SIBYL 



5371 



SICILIES 



came an important center of trade between 

 Siberia and Europe. By the end of the seven- 

 teenth century the entire country, excepting 

 the territory of Amur, had become a Russian 

 possession, and this was acquired from China 

 in 1858. The opening of the Trans-Siberian 

 Railway led to more rapid development of the 

 country, and its importance was emphasized 

 by the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, and again 

 in 1914, when the War of the Nations began. 



Until the Russian revolution in 1917 Siberia 

 gave loyal support to the czar's armies, but 

 when the bolshevist rule obtained in Russia, 

 Siberia proclaimed its independence. The seat 

 of the new government was located at Omsk in 

 1918, Admiral Kolchak was placed in com- 

 mand of the defense, and recognition was ex- 

 tended by the entente pow,ers. Contingents of 

 allied troops were sent into the country to deter 

 Japan's possible incursions for territory and to 

 guard entente supplies. America's troops were 

 under command of Major-General Graves; 

 these, with American engineers, guarded the 

 Trans-Siberian Railroad, and proceeded to put 

 it in repair. 



The Russian bolshevists made serious warfare 

 against .Kolchak, and in the autumn of 1919 

 the success of the Siberian defense was in doubt. 

 In August the bolshevist army drove Kolchak 

 200 miles from his advanced western position, 

 and appeared able to thwart all efforts of the 

 new government to function. 



Consult Eraser's The Real Siberia; Wright and 

 Digby's Through Siberia. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will be of interest in connection 

 with the study of Siberia : 



Irkutsk 

 Omsk 



Aral 



Altai 

 Stanovoi 



CITIES 



Tobolsk 

 Vladivostok 



LAKES 



Baikal 



MOUNTAINS 



Ural 

 Yablonoi 



RIVERS 



Syr-Darya 

 Yenisei 



Amur 

 Lena 

 Ob 



UNCLASSIFIED 



Fur and Fur Trade Russia 



Kamchatka Trans-Siberian Railway 



Reindeer Tundra 



SIBYL, sib'il, in Greek and Roman my- 

 thology, a prophetess who owed her divine gift 

 to Apollo. The most famous was the Cumaean 



sibyl, who, so the story goes, appeared before 

 King Tarquin the Proud and offered him nine 

 books for sale. This offer he refused, and a 

 second offer, after she had destroyed three 

 books, was also declined. When she appeared 

 before him the third time, with but three 

 books left, he bought them, paying the price 

 she had asked for the nine. These three books 

 were kept in the temple of Jupiter, and when 

 it was burned in 83 B. c. they were likewise de- 

 stroyed. A collection of sibylline verses was 

 then assembled from the cities of Greece, Italy 

 and Asia Minor, and deposited in the new 

 Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The sibylline 

 literature was consulted when it was deemed 

 necessary to conciliate the gods. 



SICILIES, sis' His, KINGDOM OF THE Two, a 

 former kingdom of Italy, comprising Naples, or 

 Southern Italy, and the island of Sicily. The 

 name Kingdom of Naples was also often used. 

 The island and the lower part of the mainland 

 had much the same history from the earliest 

 times; both came successively under Greek, 

 Roman, Ostrogoth and Saracen domination, 

 and about the middle of the eleventh century 

 both were invaded by the sons of the Norman 

 knight, Tancred. Robert, the elder, made con- 

 quests in Southern Italy, and Roger gained 

 possession of Sicily; and under Roger II, son 

 and successor of Roger I, further gains were 

 made on the mainland, and the two dominions 

 were united and called the Kingdom of the 

 Two Sicilies. Roger II left no male heir, and 

 through his daughter, the wife of Emperor 

 Henry VI, the kingdom came under the do- 

 minion of the Hohenstaufen. 



This House was overthrown in 1266, and the 

 Two Sicilies fell to Charles of Anjou, brother 

 of Louis IX of France. The rule of Charles 

 was most oppressive, and in 1282, by means of 

 the so-called Sicilian Vespers, Sicily threw off 

 the yoke of the family of Anjou and became 

 subject to Pedro III of Aragon. Thus the 

 two parts of the kingdom were separated, and 

 though they were reunited for a few years 

 after 1442, they were again divided and re- 

 mained so until^ early in the sixteenth century, 

 when they came under the domination of 

 Spain. Spanish rule was cruelly severe, and 

 insurrections were frequent. 



In 1707 Austria succeeded in gaining pos- 

 session of Naples, by the War of the Spanish 

 Succession, while Sicily was given to Savoy; 

 but in 1720 Savoy gave up Sicily to Austria, 

 receiving in exchange Sardinia. Fourteen years 

 later Don Carlos, son of Philip V of Spain, 



