is termed by Pliny as well as the Liber Coloniarum only an "oppidum," or ordinary municipal town. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Lib. Col. l. c.) It was the furthest town in Latium, as that term was understood in the days of Strabo and Pliny, or "Latium adjectum," as the latter author terms it; and its territory extended to the river Savo, which formed the limit between Latium and Campania. (Strab. v. pp. 219, 231, 233; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Mel. ii. 4. § 9.) At an earlier period indeed Polybius reckoned it a town of Campania, and Ptolemy follows the same classification, as he makes the Liris the southern limit of Latium (Pol. iii. 91; Ptol. iii. 1. § 6); but the division adopted by Strabo and Pliny is probably the most correct. The Itineraries all notice Sinuessa as a still existing town on the Appian Way, and place it 9 miles from Minturnae, which is, however, considerably below the truth. (Itin. Ant. p. 108; Itin. Hier. p. 611; Tab. Peut.) The period of its destruction is unknown. The ruins of Sinuessa are still visible on the seacoast just below the hill of Mondragone, which forms the last underfall or extremity of the long ridge of Monte Massico. The most important are those of an aqueduct, and of an edifice which appears to have been a triumphal arch; but the whole plain is covered with fragments of ancient buildings. (Cluver. Ital. p. 1080; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 486.) captivity, believing that the Jews had lost the tradition of its identity with the city of David; so that, while they correctly placed the latter, they erroneously fixed the former where it is still found, viz., at the SW. of the Temple Mount, which mount was in fact the proper "Sion," identical with "the city of David; " for it is admitted that the modern Sion is identical not only with that recognised by the Christian (he might have added the Jewish) inhabitants of Jerusalem, and by all Christian (and Jewish) pilgrims and travellers from the days of Constantine, but with the Sion of the later Jewish days, and with that of the Maccabees. The elaborate argument by which it is attempted to remove this error of more than 2000 years' standing from the topography of Jerusalem, cannot here be stated, much less discussed; but two considerations may be briefly mentioned, which will serve to vindicate for the SW. hill of the city the designation which it has enjoyed, as is granted, since the time of the Babylonish captivity. One is grounded on the language of Holy Scripture, the other on Josephus. Of the identity of the original Sion with the city of David, there can be no doubt. Mr. Thrupp (pp. 12, 13) has adduced in proof of it three conclusive passages from Holy Scripture (2 Sam. v. 7; 1 Kings, viii. 1; 1 Chron. xi. 5). It is singular that he did not see that the second of these passages is utterly irreconcilable with the identity of the city of David with the Temple Mount; and that his own attempt to reconcile it with his theory, is wholly inadequate. According to that theory Mount Sion, or the city of David, extended from the NW. angle of the present Haram, to the south of the same enclosure; and the tombs of David, which were certainly in the city of David, he thinks might yet be discovered beneath the south-western part of the Haram (p. 161). That the temple lay on this same mount, between these two points, is not disputed by any one. Now, not to insist upon the difficulty of supposing that the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, where the temple was undoubtedly founded (2 Chron. iii. 1), lay in the very heart of the city of David, from which David had expelled the Jebusites, it is demonstrable, from the contents of the second passage above referred to, that the temple was in no sense in the city of David; for, after the completion of the temple, it is said in that and the parallel passage (2 Chron. v. 2, 5, 7) that Solomon and the assembled Israelites brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Sion, into the temple which he had prepared for it on what Scripture calls Mount Moriah (2 Chron. iii. 1). SION, M. (iv), originally the name of a Again, in 2 Samuel, v. 6-9, we have the account particular fortress or hill of Jerusalem, but often of David's wresting "the stronghold of Sion, the same in the poetical and prophetic books extended to is the city of David," out of the hands of the Jebuthe whole city, especially to the temple, for a sites; after which "David dwelt in the fort, and reason which will presently be obvious. Sion pro-called it the city of David." Josephus, in recording per has been always assumed by later writers to be the SW. hill of Jerusalem, and this has been taken for granted in the article on Jerusalem [JERUSALEM, p. 18]. The counter hypothesis of a later writer, however, maintained with great