| ings, and was the residence of the admiral of the first Flavian fleet on the Danube. (Amm. Marc. xvii. 13, xix. 11; Notit. Imp.) The emperor Probus was born at Sirmium. (Vopisc. Prob. 3, 21; comp. Strab. ii. p. 134; Ptol. ii. 16. § 8, viii. 7. § 6; Steph. B. a. v.; Eutrop. ix. 17; Aethicus, p. 715, ed. Gronov.; Geog. Rav. iv. 19.) The city is mentioned for the last time by Procopius (B. Goth. the Servian kingdom. Stephen Dushan in the 14th century seized on this large and flourishing city, and assumed the imperial crown here, where he established a court on the Roman or Byzantine model, with the title of Emperor of Romania, Sclavonia, and Albania. (Niceph. Greg. p. 467.) After his death a partition of his dominions took place but the Greeks have never since been able to recover their former preponderance in the provinces of the Stry-iii. 33, 34), as being in the hands of the Avari, but monic valley. Sultan Murad took this town from the Servians, and when Sigismund, king of Hungary, was about to invade the Ottoman dominions, Bayezid (Bajazet Ilderim) summoned the Christian princes who were his vassals to his camp at Serrhae, previous to his victory at Nicopolis, A. D. 1396. (J. von Hammer, Gesch. des Osman. Reiches, vol. i. pp. 193, 246, 600.) Besides the Macedonian inscriptions of the Roman empire found by Leake (Inscr. 126) and Cousinéry, the only other vestige of the ancient town is a piece of Hellenic wall faced with large quadrangular blocks, but composed within of small stones and mortar forming a mass of extreme solidity. Servian remains are more common. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 200-210.) [E. B. J.] when and how it perished are questions which his- SIRNIDES, a group of small islands off the promontory Sammonium in Crete. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 20.) SIROC (pk), a town of Parthyene, noticed by Isidorus. (Stath. Parth. c. 12, ed. Müller.) It is not clear whether there is any corresponding modern town; but Rennell thinks it is represented by the present Serakhs. (Geog. Herod. p. 297.) Ptolemy places a district which he calls Siracene among the Astabeni, a people who occupied part of Hyrcania (vi. 9. § 5). It is not impossible that Siroc and Siracene may be thus connected. [V.] SI'RMIO (Sermione), a narrow neck or tongue of land, projecting out into the Lake Benacus (Lago SISAPON (Zoanúv, Strab. iii. p. 142), a condi Garda), from its southern shore. Though a siderable town in Hispania Baetica. (Cic. Phil. ii. conspicuous and picturesque object in all views of the 19; Plin. iii. 1. s. 3.) It lay N. of Corduba, belake from its southern shores, it is unnoticed by any tween the Baetis and the Anas, and was celebrated of the geographers, and its name would probably for its silver mines and veins of cinnabar (Strab. have been unknown to us, but for the circumstance. c.: Vitruv. vii. 9; Plin. xxxiii. 7. s. 40; Dioscor. that Catullus, who was a native of the neighbouring Verona, had a villa on its shores, and has sung the praises of Sirinio in one of the most charming odes in the Latin language (Catull. xxxi.). The name of Sirmio is, however, found in the Itineraries, which place a Sermione mansio" on the road from Brixia to Verona, and just midway between the two cities, 22 M. P. from each (Itin Ant. p. 127). This must, however, have been situated at the entrance of the peninsula, probably where a road turned off to it, as it is clear that the highroad could never have turned aside to the promontory itself. 66 Extensive substructions and other remains of an ancient villa are still visible at the extremity of the promontory, where it juts out into the lake: but these undoubtedly belong to an abode on a much more magnificent scale than the villa of Catullus, and probably belong to some villa of the imperial times, which had replaced the humbler dwelling of the poet. [E. H. B.] SI'RMIUM (ípulov), an important city in the south-eastern part of Lower Pannonia, was an ancient Celtic place of the Taurisci, on the left bank of the Savus, a little below the point where this river is joined by the Bacuntius (Plin. iii. 28.) Zosimus (ii. 18) is mistaken when he asserts that Sirmium was surrounded on two sides by a tributary of the Ister. The town was situated in a most favourable position, where several roads met (It. Ant. pp. 124, 131; It. Hieros. p. 