SAR LOUIS SARDES. 



city, and once more they met with tin- most olt>ti- 

 nate and sanguinary resistance. Old men, women, 

 and children, all took a part in endeavouring to 

 stop the progress of the besiegers. Not only street 

 by street, but house by house, and even room by 

 room, was contended for, like the outworks of a 

 fortress, and frequently lost and recovered. The 

 besiegers finally resorted to mining to win their 

 way, their progress by open force being bought at 

 too dear a rate. In this way they became masters 

 of about one fourth of the surface of the city. 

 Saragossa, however, would long have resisted all 

 their efforts, had it not been assailed by a force 

 more terrible than the besiegers. An epidemic 

 fever raged in the place, and spread destruction 

 among the ranks' of the Saragossans, there being 

 neither hospitals, nor medicines, nor even shelter 

 for the sick. Palafbx himself was attacked by it, 

 and, February 20, was obliged to give up the com- 

 mand to general St Marc, by whom the capitula- 

 tion was signed on the following day. The garrison 

 was reduced to less than 12,000 men, who, when 

 they marched out of the city, had more the appear- 

 ance of spectres than of human beings. During 

 this second siege, 54,000 of the besieged perished, 

 of whom a fourth were soldiers. See Spain. 



SAR LOUIS. See Saar Louis. 



SARATOGA; a post-township of New York, 

 in Saratoga county, on the west side of the Hud- 

 son, thirty miles north-by-east from Albany ; popu- 

 lation in 1830, 2461. Saratoga is memorable as 

 the place where general Burgoyne surrendered the 

 British army, consisting of 5791 men, to general 

 Gates, October, 1777. In 1819, Saratoga town- 

 ship was divided, and the western part was named 

 Saratoga Springs. 



SARATOGA SPRINGS is an incorporated vil- 

 lage, containing celebrated mineral waters, and is 

 situated seven miles north-east of Ballston Spa, 

 and thirty-two north of Albany; population in 

 1830, 2204. Here are extensive establishments 

 for the accommodation of the numerous invalids 

 and people of fashion, who resort hither during the 

 summer season. The surrounding country has very 

 few charms. The springs are very numerous, and 

 several of them are very large. The Congress 

 Spring is the most celebrated, and great quantities 

 of the water are bottled and sent to all parts of 

 North America. 



SARCOLATRJE. See ApoOmmians. 



SARCOPHAGUS (from & flesh, and p y , I 

 eat) ; originally a species of lime stone, found in 

 the neighbourhood of Assor, in Mysia, which, ac- 

 cording to Pliny (Hist. Natur. ii, 96, and xxxvi, 

 17), had the power of destroying, within forty days, 

 the corpses put into it, so that nothing remained 

 entire except the teeth. Hence the name. This 

 quality brought the stone into use for coffins, and 

 thus the name came to be applied to all coffins of 

 stone, though often used for a contrary purpose to 

 that which the name expresses. The ancients, who 

 embellished every thing, soon adorned the sarco- 

 phagi and often placed them upon the monuments 

 which were originally erected over graves, to pro- 

 tect them against violence (monumentum, i. e. muni- 

 nentum). Under the Roman emperors, this custom 

 became more general, and rare species of stone 

 were used. The Egyptian coffins of granite and 

 alabaster served as models. Of the great number 

 of sarcophagi which have come down to us, several 

 an; known by particular names; thus the sarcopha- 

 gus of Homer, in the Besborodko gardens at St 



, nnd that of Alexander, in the British 

 museum, once in the. mosque of St Athanasius at 

 Alexandria, taken by the British from the French, 

 during their campaign in Egypt. English archaeolo- 

 gists have laboured to prove its genuineness, and it 

 is known that the body of Alexander was removed 

 from the temple of Jupiter Ammon to Memphis, 

 and afterwards to Alexandria, where Augustus and 

 Septimius Severus (202 A. D.) saw it. The tomb, 

 it is supposed, was so magnificent that the Chris- 

 tian destroyers spared it (though not the body), 

 and changed it into a church of St Athanasius. 

 The sarcophagus, it is said, was used as a cistern. 

 The statement of Chrysostom (Opera x, 625, ed. 

 Montfaucon) seems to be inconsistent with this 

 opinion, which, however, derives some support 

 from an Oriental tradition. Clarke describes this 

 sarcophagus, which is covered with hieroglyphics, 

 in his Tomb of Alexander (Cambridge, 1805, 4to.). 

 The form of these sarcophagi was ordinarily a 

 parallelopipedon, or an oblong square, similar to our 

 coffins. Sometimes the angles were rounded, thus 

 assuming an elliptical shape. Some sarcophagi 

 were not intended to contain the whole body, but 

 only an urn. 



SARD, OR SARDO1N ; a variety of carnelian, 

 which exhibits, by reflected light, a dull reddish- 

 brown colour, but by transmitted light appears of a 

 rich blood-red colour. 



SARDANAPALUS, OR TONOSKONKOLE- 

 ROS (supposed to be the Esar-Haddon of Scrip- 

 ture"), whose name proverbially denotes effeminate 

 softness and wantonness, was the last king of As- 

 syria. He is said to have been a prince of great 

 power and immense wealth, who, according to an 

 inscription on his tombstone, built the cities of 

 Tarsus and Anchiale in one day. Immersed in sen- 

 sual gratification, he lived inactively and inglorious- 

 ly, in women's clothes, among his concubines, and 

 thereby excited against him the discontent of his 

 subjects. Arbaces, a Median satrap, and Belesis, a 

 Babylonian priest, together raised an army against 

 him ; whereupon Sardanapalus marched out to meet 

 them, and overcame them in three battles. In the 

 belief that he was perfectly secure, he returned 

 anew to his pleasures, and prepared a splendid ban- 

 quet for his victorious army. But Arbaces, aided 

 by the Bactrians, attacked his camp by night, gained 

 a great victory, and pursued the fugitives to the 

 very gates of Nineveh. Here Sardanapalus de- 

 fended himself for two years, while all his provinces 

 in the mean time revolted. An inundation of the 

 Euphrates at length destroyed a part of the city 

 walls, and thereby rendered it impossible to con- 

 tinue the defence of Nineveh. In this desperate 

 state of affairs, Sardanapalus set his palace on fire, 

 and consumed himself, together with all his wives, 

 servants and treasures, in the twenty-first year of 

 his reign. His destruction is usually considered as 

 having taken place in the year 888 B. C., but, ac- 

 cording to Volney, it should be placed in the year 

 717. 



SARDES, OR SARDIS; the ancient capital of 

 Lydia, on the river Pactolus, not far from the 

 mount Tmolus. Under the Persians, it was a mag- 

 nificent city, and a great market for slaves, on the 

 commercial route from Asia to Europe. The 

 Greeks conquered and burned it 500 B. C. An 

 earthquake again destroyed it, but Tiberius rebuilt 

 it. A small village stands at present on its site, 

 and considerable ruins still attest its ancient gran- 

 deur. 



