SIM 



S I M 



difclurges iti'elf into the Hellefpont, half a league to the 

 N.N.E. of cape Sigeiim, This llream is not now fuffi- 

 ciently conliderable to defervc the name of river ; it is rather 

 torrent fwelled by the rains, at the end of the autumn, in 

 winter, and in the fpring, or by the fuddcn melting of the 

 fnow, which falls on mount Ida and Cotylus. Its bed is 

 tolerably wide, but its waters are feldom abundant, and in 

 fummer it is almoft dry, fince a pacha h:is turned afide the 

 ftream of the Scamander, and dircftcd its waters into the 

 ^gean fea. See Scamander. 



SIMON, in Biography, a name that frequently occurs in 

 ancient hiftory : forae of the principal perfons who fuf- 

 tained tliis appellation are as follow ; viz, 



Simon the Juft, high-prielt of the Jews, was the fon and 

 fucceffor of Onias I. and promoted to this dignity A.M. 

 3702, or 3703. He died A.M. 3711, before A.D. 293. 

 — Alfo, SiMOK, fon of Onias II., advanced to the high- 

 prieilhood A.M. 3^05, B.C. 199. In his time, A.M. 3787, 

 Ptolemy Philopater came to Jerufalcm, and attempted to 

 enter the interior parts of the temple, where no one but 

 the high-priell ought to have entered. Simon oppofcd him, 

 and prevented his defign. He is fuppofed to have been the 

 perfon to whom the book of Ecclefiailicus gives a high 

 encomium. His fuccellor was Onias III. 



Simon Maccabteus, furnamed Thaffi, the fon of Matta- 

 thias, and brother of Judas and Jonathan, was chief, prince, 

 and pontiff' of the Jews from A.M. 3860 to 3869, B.C. 135. 

 He gave proofs of his valour in the battle between Judas 

 Maccabseus and Nicanor (2 Mace. viii. 22, 23.), and on an- 

 other occafion (2 Mace. xiv. 17.) In conlequence of his 

 judgment and valour, which were fignalized in a variety of 

 ways, he was made governor of the whole coait of the 

 Mediterranean fea, from Tyre to the frontiers of Egypt, by 

 the young king Antiochus Theos. He alfo took Bethfuri 

 and Joppa, and built Adida, in the plain called Sephela. 

 When Tryphon had llain Jonathan and his two fons, 

 and having marched into Syria, put to death the young 

 king Antiochus, and ufurped his kingdom, Simon fup- 

 ported his competitor, Demetrius Nicator, who, at his re- 

 queit, confirmed the ancient franchifes of Judea, and granted 

 freedom from tribute. After this he took Gaza, and the 

 Syrians that were in the citadel of Jerufalem capitulated to 

 him. His adminiilration was Angularly prudent, and it was 

 his great objeft to render his nation prolpcrous and fecure. 

