ta 



SYRACUSE. 



SYRIA. 



Ml 



wkiok aftenrarJi extended to the mainland, wat the origin of the 

 grMl city of Syracun. The city teem* to have bad an aristocratic 

 rnrncut at first, the descendant* of the original Mttlen holding 

 chief (> . r in their hand*. But about ac. 492 a revolution took 

 >. by which the aristocracy wat expelled, and a democratic govern- 



i otabluhed. ThU government however did not la*t long, for 



Orion, tyrant of Qela, having taken the part of the exile*, marched 

 to SyraouM with an army, and the people willingly opened the gate* 

 to him, when be wai acknowledged at sovereign of Syracuse, ac.485. 

 The ml* of U*lon wat temperate, and hit reign was prosperous for 

 Syraeoee. He enlarged and embellished the town. Gelon wai suc- 

 ceeded by hit brother Hi-ro, whote admiuutratioii was tainted with 

 ojtcion and tyranny. 



Hiero'* brother Thraaybulut, whose acoeuion took place in ac. 467, 

 wat driven away for hi* tyranny by the people after one year 1 * reign. 

 An atetmbly wa* then convened, in which a new constitution was 

 framed, the public office* being filled chie&y by the ancient citizens. 



In the year ac. 427 the people of Leontmi, being hard pressed by 

 the Syraennna, applied to Athena for assistance. An Athenian fleet, 

 with troop*, wat tent to Sicily, but after several desultory actions 

 peace wat made between Syracuse and Leontiui, and the Athenian 

 expedition withdrew. In ac. 416 a quarrel between the towns of 

 Egetta and Srlinus brought in the Syracusans, who took the part of 

 Srlinus. The Kgeitau* and Leontinians applied to Athens for aid. 

 The Athenian* declared war, and a formidable armament sailed for 

 Sicily, ac. 415. The Athenian expedition of 136 triremes, with a 

 mneliliinlilri land force, under Kicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus, after 

 sailing round Sicily, in quest of auxiliaries against Syracuse in vain, 

 riled Catana, where they passed the winter. Meantime Alcibiades 

 had been recalled, and the supreme command remained with Nicias. 

 The Syracusans sent envoy* to Corinth to request assistance, and both 

 Corinth and Sparta resolved to send succour to Syracuse under 

 Oylippus, a celebrated Lacedemonian captain. 



In the spring of B.C. 414 Nicias, having embarked his troops at 

 Catana, landed a party of them in the bay of Thnpsus, north of 

 Syracuse, which took possession of the heights of Epipolie, and 

 built there a fort which they called Labdalum. They then began to 

 build a wall from Port Trogilus to the Great Harbour, so as to inclose 

 Syracuse on the land side, whilst their fleet blockaded it by sea. In 

 the meantime Gylippus arriving, marched against Epipolje, seized the 

 fort Labdalum, and annoyed the Athenians in their encampment. 

