SYPHONSYRIAN. 



503 



obstinate character gout, rheumatism, complaints 

 in the bladder, &c. 



SYPHON. See Siphon. 



SYRACUSE (now Siragosa, with a population 

 of 13,800 souls), anciently the chief city of Sicily, 

 and one of the most magnificent cities in the world, 

 with 300,000 inhabitants, is now greatly reduced, 

 but still has an excellent harbour, capable of re- 

 ceiving vessels of the greatest burden, and of con- 

 taining a numerous fleet. The ancient city was of 

 a triangular form, twenty-two miles in circuit, and 

 consisted of four parts, surrounded by distinct walls, 

 namely, Ortygia, between the two harbours; Acra- 

 dina, extending along the sea-side ; Tyche, so cal- 

 led from its containing a temple of Fortune (Ti/^w), 

 an inland division; and Neapolis, forming the 

 western part. At present, the only part inhabited 

 is the south-east corner, containing Ortygia and a 

 part of Acradina. Siragosa is insulated, walled, 

 and entered by drawbridges. The streets are re- 

 gular, but narrow, and the houses tolerably built. It 

 contains an hospital, and a number of churches and 

 convents. The cathedral is the ancient temple of 

 Minerva. The papyrus is found in the neighbour- 

 hood. Syracuse was founded by a colony of Cor- 

 inthians, B. C. 736. It became the largest and 

 most wealthy city in Sicily, and, according to 

 Thucydides, possessed a greater population than 

 Athens, or any other Grecian city. It was at one 

 time governed as a republic, at, another by Gelon, 

 Hiero, Dionysius (see these articles, and Timoleon), 

 and other rulers. It was besieged, B. C. 414, by 

 the Athenians ; and again, B. C. 215, by the Ro- 

 mans, under Marcellus and Appius. It was de- 

 fended near three years by the genius and enter- 

 prise of Archimedes (q. v.) but at last fell into the 

 hands of the Romans (B. C. 212), and continued 

 in their possession till the downfall of their empire. 

 Here are remains of the ancient amphitheatre, of 

 an oval form, 300 feet in length and 200 in breadth : 

 the arena, seats, and passages of communication, 

 were cut out of the rock. The catacombs (q. v.) 

 still exist, and form a remarkable feature of Syra- 

 cuse. They are only seven or eight feet high ; but 

 their extent is such that they form a kind of sub- 

 terranean city, with a number of narrow streets, 

 some of which are said to be a mile long, and con- 

 tain tombs and sepulchral chambers. The speak- 

 ing grotto, or, as it was called by the ancients, the 

 Ear of Dionysius, is a cave 170 feet long, 60 high, 

 and from 20 to 35 wide, with so strong an echo, 

 that the slightest noise is overheard in the small 

 chamber near the entrance, in which Dionysius is 

 said to have listened to the conversation of his 

 prisoners. The fountain of Arethusa, still a strik- 

 ing object, from its discharge of waters, now serves 

 merely as a resort for washerwomen. Theocritus 

 and Archimedes were natives of Syracuse ; and the 

 Romans found here an immense number of works 

 of art, which they carried off to Italy. See Sicily. 



SYRENS. See Sirens. 



SYRIA ; a country of Western Asia, bordering 

 on the Mediterranean sea, and forming a part of the 

 Ottoman empire. It is called by the Arabs Al- 

 Schrtm, or Bar el Cham; by the Turks and Per- 

 sians, Sur or Suristan; and in the Scriptures, Aram. 

 It has Asia Minor, or Natolia, to the north, the 

 Euphrates and the great Arabian desert on the east, 

 Arabia Petraea to the south, and the Mediterranean 

 on the west. It is divided into four pachalics, 

 Aleppo, Tripoli, Damascus and Acre. Square 

 miles, about 50,000 ; population, 2,400,000. The 



chief towns are Aleppo, Damascus, Hamab, Hems, 

 Jerusalem, Antioch ; the seaports, Alexandretta, 

 Tripoli, Bairout, Saida (Sidon), Sur (Tyre), Acre 

 and Jaffa. The leading features in the physical 

 aspect of Syria consist of the great mountainous 

 chains of Lebanon, or Libanus, and Anti-Libanus, 

 extending from north to south, and the great desert 

 lying on the south-east and east. The valleys are 

 of great fertility, and yield abundance of grain, 

 vines, mulberries, tobacco, olives, excellent fruits, 

 as oranges, figs, pistachios, &c. The climate, .in 

 the inhabited parts, is exceedingly fine. The com- 

 merce has never been so great in modern as in an- 

 cient times, and has of late diminished. An exten- 

 sive land communication was formerly carried on 

 from Syria with Arabia, Persia, and the interior of 

 Asia; but it has been interrupted by the disturbed 

 state of the countries. Syria is inhabited by various 

 descriptions of people, but Turks and Greeks form 

 the basis of the population in the cities. The only 

 tribes that can be considered as peculiar to Syria are 

 the tenants of the heights of Lebanon. The mosit 

 remarkable of these are the Druses and Maronites. 

 (See the articles.) The general language is Arabic ; 

 the soldiers and officers of government speak Turk- 

 ish. Of the old Syriac no traces exist. No country 

 was more celebrated in antiquity than Syria. In the 

 south-west was the land of promise, the country of 

 the Israelites, and the cradle of Christianity. (See 

 Palestine.) Phoenicia, particularly its cities of 

 Tyre and Sidon, were famous for commerce. Da- 

 mascus was long the capital of a powerful king- 

 dom, and Antioch was once a royal residence, and 

 accounted the third city in the world in wealth and 

 population. Balbec and Palmyra still exhibit 

 splendid ruins of their ancient greatness. (See the 

 articles.) Here have the Assyrians, Jews, Greeks, 

 Parthians, Romans, Saracens, the crusaders, and the 

 Turks, struggled at different periods for possession. 

 Ninus, Semiramis, Sesostris, Alexander, Pompey, 

 Antony, Caesar, Titus, Aurelian, &c. ; at a later 

 period, Godfrey of Bouillon, Richard Coeur de 

 Lion, Saladin, &c., (see Crusades); and, still more 

 recently, Napoleon and Mahomed Ali, have in turn 

 acted a part on the plains of Syria. Ignorance, 

 superstition and barbarism now cover the land, and 

 no traces of its civilization remain but ruins. Sec 

 Turkey. 



SYRIAN LANGUAGE. See Semitic Lan. 

 guages. 



SYRIAN OR CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS is 

 the name which the Nestorians give to themselves, 

 because they use the ancient Syrian in their reli- 

 gious service : they also possess the New Testa- 

 ment in this language. This Christian sect was 

 formed in the fifth century, by the union of the 

 adherents of Nestorius (see Heretic), who had been 

 excommunicated, in 431, by the synod of Ephesus, 

 on account of refusing to call Mary the mother of 

 God, and to give up the doctrine of the existence 

 of two natures in Christ. Though this doctrine of 

 two natures in Christ was soon after received into 

 the creed of the orthodox church, and monophysi- 

 tism (see Monophysites) was declared heretical, yet, 

 the Nestorians, who would only call the virgin 

 Mary the mother of Christ, remained excommuni- 

 cated, and, towards the end of the fifth century, 

 established their ecclesiastical constitution under 

 the protection of the king of Persia, to whom they 

 had fled. The other Christians in Persia joined 

 them in 499, and they gained many adherents in 

 Eastern Asi;i, where the Christians of St Thomas 