563), and during the wars against the Dacians and other Danubian tribes, it became the chief depôt of all military stores, and gradual y rose to the rank of the chief city in Pannonia. (Herodian, vii. 2.) Whether it was ever made a Roman colony is not quite certain, though an inscription is said to exist containing the words Dec. Colon. Sirmiens. It contained a large manufactory of arms, a spacious forum, an imperial palace, and other public build v. 109.) The town of Almaden in the Sierra Mo- SISAR. [USAR.] SISARA (Zápa, Ptol. iv. 3. § 17), a lake in Africa Propria, in the neighbourhood of Hippo Diarrhytus. Now Benizert or Bizerta. [T. H. D.] SISARACA (Zio άpaka, Ptol. ii. 6. § 52), a town of the Murbogi or Turmodigi in Hispania Tarraconensis. For coins, see Sestini, p. 197. [T.H.D.] SISAURANUM (Td Zioavpárov, Procop. Pers. ii. 19, de Aedif. ii. 4), a fortress of Mesopotamia, above Dara, noticed by Procopius. It is not elsewhere mentioned. [V.] SI'SCIA, SEGESTA, or SEGE'STICA (Ziokia ZEYÉOTA, ZEYEOTIKń), a great town in the south of Upper Pannonia, on the southern bank of the Savus, on an island formed by that river and two others, the Colapis and Odra, a canal dug by Tiberius completing the island. (Dion Cass. xlix. 37.) It was situated on the great road from Aemona to Sirmium. (It. Ant. pp. 259, 260, 265, 266, 272, 274; Plin. iii. 28.) According to Pliny the name Segestica belonged only to the island, and the town was called Siscia; while Strabo (vii. p. 314) says that Siscia was a fort in the neighbourhood of Segestica; but if this was so, it must be supposed that subsequently the fort and town became united as one place. (Comp. Strab. iv. p. 202, v. p. 214, vii. p. 218; Appian, Illyr. 16, 23. &c.) Siscia was from the first a strongly fortified town; and after its capture by Tiberius, in the reign of Augustus (Appian, Dion Cass., ll. cc.; Vell. Pat. ii. 113), it became one of the most important places of Pannonia; for being situated on two navigable rivers, it not only carried on considerable commerce (Strab. v. pp. 207, 214), but became the central point from which Augustus and Tiberius carried on their undertakings against the Pannonians and Illyrians. Tiberius did much to enlarge and embellish the town, which as early as that time seems to have been made a colonia, for Pliny mentions it as such: in the time of Septimius Severus it received fresh colonists, whence in inscriptions it is called Col. Septimia Siscia. The town contained an imperial mint, and the treasury for what was at a later time called the province Savia; at the same time it was the station of the small fleet kept on the Savus. Siscia maintained its importance until Sirmium began to rise, for in proportion as Sirmium rose, Siscia sank and declined. (Comp. Zosim. ii. 48; Orelli, Inscript. n. 504, 505, 2703, 3075, 3346, 4993.) The modern town of Sissek, occupying the place of the ancient Siscia, contains many interesting remains of antiquity. (Marsili, Danubius, p. 47; Schönwisner, Antiq. Sabariae, p. 52, foll.; Muchar, Norikum, i. p. 159.) [L. S.] SÍTACE (ZITÁKŋ), a large town, first noticed by Xenophon (Anab. ii. 4. § 13), situated about 8 parasangs from the Median Wall, and 15 from the Tigris and the mouth of the Physcus. The exact situation cannot be now determined, but several travellers have noticed, in this neighbourhood, extensive ancient remains, which may perhaps belong to this city. (Mannert, v. pt. ii. p. 281; Niebuhr, ii. p. 305; Ives, Travels, fc. p. 133.) [V.] SITACUS (Takós, Arrian, Ind. c. 38), a river of Persis, to which Nearchus came in his celebrated coasting voyage. It is in all probability the same as that called by Pliny Sitiogagus (vi. 23. s. 26); although his statement that, from its mouth, an ascent could be made to Pasargada in 7 days, is manifestly erroneous. There is no reason to doubt that it is at present represented by a stream called Sita-Rhegián. (Vincent, Voy. of Nearchus, i. p. 385; D'Anville, Mém. de l'Acad. xxx. p. 158; Ritter, Erdkunde, vii. p. 763.) [V.] SITHONIA (10wvín, Herod. vii. 123; Steph. B.; Virg. Bucol. x. 66; Hor. Carm. i. 18. 