 The Syracusans attacked the Athenian fleet at the entrance of the 

 Great Harbour ; the fight was not decisive ; but Gylippus with his 

 land forces surprised the forts which the Athenians had raised on the 

 peninsula of Plemmyrium. Another sea-fight took place, in which 

 the Athenian galleys were worsted. Soou after Demosthenes and 

 Eurymedon arrived from Athens with a new fleet of 73 galleys and 

 about 8000 soldiers. Demosthenes attacked the heights of Kpipoke 

 by night, but was repulsed with great loss. After several discordant 

 councils among the Athenian generals, it was resolved to embark the 

 soldiers secretly and sail away with the fleet. The Syracusans having 

 heard of this, attacked the Athenian fleet in the Great Harbour, and 

 defeated it. Eurymedon was killed, and 18 Athenian galleys were 

 taken. The Syracusaus then blocked up the entrance of the Great 

 Harbour by means of galleys and other vessels, connecting them 

 together with chains, and thus shut up the Athenians. Nicias then 

 resolved to fight his way out with the fleet. The Athenian vessels 

 were heavy, those of the Syracusaus light : the former, in trying 

 to break through the chain, got crowded in one mass and became 

 unmanageable; the crew* were exposed to showers of stones from 

 the enemy, the Athenian fleet was driven against the shore, and 

 the greater part of it was taken or sunk. At lost the Athenians 

 retolved to abandon their remaining vessels and stores, their sick 

 and wounded, and commenced their disastrous retreat. Of 40,000 

 men who had been engaged in the expedition, all were killed or taken 

 prisoners, and not one of 200 vessels returned to Athens. 

 _Of the prisoner* all the free-born Athenians and the Sicilians who 

 were with them were confined in the quarries; the rest, servants, 

 follower! of the camp, ftc., were sold as slaves. Nicias and Demos- 

 thenes were put to a cruel death. The prisoners in the quarries 

 receiving but a small pittance of barley-bread and water, and having 

 no shelter by day or night, disease* broke out among them. The 

 bodln of the dead were left to putrefy among tho living, and this 

 created contagion, of which most of them perished. Thus ended this 

 formidable expedition, the ill success of which broke down the power 

 of Athena, and had a great influence on tho result of the Pclopon- 

 netUn war. 



After the defeat of the Athenians, Diocles proposed a law for the 

 mUbliahment of a democratic constitution in Syracuse, and compiled 

 a criminal code of a very severe kind. Thi* democratic constitution 

 hwted very few yean, for in ac. 406 Dionysius was elected commander, 

 and won became tyrant of Syracuse. During the reign of thi* able and 

 unacnipuloo* man, Syractue reached the highest point of power and 

 prwperity. Dionyiius carried on long wars with the Carthaginians, 

 whom be defeated and deprived of all their possessions in Sicily, 

 A 897. But the Carthaginian* returned the following year, and 

 after variout luccesaea laid tirge to Syracuse by land and sen. A 

 pettilence howerer broke out in their camp, and Dionysius taking 



advantage of the calamity, defeated the besieging forces and burnt great 

 part of the fleet, whereupon the Carthaginians withdrew, but peace was 

 not made till B.C. 392. Dionytius also conquered several of the Greek 

 cities of southern Italy, and removed their inhabitants to Syracuse. 

 For some years previous to his death, in ac. 367, he was again engaged 

 in wars with Carthage. He wa* succeeded by his son Dionysius the 

 younger, who was expelled by Timoleon. Timoleon established a 

 government of mixed democracy and aristocracy. After Timoleon' a 

 death, B.C. 337, there was a period of twenty years marked by no 

 very important events, till n.c. 317, whnn Agathocles, originally a 

 potter, became autocrat of Syracuse. Agathocles was defeated by 

 the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera, and immediately after 

 closely besieged in Syracuse, from which sailing forth with a small 

 force he carried war into the enemy'* country, binding in Africa 

 (August 15, 310 ac.). He quitted Africa, where he was constantly 

 victorious over the Carthaginians, B.C. 307, and returned to Sicily, 

 which ho soon reduced to subjection. After the death of AgathocloB, 

 ac. 289, Syracuse recovered its independence, but being distracted 

 by factions, the people chose, B.C. 275, for their pnetor, Hiero, who was 

 a descendant of king Gelon, and after five years more he was made 

 king. He died ac. 216. His son Hieronymus rashly quarrelled with 

 Gome, and although be was murdered shortly after, his false policy 

 was persevered in, and a Roman army, under Marcellus, laid siege to 

 Syracuse, and took it in B.C. 212. From that time Syracuse was merely 

 a town of the Roman province of Sicily. After the downfal of the 

 empire it was token and plundered by the Saracens (May 21, A.D. 878). 

 Many ancient monuments were still remaining in 1693, when they 

 were destroyed by an earthquake. 