 With this view he made a harbour at Joppa, for the improve- 

 ment of the trade of the Jews, and he extended the limits of 

 his country. He alfo renewed the alliance of the Jews 

 with the Romans and the Lacedjemonians ; and the whole 

 Jcwifh nation acknowledged their obligations to him by 

 various tokens of refpedt, and particularly by recompenfing 

 liim and his children as perpetual prince and pontiff of 

 their nation. When Demetrius Nicator was taken by the 

 Parthians, Antiochus Sidetes, king of Syria, the brother of 

 Demetrius, applied to him for fuccnnr againll Tryphon, 

 and not only confirmed the grants of his brother, but allowed 

 him the privilege of coining money, remitted to him all 

 4ebt8 owing to the kings of Syria, and declared Jerufalem 

 to be a free and an holy city. Simon fent him men and 

 money to affill him in the redudlion of Dora, in which Try- 

 phon had (hut himlelf up. But Antiochus would not re- 

 ceive them, nor would he confirm the articles of his treaty 

 with Simon. He alfo demanded the furrender of feveral 

 places, and a thoufand talents of filver, threatening, in cafe 

 of refufal, to enter Jiidca with troops, and to treat him as 

 an enemy. Simon dilregarded his threats ; neverthelefs he 

 offered a hundred talent* for tlic cities of Joppa and Gazara, 

 of which he had made himfelf mailer, becaule they otca- 

 iioned great calamities to his country. The army of An- 



tiochus, which he had fent to the coafls of the Mediterrancani 

 was defeated by John Hyrcanus, the fon of Simon ; and 

 three years afterwards Simon vifitcd the cities of Judea, and 

 came to the caftle of Docus or Dagon, where his fon-in-law 

 Ptolemy, fon of Ambubus, refided. But Ptolemy, though 

 he entertained him magnificently, caufed him, in the midll 

 of the entertainment, to be maflacred, together with his two 

 fons Mattathias and Judas, hoping thus to become mailer of 

 Jerufalem, and of the whole country. But John Hyrcanus 

 arrived firll at Jerufalem. Calmct. 



Simon the Canaanite, or Simon Zelotes, was an apollle of 

 Jefus Chrill. Zelotes, the appellation given to him by 

 St. Luke (vi. 15. Afts, i. 13.) feems to be a traiiflation 

 of the furname CanaaHite, given to him by the other evan- 

 gelills. (Matt. X. 4. Mark, iii. 18.) Some learned per- 

 fons have fuppofed, that the term Zelotes denoted his 

 zeal in embracing the gofpel of Jefus Chrill ; but others 

 think, that he was of a feCl called Zealots, mentioned by 

 Jofephus, (De Bell. 1. iv. c. 2. 1. vi. c. 1.) It does not 

 appear wiiere he preached, or where he died. Some have 

 aflerted that he travelled through Egypt, Cyrenaica, and 

 Africa ; that he preached in Mauritania and Libya, and 

 that he propagated the gofpel in Britain, clofing his life by 

 martyrdom, on the crofs, which he endured with incredible 

 courage. Others affirm, that he fuffered martyrdom in 

 the city of Sunir, in Perfia, on the 28th of Odtober, on 

 which day the Latin church celebrates his feflival. The 

 Greeks honour him June i, and fay, that he was Natha- 

 nacl, the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana. 



Simon Magus, or the Sorcerer, was a native, as it is faid, 

 of the village of Gitton, in the country of Samaria. His 

 hillory is recited Afts, viii. j — 13. See alfo Afts, viii. 

 9, 10, II. After having been difcovered and refilled by 

 the apollles, and particularly by Peter, lie is faid to have 

 fallen into greater errors and abominations,. applying him- 

 felf more than ever to magic, and taking pride in oppofing 

 the apollles, and propagating his errors. It is laid by 

 feveral of the ancient fathers, that at Rome, whither he 

 arrived in the time of the emperor Claudius, about A.D. 41, 

 he was honoured as a deity by the Romans, and by the 

 fenate itfelf, and that a llatue was decreed to him in the ille 

 of Tybcr, with this infcription : " Simoni Deo Sanfto." 

 This faft, however, is difputed by feveral able critics. It 

 appears, that under the reign of Nero he acquired great 

 reputation by his inchantments ; and that he pretended to 

 prove that he was the Chrill, and that, as the fon of God, 

 he could afcend to heaven ; and it has been faid, that he 

 really caufed himfelf to be raifed in the air, in a fiery 

 chariot, by the alTillance of two demons, but that by the 

 prayers of St. Peter he was deferted by his demons, fell 

 down and broke his legs, and afterwards, overcome by grief 

 and tliame, threw himfelf headlong from the top of the 

 houfe where he lodged. But we Ihall not multiply thefc 

 apocryphal (lories, wliicli are not worthy of recital. He 

 died, probably, A.D. 65. Simon formed a feft of heretics, 

 who were called Simoti'wiu ; which fee. 



Simon, a dilciple of Socrates, whofe occupation was that 

 of a leather-drellei- at Athens, and whofe (liop was reforted 

 to by Socrates and his friends. He is faid to have been the 

 firll who publilhed the .Socr.itic Dialogues ; but none arc 

 extant. Simon (o much valued freedom of inquiry, that 

 when Pericles invited him to make his houte his refidence, 

 with the promile of an ample recompence, he rcfufed, 

 alleging, that he would not fell the hberty of fpcaking hia 

 mind at any price. 



Simon, John Fkancis, an ingenious man of letters, 

 was born at Parij in 1654. He was originally intended for 

 the ecclefiaftical profcffion, and took the degree of doftor 



of 