learning, demands some notice under this head. Mr. Thrupp (Antient Jerusalem, 1855) admits the original identity of Sion and the city of David, but believes both to have been distinct from the upper city of Josephus, which latter he identifies with the modern Sion, in agreement with other writers. The transference of the name and position of Sion he dates as far back as the return from the Babylonish | At a short distance from Sinuessa were the baths or thermal springs called AQUAE SINUESSANAE, which appear to have enjoyed a great reputation among the Romans. Pliny tells us they were esteemed a remedy for barrenness in women and for insanity in men. They are already mentioned by Livy as early as the Second Punic War; and though their fame was eclipsed at a later period by those of Baiae and other fashionable watering-places, they still continued in use under the Empire, and were resorted to among others by the emperor Claudius. (Liv. xxii. 13; Tac. Ann. xii. 66; Plin. xxxi. 2. s. 4.) It was there, also, that the infamous Tigellinus was compelled to put an end to his own life. (Tac. Hist. i. 72; Plut. Oth. 2.) The mild and warm climate of Sinuessa is extolled by some writers as contributing to the effect of the waters (Tac. Ann. xii. 66); hence it is called "Sinuessa tepens" by Silius Italicus, and "mollis Sinuessa" by Martial. (Sil. Ital. viii. 528; Mart. vi. 42.) The site of the waters is still called I Bagni, and the remains of Roman buildings still exist there. [E. H. B.] SINUS AD GRADUS or AD GRADUS. [FOSSA MARIANA.] the same events, states that David "laid siege to Jerusalem, and took the lower city by assault, while the citadel still held out." (Ant. vii. 3. § 2.) This citadel is clearly identified with the upper city, both in this passage and in his more detailed description of the city, where he says " that the hill upon which the upper city was built was by far the highest, and on account of its strength was called by King David the fortress" (ppoúpiov). (Bell. Jud. v. 4. § 1.) We are thus led to a conclusion directly opposite to that arrived at by Mr. Thrupp, who says that "the accounts in the books of Samuel and Chronicles represent David as taking the stronghold of Sion first and Stephanus B. (s. v. Zípai) describe Siphae as a dependency of Thespiae; and it is accordingly placed by Müller and Kiepert at Alikés. But Leake draws attention to the fact that Pausanias describes it as lying W. of Thisbe; and he therefore places it at port Sarándi, near the monastery dedicated to St. Taxiarches, where are the remains of a small Hellenic city. On this supposition the whole of the territory of Thisbe would lie between Thespiae and Siphae, which Leake accounts for by the superiority of Thespiae over all the places in this angle of Boeotia, whence the whole country lying upon this part of the Corinthian gulf may have often, in common acceptation, been called the Thespice. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 515.) and the Jebusite city afterwards; Josephus repre- gulf, which was said to have derived its name from sents 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. (Paus. no doubt that the intermediate verses in both pas-l.c.) Thucydides (1. c.), Apollonius Rhodius (i. 105), sages relate to the particulars of occupation of Sion, which particulars are narrated by Josephus of the occupation of the upper city, here called by him by the identical name used by the sacred writer, of the "castle in which David dwelt; therefore they called it the city of David; " and this oppoúpiov of Josephus is admitted by Mr. Thrupp to be the upper city (p. 56, note 2). That the name Sion was subsequently used in a much wider acceptation, and applied particularly to the sanctuary, is certain; and the fact is easily explained. The tent or tabernacle erected by David for the reception of the ark was certainly on Mount Sion, and in the city of David (2 Sam. vi. 12; 1 Chron. xv. 1, 29), and therefore in all the language of his own divine compositions, and of the 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. Zío, 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, Máin, 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 indicating 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 (Zipal, Thuc. iv. 76; Seylax, p. 15; Steph. B. s. v.; Ptol. iii. 15. § 5; Plin. iv. 3. s. 4; Tipa, Paus. ix. 32. § 4: Eth. Tipaios, Tipaleús), 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 also mentioned by Stephanus B. (s. 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 loviov àσтpάyaλov became a proverbial expression. (Strab. x. p. 448; comp. Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 525; Hesych. 