It is probable that its complete destruction dates from the time of the Saracens.

At the present day the site of the ancient city is wholly desolate and uninhabited. It stood on a lofty hill, now called the Monte Catalfano, at the foot of which is a small cove or port, with a fort, still called the Castello di Solanto, and a station for the tunny fishery. The traces of two ancient roads, paved with large blocks of stone, which led up to the city, may still be followed, and the whole summit of the hill is covered with fragments of ancient walls and foundations of buildings. Among these may be traced the remains of two temples, of which some capitals, portions of friezes, &c. have been discovered; but it is impossible to trace the plan and design of these or any other edifices. They are probably all of them of the period of the Roman dominion. Several cisterns for water also remain, as well as sepulchres; and some fragments of sculpture of considerable merit have been discovered on the site. (Fazell. de Reb. Sic. viii. p. 352; Amico, Lex. Top. vol. ii. pp. 192-195; Hoare's Class. Tour, vol. ii. p. 234; Serra di Falco, Ant. della Sicilia, vol. v. pp. [E. H. B.]

SOLO'RIUS MONS, an offshoot of Mons Argen- | 60-67.) tarius, running to the SW., on the borders of Hispania Tarraconensis and Baetica, and connecting Mount Ortospeda with Mount Ilipula. (Plin. iii. 1. s. 2.) It is probably the same mountain mentioned by Strabo (iii. p. 156) as rich in gold and other mines, and the present Sierra Nevada. [T. H. D.]

COAON ENTINWN

COIN OF SOLUS.

SOLYGEIA, SOLYGEIUS. [CORINTHUS, pp. 684, h, 685, a.]

SOLYMA (T Zóλvμa), a high mountain near Phaselis in Lycia. (Strab. xiv. p. 666.) As the mountain is not mentioned by any other writer, it is probably only another name for the Chimaera Mons, the Olympus, or the mountains of the Solymi, mentioned by Homer. (Od. v. 283.) In the Stadiasmus it is simply called the opos μéya: it extends about 70 miles northward from Phaselis, and its highest point, now called Taghtalu, rises immediately above the ruins of Phaselis, which exactly corresponds with the statement of Strabo. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 189.) [L. S.]

SOLYMI. [LYCIA.] SOMENA. [SIMENA.]

SO'LUS or SOLUNTUM (Zoλóeis, Thuc.; ZoAoûs, Diod.: Eth. ZoλovvTivos, Diod., but coins have Zoλortivos; Soluntinus: Solanto), a city of Sicily, situated on the N. coast of the island, about 12 miles E. of Panormus, and immediately to the E. of the bold promontory called Capo Zaffarana. It was a Phoenician colony, and from its proximity to Panormus was one of the few which that people retained when they gave way before the advance of the Greek colonies in Sicily, and withdrew to the NW. corner of the island. (Thuc. vi. 2.) It afterwards passed together with Panormus and Motya into the hands of the Carthaginians, or at least became a dependency of that people. It continued steadfast to the Carthaginian alliance even in B. C. 397, when the formidable armanent of Dionysius shook the fidelity of most of their allies (Diod. xiv. 48); its territory was in consequence ravaged by Dionysius, but without effect. At a later period of the war (B. C. 396) it was betrayed into the hands of that despot (b. 78), but probably soon fell again into the power of the Carthaginians. It was certainly one of the cities that usually formed part of their dominions in the island; and in B. c. 307 it was give up by them to the soldiers and mercenaries of Agathocles, who had made peace with the Carthaginians when abandoned by their leader in Africa. (Diod. xx. 69.) During the First Punic War we find it still subject to Carthage, and it was not till after the fall of Panormus that Soluntum also opened its gates to the Romans. (Id. xxiii. p. 505.) It continued to subsist under the Roman dominion as a municipal town, but apparently one of no great consideration, as its name is only slightly and occasicnally mentioned by Cicero. (Verr. ii. 42, iii. 43.) But it is still noticed both by Pliny and Ptolemy (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 3, where the name is corruptly written 'Oλovλís), as well as at a later period by the Itineraries, which place it 12 miles

SONAUTES, according to Pliny (vi. 1), a river in Pontus; while, according to Apollonius Rhodius (ii. 747), the Acheron in Bithynia was anciently called Soonautes (owvaÚTNs). [L. S.]

SONEIUM, a place in Moesia Superior, on the borders of Thrace, at the pass of Mount Scomius, called Succi. (Itin. Hieros. p. 567.) Identified with Bagna. [T. H. D.]

SONISTA, a town in Upper Pannonia, on the road from Poetovium to Siscia. (Geog. Rav. iv. 19; Tab. Peut.; It. Hieros. p. 561, where it is written Sunista.) Its exact site is unknown. [L. S.]

SO'NTIA (Eth. Sontinus: Sanza), a town of Lucania, known only from Pliny, who enumerates the Sontini among the municipal towns of that province (Plin. iii. 11. s. 15). It is probable that it is the same place now called Sanza, situated in the mountains about 12 miles N. of the Gulf of Poli

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