9: Longos), the central of the three prongs which run out into the Aegean from the great peninsula of Chalcidice, forming a prolongation to the peak called Solomon or Kholomón. The Sithonian peninsula, which, though not so hilly as that of Acte, is not so inviting as Pallene, was the first, it appears, to be occupied by the Chalcidic colonists. A list of its towns is given in CHALCIDICE. [E. B. J.] SITIA, a place in Hispania Baetica. (Plin. iii. 1. s. 3.) [T. H. D.] SITIFI (Ziripi, Ptol. iv. 2. § 34), a town in the interior of Mauretania Caesariensis, situated in an extensive plain not far from the borders of | Numidia, and on the road from Carthage to Cirts. (Itin. Ant. pp. 24, 29, 31, &c.; comp. Amm. Marc. xxviii. 6.) At first, under the Numidian kings, it was but an unimportant place; but under the Roman dominion it became the frontier town of the new province of Numidia, was greatly enlarged and elevated to be a colony; so that on the subsequent division of Mauretania Caesar. into two smaller provinces it became the capital of Mauretania Sitifensis. Under the dominion of the Vandals, it was the capital of the district Zabé. (Záển, Procop. B. Vand. ii. 20.) It is still called Setif, and lies upon an eminence in a delightful neighbourhood. Some ruins of the ancient town are still to be seen. (Shaw's Travels, p. 49.) [T. H. D.] SITILLIA, in Gallia, is placed by the Table on a road from Aquae Bormonis (Bourbon l' Archambault) to Pocrinium, supposed to be Perrigni. Sitillia is xvi. from Aquae Bormonis and xiiii. from Pocrinium Sitillia is probably a place named Tiel. (D'Anville Notice, &c.) [G. L.] SITIOGAGUS. [SITACUS.] SITOMAGUS, a town of the Iceni or Simeni, in the E. part of Britannia Romana. (Itin. Ant. p. 480.) Camden (p. 456) identifies it with Thetford in Norfolk, whilst others seek it at Stowmarket, Southwold, and Saxmundham. In the Tab. Peut. it is erroneously written "Sinomachus." [T. H.D.] SITONES, a population conterminous with the Suiones, from whom they differ only in being governed by a female: "in tantum non modo a libertate sed etiam a servitute degenerant. Hic Sueviae finis." (Tac. Germ. 45.) The Sitonian locality is some part of Finland; probably the northern half of the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. = The statement that they were under a female rule is explained as follows. The name by which the East Bothnian Finlanders designate themselves is Kainu-laiset (in the singular Kainu-lainen). The Swedes call them Quaens (Kwains). The mediaeval name for their country is Cajan-ia. Now quinna in the Norse language woman, being our words queen and quean; and in the same Norse tongue the land of the Quaens would be Cvena-land; as it actually is, being Cwaen-land (Queen-land) in AngloSaxon. Hence the statement of Tacitus arises out of information concerning a certain Cwaen-land, erroneously considered to be a terra feminarum, instead of a terra Quaenorum. The reader who thinks this fanciful should be informed that in Adam of Bremen, writing in the 12th century, when the same country comes under notice, the same confusion appears, and that in a stronger form. The Sitonian country is actually terra feminarum. More than this, the feminae become Amazons: "circa haec litora Baltici maris ferunt esse Amazonas, quod nunc terra feminarum dicitur, quas aquae gustu aliqui dicunt concipere.... Hae simul viventes, spernunt consortia virorum, quos etiam, si advenerint, a se viriliter repellunt," c. 228. (Zeuss, Die Deutschen, &c., s. v. Kwenen.) It is worth noticing that King Alfred's locality of the Cwenas is, in respect to their relations to the Svias, exactly that of Tacitus,-Cvena-land succeeding Svea-land. The Sitones seem to have been the ancient representatives of the Finns of Finland,--the Fenni of the ancients being the Laps. This is not only what the words Sitones and Quaen suggest, but the inference from the word Fenni also. To the Finlander, Fin is a strange name. The Swede calls him Quaen; he calls himself Suoma-lainen or Hamelainen. On SITTACE'NE. [SITTACE.] [V.] SITTOCATIS (ITTÓKaTIS, Arrian, Ind. c. 4), a navigable river, which, according to Arrian, flowed into the Ganges. It has been conjectured by Mannert that it is the same as the present Sind, a tributary of the Jumna, near Rampur (v. pt. i. p. 69). [V.] SIUPH (Lobo, Herod. ii. 172), a town of the Saïtic nome in the Delta of Egypt. It does not appear to be mentioned by any other writer besides Herodotus. [T. H.D.] SIVA (Zlova), a town in the prefecture of Cilicia in Cappadocia, on the road from Mazaca to Tavium, at a distance of 22 