8. v. Ziprios àppaßáv.) The moral character of the Siphnians stood low; and hence to act like a Siphnian (Zipriά(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 tale, and is probably intended by Stephanus B. when he speaks of Zioviov Toтh ριον. Siphnos possessed a city of the same name (Ptol. iii. 15. § 31), and also two other towns, Apollonia and Minoa, mentioned only by Stephanus B. The ancient city occupied the same site as the modern town, called Kastron or Seraglio, which lies upon the eastern side of the island. There are some remains of the ancient walls; and fragments of marble are found, with which, as we have already seen, the public buildings in antiquity were decorated. A range of mountains, about 3000 feet in height, runs across Siphnos from SE. to NW.; and on the high | ground between this mountain and the eastern side of the island, about 1000 feet above the sea, lie five neat villages, of which Stavri is the principal. These villages contain from 4000 to 5000 inhabitants; and the town of Kastron about another 1000. The climate is healthy, and many of the inhabitants live to a great age. The island is well cultivated, but does not produce sufficient food for its population, and accordingly many Siphnians are obliged to emigrate, and are found in considerable numbers in Athens, Smyrna, and Constantinople. (Tournefort, Voyage, &c. vol. i. p. 134, seq. transl.; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 125, seq.; Ross, Reise auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 138, seq.) R COIN OF SIPHNOS. SIPIA, in Gallia, is placed by the Table on a route from Condate (Rennes) to Juliomagus (Angers). The distance from Condate to Sipia is xvi. and this distance brings us to a little river Seche at a place called Vi-seche, the Vi being probably a corruption of Vadum. The same distance xvi. measured from l'i-seche brings us to Combaristum (Combré) on the road to Angers. But see the article COMBARISTUM. The Seche is a branch of the Vilaine (D'Anville, Notice, fc.). [G. L.] 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 (σTouaλíμvn, Strab. I. c.), now called the Puntano 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 Italy (Hydruntum, Butuntum, &c.): and its Greek derivation from σŋría, a cuttle-fish (Strab. l.c.), is in all probability fictitious The Greek form Sipus, is adopted also by the Roman poets. (Sil. Ital. viii. 633; Lucan. v. 377.) The only mention of Sipontum in history before the Roman conquest is that of its capture by Alexander, king of Epirus, about B. C. 330. (Liv. viii. 24). Of the manner in which it passed under the yoke of Rome we have no account; but in B. c. 194 a colony of Roman citizens was settled there, at the same time that those of Salernum and Buxentum were established on the other sea. (Liv. xxxiv. 45.) The lands assigned to the colonists are said to have previously belonged to the Arpani, which renders it probable that Sipontum itself had been merely a dependency of that city. The new colony, however, does Lot seem to have prospered. A few years later (B.c. 184) we are told that it was deserted, probably on account of malaria; but a fresh body of colonists was sent there (Liv. xxxix. 22), and it seems from this time to have become a tolerably flourishing town, and was frequented as a seaport, though never rising to any great consideration. Its principal trade was in corn. (Strab. vi. p. 284; Mel. ii. 4. § 7; Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Ptol. iii. 1. § 16; Pol. x. 1.) It is, however, mentioned apparently as a place of some importance, during the Civil Wars, being occupied by M. Antonius in B. c. 40. (Appian, B. C. v. 56; Dion Cass. xlviii. 27.) We learn from inscriptions that it retained its municipal government and magistrates, as well as the title of a colony, under the Roman Empire (Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 927-929); and at a later period Paulus Diaconus mentions it as still one of the " urbes satis opulentae" of Apulia. (P.Diac. Hist. Lang. ii. 21.) Lucan notices its situation immediately at the foot of Mount Garganus (“ subdita Sipus montibus," Lucan, v. 377). It was, however, actually situated in the plain and immediately adjoining the marshes at the mouth of the Candelaro, which must always have rendered the site unhealthy; and in the middle ages it fell into decay from this cause, till in 1250 Manfred king of Naples removed all the remaining population to a site about a mile and a half further N., where he built a new city, to which he gave the name of Manfredonia. No ruins of the ancient city are now extant, but the site is still marked by an ancient church, which bears the name of Sta Maria di Siponto, and is still termed the cathedral, the archbishop of Manfredonia bearing officially the title of Archbishop of Sipontum. (Craven's Southern Tour, p. 67; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 209.) The name of Sipontum is found in the Itineraries (Itin. Ant. p. 314; Tab. Peut.), which give a line of road proceeding