1S4 



8AMOSATA 



SAMSON 



by the people of Tigani ; the aqueduct was redis- 

 covered in 1882. The island wax in Greek times 

 celebrated for its red glossy pottery, which was 

 imitated liy the Komans in their go-called Samian 

 ware (see PoTTKRY, Vol. VIII. p. 365). Pop. of 

 island ( 1S98) 51,745, all Greeks. 



Anciently Samoa was one of the most famous 

 isles of the .-Egean. At a very remote period it 

 was a powerful member of the Ionic Confederacy, 

 and (according to Thucydides) its inhabitants were 

 the first, after the Corinthians, who turned their 

 attention to naval affairs ; Colaeus the Saniian 

 was the first Greek who sailed through the Pillars 

 of Hercules into the Atlantic. The Samians 

 founded numerous colonies in Thrace, Cilicia, 

 Crete, Italy, and Sicily. But the celebrity of the 

 island reached its acme under Polycrates (Q.V., 532- 

 522 B.C. ), in whose time it was mistress of the archi- 

 pelago. Subsequently it passed under the power 

 of the Persians, became free again after the battle 

 of Mycale, stood by Athens during the Pelopon- 

 nesian war, and after several vicissitudes became 

 a portion of the Roman province of Asia (84 B.C. ). 

 Being a Byzantine possession, it was conquered by 

 the Turks." When the war of independence broke 

 out in 1821 no Greeks were more ardent and 

 devoted patriots than the Samians ; and deep was 

 their disappointment when, at the close of the 

 struggle, European policy assigned them to their 

 former masters. They are, however, governed 

 (since 1833) by a Greek, who bears the title of 

 Prince of Samos, and by a native council, and pay 

 tribute to the Porte. 



See Gu<Srin, Patmot et Samoa (Paris, 1856), and Tozer, 

 Itlandt of the Aegean (1890). 



Sam os a (a (mod. Samisat), the capital till 

 73 A.D. of the Syrian kingdom of Commagene, on 

 the Euphrates, 130 miles NNE. of Aleppo. It was 

 the birthplace of Lucian and of Paul of Samosata 

 (q.v.). 



SamotliraCC, an island of the ^Egean Sea, 

 lies in the north-east corner, nearly opposite the 

 mouth of the river Maritza and 40 miles NW. of 

 the Dardanelles. Next to Mount Athos it is the 

 most conspicuous object in the northern jfigean, 

 rising to 5248 feet in Mount Saoce ( Phengari ), 

 which occupies nearly the whole of its surface ( 68 

 M|. in. i. It was from this peak that Poseidon 

 watched the fights on Troy plain (II. xiii.). Bare 

 and repellent, the island possesses no harlxmr and 

 only one village, Chora, of 2000 inhabitants, and 

 is the meeting-place of the yEgean storms. In 

 ancient times it was celebrated^ for the worship 

 of the Cabeiri (q.v.), mysterious divinities of 

 (probably) Pelasgo- Phoenician origin, and was one 

 of the most sacred sites in the ./Egean. The 

 temples and subsidiary buildings forming the 

 sanctuary of these deities were excavated in 1873- 

 75 by Professor Couze (see his ArehAologische 

 Untersuchungen auf Samothrake (1875 and 1880). 

 Parts of the cvclo]>ean walls of the ancient city 

 still remain. For several centuries the island be- 

 longed to the Byzantine empire; but in 1355 it 

 was given to the princely merchant family of the 

 Gatilusi. They kept it until it was conquered in 

 1457 by the Turks, who then, and again in 1821, 

 nearly exterminated the population. See Tozer, 

 Itlandt of the jEgean (1890). 



Samoyedes, the name of a Ural-Altaic race 

 widely spread over the extreme north of Europe 

 ami Asia, especially along the middle course of the 

 Obi River and on the Arctic coast west of the Yeni- 

 sei. They seem formerly to have possessed nearly 

 all the vast regions between the Altai Mountains 

 and the Arctic Ocean. Numerous grave-mounds 

 of the bronze period that have been found in 

 western Silx.-ria are attributed to a semi-civilised 



nation of Ugro-Samovedes. The Samoyedes were 

 gradually driven northwards by the Turko- Tartar 

 races (Huns, Ugrians, &c.), and are now rapidly 

 disappearing under the combined influence of spirits 

 and smallpox. They numlier about 20,000 in all 

 probability, dress in skins, use bone and stone 

 implements, keep reindeer, live by hunting and 

 fishing, and are Shamans in religion (mixed with 



feticlli.Mll). See l-'reil. (;. Jarksnn. T/u I In-lit Fi 

 7.fni(/(1895). 



Samphire i ('/////////), a genus of plants ot 

 the natural order Umbellifene ; having compound 

 umbels, and an ob- 

 long fniit, rather 

 flattened at the back, 

 with five winged 

 ridges, and many 

 ritlir spread all over 

 the seed. Common 

 Samphire (C. mnrili- 

 mum) is a perennial, 

 native of Europe, 

 growing chiefly on 

 rocky cliffs near the 

 sea. It is rare in 

 Scotland, but com- 

 mon in the south of 

 England, and so late 

 at least as March 1886 

 was still gathered on 

 Dover cliffs, as it was 

 in Shakespeare's day 

 (King Lear, IV. vi. 

 15). Its radical 

 leaves are triternate ; Common Samphire 



those of the stem (Critlimum martlimum). 

 have lanceolate and 



fleshy leaflets. The stem is alxmt 1 $ feet high, the 

 flowers yellow. Samphire makes one of the best of 

 pickles, and is also used in salads. It has a piquant, 

 aromatic taste, and is considered very diuretic. It is 

 generally gathered where it grows wild, but is some- 

 times very successfully cultivated in beds of sand, 

 rich earth, and rubbish, occasionally supplied with a 

 little salt. Inula Crithmoides, a perennial plant, 

 allied to Elecampane (q.v.), and of the natural 

 order Composite, a native of the sea-coasts of Eng- 

 land, is used in the same way as samphire, and is 

 often called Golden Samphire. The young shoots 

 of Salieornia herbacea (see GLASSWORT) are also 

 substituted for it as a pickle, and sold under the 

 name of Marsh Samphire. 



SumsO, an island belonging to Denmark, lies in 

 the entrance to the Great Belt, between Zealand 

 and Jutland. Area, 42 sq. m. The people, 6600 

 in number, are engaged in cultivating the fertile 

 soil and in shipping. 



Samson (Heb. Shimshon, I, XX. and Heb. 

 Judges, xi. 32 Sampson, Vulg. Samson ; the name 

 is derived from Shemesh, 'sun' cf. 'Shimshai the 

 scribe," Ezra, iv. 8, 17 and the Greek transliter- 

 ation represents an older pronunciation than that 

 of the present Hebrew text) 'judged Israel twenty 

 years' (Judges, xv. 20, xvi. 31 ), being the last of the 

 series of twelve in the Book of Judges. The nar- 

 rative of his adventures, however (Judges, xiii.- 

 xvi.), does not represent him in the capacity of 

 ruler of Israel, or even as leader of his own tril>e, 

 either in war or in peace ; his action is always that 

 of a private individual and for his own hand, with- 

 out co-operation. He was a native of Zorah, one 

 of the ancient stations of the Danites before they 

 removed to Laish at the roots of Mount Hermon ; 

 and the name of his father, Manoah, reappears in 

 that of the Manahethites ( 1 Chron. ii. 52, 54 ; cf. 

 (I'-n. xxxvi. 23). The circumstances of his birth 

 were similar to those of Gideon's, with the addition 