miles from Mazaca. (Ptol. v. 6. $ 15; Tab. Peut.) [L. S.] the Aeolians, who admitted into their city some Colophonian exiles; and that these Colophonians afterwards, during a festival which was celebrated outside the town, made themselves masters of the place. From that time Smyrna ceased to be an Aeolian city, and was received into the Ionian confederacy (Comp. Paus. vii. 5. § 1.) So far then as we are guided by authentic history, Smyrna belonged to the Aeolian confederacy until the year B. C. 688, when by an act of treachery on the part of the Colophonians it fell into the hands of the Ionians, and became the 13th city in the Ionian League. (Herod. l. c.; Paus. c.) The city was attacked by the Lydian king Gyges, but successfully resisted the aggressor (Herod. i. 14; Paus. ix. 29. § 2.) Alyattes, however, about B. C. 627, was inore successful; he took and destroyed the city, and henceforth, for a period of 400 years, it was deserted and in ruins (Herod. i. 16; Strab. xiv. p. 646), though some inhabitants lingered in the place, living kwμndóv, as is stated by Strabo, and as we must infer from the fact that Scylax (p. 37) speaks of Smyrna as still existing. Alexander the Great is said to have formed the design of rebuilding the city (Paus. vii. 5. § 1); but he did not live to carry this plan into effect; it was, however, undertaken by Antigonus, and finally completed by Lysimachus. The new city was not built on the site of the ancient one, but at a distance of 20 stadia to the south of it, on the southern coast of the bay, and partly on the side of a hill which Pliny calls Mastusia, but principally in the plain at the foot of it extending to the sea. After its extension and embellishment by Lysimachus, new Smyrna became one of the most magnificent cities, and certainly the finest in all Asia Minor. The streets were handsome, well paved, and drawn at right angles, and the city contained several squares, porticoes, a public library, and numerous temples and other public buildings; but one great drawback was that it had no drains. (Strab. l. c.; Marm. Oxon. n. 5.) It also possessed an excellent harbour which could be closed, and continued to be one of the wealthiest and most flourishing commercial cities of Asia; it afterwards became the seat of a conventus juridicus which embraced the greater part of Aeolis as far as Magnesia, at the foot of Mount Sipylus. (Cic. p. Flacc. 30; Plin. v. 31.) During the war between the Romans and Mithridates, Smyrna remained faithful to the former, for which it was rewarded with various grants and privileges. (Liv. xxxv. 42, xxxvii. 16, 54, xxxviii. 39.) But it afterwards suffered much, when Trebonius, one of Caesar's SMENUS. [LACONIA, p. 114, b.] murderers, was besieged there by Dolabella, who in SMILA. [CROSSAEA.] the end took the city, and put Trebonius to death. SMYRNA (Zμúpva: Éth. Zuvpraîos, Smyrnaeus: (Strab. I. c.; Cic. Phil. xi. 2; Liv. Epit. 119; Dion Smyrna or Izmir), one of the most celebrated and Cass. xlvii. 29.) In the reign of Tiberius, Smyrna most flourishing cities in Asia Minor, was situated on had conferred upon it the equivocal honour of being the east of the mouth of the Hermus, and on the bay allowed, in preference to several other Asiatic cities, which received from the city the name of the Smyr- to erect a temple to the emperor (Tac. Ann. iii. 63, naeus Sinus. It is said to have been a very ancient iv. 56). During the years A. D. 178 and 180 town founded by an Amazon of the name of Smyrna, Smyrna suffered much from earthquakes, but the who had previously conquered Ephesus. In con- emperor M. Aurelius did much to alleviate its sequence of this Smyrna was regarded as a colony sufferings (Dion Cass. lxxi. 32.) It is well known of Ephesus. The Ephesian colonists are said after- that Smyrna was one of the places claiming to be wards to have been expelled by Aeolians, who then the bi thplace of Homer, and the Smyrnaeans themoccupied the place, until, aided by the Colophonians, selves were so strongly convinced of their right to the Ephesian colonists were enabled to re-establish claim this honour, that they erected a temple to the themselves at Smyrna. (Strab. xiv. p. 633; Steph.great bard, or a 'Ouhpetov, a splendid edifice conB. s. v.; Plin. v. 31.) Herodotus, on the other hand (i. 150), states that Smyrna originally belonged to SMARAGDUS MONS (Zuápaydos opos, Ptol. iv. 5. § 15), was a portion of the chain of hills which runs along the western coast of the Red Sea from the Heroopolite gulf to the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Between lat. 24° and 25° in this range is the Mount Smaragdus, the modern Djebel Zabareh, which derived its name from the emeralds found there, and early attracted by its wealth the Aegyptians into that barren region. The principal mine was at Djebel-Zabareh; but at Bender-el-Sogheir to N., and at Sekket to S., each a portion of Mount Smaragdus, there are traces of ancient mining operations. Small emeralds of an inferior quality are still found in this district. (Mannert, Geograph. | vol. x. p. 21.) Strabo (xvii. p. 815) and Pliny (xxxvii. 15. s. 16) mention the wealth obtained from these mines. At Sekket there is a temple of the Ptolemaic era; but the mines were known and wrought at least as early as the reign of Amunoph III., in the 18th dynasty of the native kings of Aegypt. [W. B. D.] taining a statue of Homer (Strab. ↳ c.; Cic. p. Arch. 8): they even showed a cave in the neigh 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 subjected to severe sufferings during the siege of Tamerlane. 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, however, 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 Sinyrna. (Chandler's Travels in Asia, pp. 76, 87; Prokesch, Denkwürdigkeiten, i. p. 515, foll.; Hamilton, Researches, i. p. 46, foll.; Sir C. Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 10, foll.) [L. S.] COIN OF SMYRNA. SMYRNAEUS SINUS (Zuvpvaíwv KÓλTOS), also called the bay of Hermus ("Epuelos KóλTOS), from the river Hermus, which flows into it, or the bay of Meles (MeλhTou 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 narrowed 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. B. s. v. Zuúpva.) [L. S.] SOANAS (Zodvas, 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 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. p. 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.] 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 európιov), 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.] SO'CRATIS INSULA (Zwkpáтous vñσos), 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 ('Iepáxer) 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° 13': 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.] 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 (Zóydol), 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.] B. v.; Sodoma, -orum, Tertul. Apolog. 40; Sodoma, | Sauley to discover the extensive débris of this an-ae, Sever. Sulp. i. 6; Sedul. Carm. i. 105; Sodo- cient city, covering the small plain and mounds mum, Solin. 45. § 8; Sodomi, Tertull. Carm. de on the north and north-east of the salt-ridge, Sodom. 4), the infamous city of Canaan situated and extending along the bed of Wady Zuweirah near the Dead Sea in an exceedingly rich and fruit-(Voyage autour de la Mer Morte, vol. ii. pp. 71— ful country, called in its early history "the plain of 74). On the other side of the question M. Van de Jordan" and described as "well watered everywhere, Velde is the latest authority. (Syria and Palestine before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even in 1851 and 1852, pp. 114, 115, note). Lieut. as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as Lynch, of the American exploring expedition, has thou comest to Zoar." (Gen. xiii. 10-12.) It given a striking view of this salt mountain, illustrais also reckoned one of "the cities of the plain" tive of his description of the vicinity of Usdom. (Ex(xiii. 12. xix. 29), and was probably the capital of pedition to the Dead Sea, pp. 306-308.) [G.W.] the Pentapolis, which consisted of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Żeboiim, 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 Siddim 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 SOGDIA'NA († Zoydiavh, Strab. ii. p. 73, xi. p. 516; Ptol. vi. 12, &c.), a widely extending district 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. 1. § 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 (Sihon or Syr-Darja). There are, also, besides these main streams, several smaller ones, feeders of the great rivers, as the Demus, Bascatis, and the Polytimetus, 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, |