along the coast from thence to Barium, passing by the Salinae at the mouth of the Palus Salapina, and therefore following the narrow strip of beach which separated that lagine from the sea. There is still a good horse-road along this beach; but the distances given in the Itineraries are certainly corrupt. [E. H. B.] SIPYLUS (TUλos), a mountain of Lydia between the river Hermus and the town of Smyrna; it is a branch of Mount Tmolus, running in a northwestern direction along the Hermus. It is a rugged, much torn mountain, which seems to owe its present form to violent convulsions of the earth. The mountain is mentioned even in the Iliad, and was rich in metal. (Hom. Il. xxiv. 615; Strab. i. p. 58, xii. p. 579, xiv. p.680.) On the eastern slope of the mountain, there once existed, according to tradition, an ancient city, called Tantalis, afterwards Sipylus, the capital of the Maeonians, which was believed to have been swallowed up by an earthquake, and plunged into a crater, afterwards filled by a lake, which bore the name of Sale or Saloë (Strab. i. p. 58, xii. p. 579; Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. v. 31; Paus. vii. 24. 7). Pliny relates that the spot once occupied by Sipylus was successively occupied by other towns, which he calls Archaeopolis, Colpe and Lebade. Pausanias (v. 13. § 4) calls the lake the marsh of Tantalus, and adds that his tomb was conspicuous near it, and that the throne of Pelops was shown on the summit of the mountain above the temple of (Cybele) Plastene. The tops of the houses of Sipylus were believed to have been seen under the water for some time after (Paus. vii. 24. § 7); and some modern travellers, mistaking the ruins of old Smyrna for those of Sipylus, imagine that they have discovered both the remains of Sipylus and the tomb of Tantalus. Chandler (Travels in Asia Minor, p. 331) thought that a small lake of limpid water at the north-eastern foot of Mount Sipylus, not far from a sepulchre cut in the rock, might be the lake Sale; | but Hamilton (Researches, i. p. 49, foll.) has shown that the lake must be sought for in the marshy district of Manissa. In speaking of Mount Sipylus, we cannot pass over the story of Niobe, alluded to by the poets, who is said to have been metamorphosed into stone on that mountain in her grief at the loss of her children. (Hom. Il. xxiv. 614; Soph. Antig. 822; Ov. Met. vi. 310; Apollod. iii. 5; Paus. viii. 2. §3.) Pausanias (i. 21. § 5) relates that he himself went to Mount Sipylus and saw the figure of Niobe formed out of the natural rock; when viewed close he saw only the rock and precipices, but nothing resembling a woman either weeping or in any other posture; but standing at a distance you fancied you saw a woman in tears and in an attitude of grief. This phantom of Niobe, says Chandler (p. 331), whose observation has been confirmed by subsequent travellers, may be defined as an effect of a certain portion of light and shade on a part of Sipylus, perceivable at a particular point of view. Mount Sipylus now bears the name of Saboundji Dagh or Sipuli Dagh. [L. S.] SIRACELLAE (Itin. Ant. p. 332; 1b. p. 333, Siracelle; It. Hier. p. 602, Sirogellae; Tab. Peut. Syrascellae; and in Geog. Rav. iv. 6, and v. 12, Syrascele), a place in Thrace, on the road from Trajanopolis to Callipolis, and on the main road to Constantinople. Its distance from Trajanopolis is variously given in the Itin. Ant., and the readings of the MSS. differ, one stating the distance to be as much as 59,000 paces, another as little as 50,000. According to Mannert (vii. p. 205), its site is near the modern Chachan or Rusqueur (?) of P. Lucas (Trois Voy. p. 47); but Richard places it near Zerna, and Lapie near Malgara or Migalgara; the uncertainty of the Itinerary above mentioned being probably the cause of this discrepancy. [J. R.] SIRACE'NE. [SIROC.] SIRACE'NI (рaкnvoi, Ptol. v. 9. §§ 17, 19), a great and mighty people of Asiatic Sarmatia on the east shore of the Maeotis, beyond the Rha and on the Achardeus, in the district called by Strabo (xi. 504) Siracene. They appear under various names. Thus Strabo (xi. p. 506) and Mela (i. 19) call them Siraces; Tacitus (Ann. xii. 15, seq.) Siraci (in Strabo, xi. p. 492, Zipaкoí); and in an inscription (Böckh, ii. p. 1009) we find the form Zipáxo. They were governed by their own kings, and the SIRANGAE (Zipáyyai or Enpáyyaı, Ptol. iv. 6. § 17), a tribe in the interior of Libya. [T. H. D.] SIRBES. [XANTHUS.] SIRBI. [SERBI.] SIRBITUM, a city of Aethiopia, above which the mountains cease, and at a distance of 14 days' sail from Meroë. (Plin. vi. 30. s. 35.) From these particulars Mannert (x. pt. i. p. 171) is induced to regard it as the modern Senaar. [T. H. D.] SIRBO'NIS LACUS (ή Σιρβωνίς or Σιρβωνίδος urn, Herod. ii. 6; Diodor. i. 30; Ptol. iv. 5. §§ 12, 20; Strab. i. pp. 50, 65, xvii. 