(Thucydides, vi., vii. ; Diodprus, xiii., xiv., xvl, six. ; Miiller, 

 History of the Done Race ; Burigny, Histoire de SiciU ; Clinton, Fasti 

 Hellenici.) 



SYRACUSE, U. S. [NEW YORK.] 



SY'RIA (E> Sham), a country in Asia belonging to Turkey, is 

 situated along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, from 29 45' 

 to 37 25' N. lat., 34 to 38 45' E. long. The name Syria occurs in tho 

 Greek writers ; the Asiatics call the country Beled-es-Sham, or ' country 

 on the left." The Mohammedans of Mecca direct their face to the 

 rising sun when they pray, and then Syria, which they call Beled-el- 

 Sbam (' country on the left '), is to their left hand and Beled-el- Yemen, 

 is on the right. The boundary of Syria towards the north is formed 

 by the Amauus Mountains, which divide it from Asia Minor ; towards 

 the west by the Mediterranean Sea. The boundary between Syria 

 and Egypt begins oa the shores of the Mediterranean, south-west of 

 the town of Gaza, and thence runs in an irregular line eastward across 

 the desert, until it meets the Wady Arabah, which it crosses at the base 

 of a high mountain, called Tor Hesma, about eight hours' journey from 

 the head of the Gulf of Akabah. From this summit eastward Syria 

 borders on the desert of Arabia, and in these parts the boundary is 

 undefined, except by part of the Haj road from Damascus to Mecca. 

 North of 32 5' N. lat., Syria extends eastward to the desert, and 

 includes the plain and mountain region of the Haouran, which extends 

 to 37 E. long., and perhaps somewhat farther east. From the parallel 

 of Damascus the boundary is considered to run north-east, passing 

 about 20 miles east of Palmyra, and striking tho Euphrates about 30 

 miles above Kakka. From this point the eastern boundary of Syria 

 is formed by the Euphrates, which separates it from Mesopotamia. 

 A rough estimate gives to Syria an area of about 70,000 square miles. 

 The population is supposed to exceed a million and a half. 



The situation of Syria is peculiar. It forms the greater part of an 

 isthmus which separates a sea of water and a sea of eand. On tho 

 west extends the Mediterranean over more than 2000 miles. On the 

 east is the desert of Syria and Arabia, which extends about 600 miles 

 to the Persian Gulf and an inlet of the Indian Ocean. To the south 

 of the isthmus lies the Red Sea, whose two great inlets, the gulfs of 

 Suez and Akabah, penetrate deeply into the laud. 



Tho form of the surface is no less peculiar. The central port is 



furrowed by a longitudinal depression, or wide valley, which extends 



from the Gulf of Akabah, to the base of the Alma Dagh, where it 



| terminates with the Lake of Bohhaire (36 45' N. lat.). This long 



| valley, which extends over more than seven degrees of latitude, 



i is divided in the middle (between 33 15' and 33 25' N. lat.,) into 



! two valleys by a high narrow ridge of mountains, the Jebel Arbel. 



The southern valley is traversed by the river Jordan on the greater 



part of its extent, and is in parts considerably below the surface of 



the sea. The northern valley is drained by the rivers Litauy (Leoutes) 



and Azy (Orontes). In its most elevated part, near the town of 



Baalbek, it attains an elevation at which iu Europe corn can seldom 



be grown. The countries on each side of these valleys extend in some 



parts in elevated table-lands, in other places sink down into large 



plains, and again rise into mountains, the summits of some of which 



are always covered with snow. The changes which the surface and 



its productive powers undergo in Syria are almost innumerable. 



Southern Syria extends from the southern boundary of the country 

 to the Bahr-el-Huleh, or Lake Merom, the ancient Semcchonitis 

 (33 10' N. lat.), and comprehends tho southern valley, and the 

 countries contiguous to it on the west and east. 



1. The Southern Valley extends from the most northern point of 

 the Gulf of Akabah to the Bahr-el-Huleh more than 250 miles in a 