760-763; Zip6wr, Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. v. 12. s. 14: Sebaket-Bardvil), was a vast tract of morass, the centre of which formed the Sirbonian lake, lying between the eastern angle of the Delta, the Isthmus of Suez, Mount Casius, and the Mediterranean sea. With the latter it was at one time connected by a natural channe (тd ěкpeyμa), running through bars of quick and and shingle (Tà Bápalpa), which separated the sea from the morass. The limits of the Serbonian bog have, however, been much contracted in later ages by the elevation of the sea-borde and the drifting of the sands, and the lake is now of inconsiderable extent. The Sirbonian region is celebrated in history for having been the scene of at least the partial destruction of the Persian army in B. C. 350, when Darius Ochus was leading it, after the storming of Sidon, to Aegypt, in order to restore the authority of Persia in that kingdom. Diodorus (i. 30) has probably exaggerated the serious disaster into a total annihilation of the invading host, and Milton (P. L. ii. 293) has adopted the statement of Diodorus, when he speaks of Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old The same Persian army, however, afterwards took Pelusium, Bubastis, and other cities of the Delta. The base of the Deltaic triangle of Aegypt was reckoned by Herodotus (ii. 6) from the bay of Plinthine to the lake of Serbonis. [W. B. D.] [MINERVAE PRO SIRENU'SAE INSULAE. MONTORIUM]. SIRICAE, a place in Cappadocia on the road from Comana to Melitene, and 24 miles NW. of the first. (Itin. Ant. pp. 210, 211.) According to Lapie, near the Benbodagh. [T. H. D.] SIRIO, in Gallia, is placed by the Itins. on a road from Burdigala (Bordeaux) to Aginnum (Agen). The distance is probably corrupt in the Table, which places Sirio x. from Bordeaux; for the true distance is xv. or xvi. Gallic leagues. D'Anville fixes Sirio (the Pont de Siron) near the point where the small river Siron or Ciron joins the Garonne on the left bank. [G. L.] SIRIS (Σίρις: Εth. Σιρίτης, but also Σιρίνος ; Sirites), an ancient city of Magna Graecia, situated at the mouth of the river of the same name flowing into the Tarentine gulf, and now called the Sinno. There is no doubt that Siris was a Greek colony, and that at one time it attained to a great amount of wealth and prosperity; but its history is extremely obscure and uncertain. Its first origin was generally ascribed to a Trojan colony; and, as a proof of this an ancient statue of Minerva was shown there which claimed to be the true Trojan Palladium (Strab. vi. p. 264; Lycophr. Alex. 978-985). Whatever may have been the origin of this legend, there seems no doubt that Siris was originally a city of the Chones, the native Oenotrian inhabitants of this part of Italy (Strab. I. c.). A legend found in the Etymologicon (s. v. Zipis), according to which the city derived its name from a daughter of Morges, king of the Siculi, evidently points in the same direction, as the Morgetes also were an Oenotrian tribe. From these first settlers it was wrested, as we are told, by a body of Ionian colonists from Colophon, who had fled from their native city to avoid the dominion of the Lydians. (Strab. I. c.; Athenae. xii. p. 523.) The period of this emigration is very uncertain; but it appears probable that it must have taken place not long after the capture of the city by Gyges, king of Lydia, about 700-690 B. C. Archilochus, writing about 660 B. C., alludes to the fertility and beauty of the district on the banks of the Siris; and though the fragment preserved to us by Athenaeus does not expressly notice the existence of the city of that name, yet it would appear from the expressions of Athenaeus that the poet certainly did mention it; and the fact of this colony having been so lately established there was doubtless the cause of his allusion to it (Archil. ap. Athen. xii. p. 523). On the other hand, it seems clear from the account of the settlement at Metapontum (Strab. vi. p. 265), that the territory of Siris was at that time still unoccupied by any Greek colony. We may therefore probably place the date of the Ionian settlement at Siris between 690 and 660 B. C. We are told that the Ionic colonists gave to the city the name of Polieum (Пoλíetov, Strab. vi. p. 264; Steph. B. 8. v. Zipis); but the appellation of Siris, which it derived from the river, and which seems to have been often given to the whole district (Zipis, used as equivalent to Zipîris), evidently prevailed, and is the only one met with in common use. Of the history of Siris we know literally nothing, except the general fact of its prosperity, and that its citizens indulged in habits of luxury and effeminacy that rivalled those of their neighbours the Sybarites. (Athen. xii. p. 523.) It may be received as an additional proof of their opulence, that Damasus, a citizen of Siris, is noticed by Herodotus among the suitors for the daughter of Cleisthenes of Sicyon, about 580-560 B. C., on which occasion Siris and Sybaris among the cities of Italy alone furnished claimants. (Herod. vi. 127.) This was probably about the period that Siris was at the height of its prosperity. But an Ionian city, existing as it did in the midst of the powerful Achaean colonies, must naturally have been an object of jealousy to its neighbours; and hence we are told that the Metapontines, Sybarites, and Crotoniats formed a league against Siris; and the war that ensued ended in the capture of the city, which appears to have been followed by the expulsion of the inhabitants (Justin. xx. 2). The date of the destruction of Siris cannot be fixed with any approach to certainty: it was probably after 550 B. C., and certainly preceded the fall of its rival Sybaris in B. c. 510. Its ruin appears to have been complete, for we meet with no subsequent mention of the city, and the territory is spoken of as open to colonisation at the time of the Persian War, B. C. 480. (Herod. viii. 62.) Upon that occasion we learn incidentally that the Athenians considered themselves as having a claim of old standing to the vacant district of the Sirites, and even at one time thought of removing thither with their wives and families. (Herod. l. c.) The origin of this clain is unknown; but it seems pretty clear that it was taken up by the Athenian colonists who established themselves at Thurii in B. C. 443, and became the occasion of hostilities between them and the Tarentines. These were at length terminated by a compromise, and it was agreed to found in common a fresh colony in the disputed territory. This appears to have been at first established on the site of the ancient city, but was soon after transferred to a spot 3 miles distant, where the new colony received the name of Heracleia, and soon rose to be a flourishing city. (Strab. vi. p. 264; Diod. xii. 36.) [HERACLEIA.] According to Strabo, Siris still continued to exist as the port or naval station of Heracleia; but no other mention of it is found, and it is not clear whether Strabo himself meant to speak of it as still subsisting in his day. No remains of it are extant, and the exact site does not appear to have been determined. But it may be placed on the left bank of the river Siris (now called the Sinno), at or near its mouth; a position which well accords with the distance of 24 stadia (3 miles) from Heracleia, the remains of which are visible at Policoro, near the river Agri, the ancient Aciris. [HERACLEIA.] The river Siris is mentioned by Lycophron (Alex. 982), as well as by Archilochus in a passage already cited (ap. Athen. xii. p. 523); but the former author calls it Zivis, and its modern name of Sinno would seem to be derived from an ancient period; for we find mention in the Tabula of a station 4 miles from Heracleia, the name of which is written Semnum, probably a corruption for Ad Simnum or Sinnum. The Siris and Aciris are mentioned in conjunction by Pliny as well as by Strabo, and are two of the most considerable streams in Lucania. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 15; Strab. vi. p. 264.) The name of the former river is noticed also in connection with the first great battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans, B. C. 280, which was fought upon its banks (Plut. Pyrrh. 16). It has been absurdly confounded by Florus and Orosius with the Liris in Campania. (Flor. i. 18. § 7; Oros. iv. 1.) The fertile district of the Siritis (Epirus or Zeipîris) is a portion of the level tract or strip of plain which borders the gulf of Tarentum from the neighbourhood of Rocca Imperiale to the mouth of the Bradano. This plain stretches inland from the mouth of the Sinno to the foot of the hill on which stands the modern city of Tursi, about 8 miles from the sea. It is a tract of extraordinary natural fertility, but is now greatly neglected, and, in common with all this coast, desolated by malaria. [E. H. B.] SIRIS, SIRAE, SERRHAE (Zipis, Herod. viii. 115; Sirae, Liv. xlv. 4; Zeppai, Hierocl.: Eth. Zipоnaioveis, Herod. v. 15; Steph. B.: Serrés), a town of Macedonia, standing in the widest part of the great Strymonic plain on the last slopes of the range of mountains which bound it to the NE. Xerxes left a part of his sick here, when retreating to the Hellespont (Herod. l. c.): and P. Aemilius Paulus, after his victory at Pydna, received at this town, which is ascribed to Odomantice, a deputation from Perseus, who had retired to Samothrace. (Liv. 1. c.) Little is known of Serrhae, which was the usual form of the name in the 5th century (though from two inscriptions found at Serrés it appears that Sirrha, or Sirrhae, was the more ancient orthography, and that which obtained at least until the division of the empire), until the great spread of |