SOL 



SOLOENTIA, a promontory of interior Libya, be- 

 tween the mouth of the river Nunius and that of the river 

 Malla, according to Ptolemy. 



SOLOFRA, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Prin- 

 cipato Ultra ; i8 miles S. of Benevento. 



SOLOGNE, a dilh-id of the government of Orleannois, 

 in France, before the revolution, about 60 miles in length, 

 and iR in breadth, of which Romorantin was the capital. 



SOLOK, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 

 Troki, on a lake ; 40 mile^ NN.E. of Zytomiers. 



SOLOMBO, Great, a fmall ifland in the Eaft Indian 

 fea. S. lat. f 36', E. long. 114'" 45'. 



SoLO.MBO, Link, a fmall ifland, a little N.E. of Great 

 Solombo. 



SOLOMBOL, an ifland of Ruflia, in the government 

 of Archangel, fituated on the river Dwina ; which has a 

 dock-yard for building fhip?, with a fort and garrifon ; 5 

 verfts above Archangel. 



SOLOMIAC, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Gers ; 14 miles S.E. of Leftoure. 



SOLOMON, in Biography, a king of the Jews, emi- 

 nently dilliiiguidied by his wifdom, wealth, and extent of 

 territory, was the fon of David by Bathfheba, formerly the 

 wife of Uriah, and born in the year B.C. 1033. By the 

 influence of Bathflieba, and the recommendation of Nathan, 

 Zadok, and other friends, who thought it neceflary to coun- 

 teraft the views and meafures of Adonijah, David's eldefl; 

 fon, he was proclaimed the deltined fucceflbr of his father 

 before his death. When this event took place, B.C. 1015, 

 he afcendtd the throne of all Ifrael, not only without oppo- 

 fition, but amidll the acclamations of the people. For his 

 greater fecurity, he ordered Adonijah, .^nd Joab, who was 

 attached to his intereft, to be put to death. As foon as he 

 was confirmed in his kingdom, he contrafted an alliance with 

 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and married his daughter, whom 

 he brought to Jerufalem, and for whom he afterwards built 

 a fumptuous palace ; receiving for her dowry the city of 

 Gezer, which had been taken from the Canaanites. It was 

 on occafion of this marriage, as fome have thought, that he 

 compofed the Canticles, as a kind of epithalamium ; and the 

 45th Pfalm has been alfo referred to the fame event. About 

 this time he led his troops, and all Ifrael, to Gibeon, 

 where he oft'ered a thoufand burnt-oflerings upon the brazen 

 altar. In the following night he is faid to have been fa- 

 voured with a vifion, in which God promifed to grant him 

 whatloever he defired : and as the chjeifl of his prayer was 

 wifdom for difcharging the duties of his high office, his re- 

 queft was fully granted. Upon his return to Jerufalem, he 

 offered a great number of facrifices on the altar, before the 

 ark of the Lord, and made a great feaft for his fervants. As 

 an inllance of his wifdom, he decided a difpute between two 



mothers, who claimed the fame child, (i Kings, iii. 16 zS.) 



In token of the acceptablencfs of his petition, he alfo ob- 

 tained, more than he aiked for, a gratuitous donation, on 

 the part of God, of riches and honour : which were amply 

 difplaycd in the magnificence of his court, the amount of 

 his revenues, the multitude of his fubjects, the number of 

 his civil and military eltablifliments, and a variety of other 

 circumllances, which rendered him one of the moll cele- 

 brated monarchs of the EalL His reign was peaceful and 

 profperous. Judah and Ifrael were united and fecure, and 

 his neighbours'eithcr formed an alliance with him, or paid 

 him tribute. His dominions extended from the Euphrates 

 to the Nile ; and his reputation for wiidom was fpread 

 through all nations. 



As foon as Hiram, king of Tyre, heard of his acceffion 

 to the throne of Ifrael, he deputed ambafladors to cono-ra- 



S O L 



tulate him ; and with the acknowledgment of this meflage, 

 he requeiled to be fupplied with wood, and able artificers to 

 aflilt in conllrufting the temple at Jerufalem, which, in 

 deference to his father's vow, he had undertaken to execute. 

 The completion of this magnificent edifice conferred Angu- 

 lar celebrity on the reign of Solomon. It was begun in the 

 4th year of his reign, and the fecond after the death of Da- 

 vid, B.C. 1012, and 480 years after the Exodus. In the 

 various departments of this great work, he employed no lefs 

 than 183,600 perfons. This wonderful ftructure was com.- 

 pleted in the i ith year of Solomon, or in the fliort fpace of 

 feven years ; and it was folemnly dedicated on Friday, 0<ft. 

 30, B.C. 1000 years. Solomon afterwards built two pa- 

 laces, one for himfelf and another for his queen ; and the 

 conftruftion of the temple and palaces occupied a period of 

 twenty years. He alfo built the walls of .Jerufalem ; and 

 he repaired and fortified a great number of cities. The 

 great expence which he thus incurred was defrayed by a 

 commerce which he carried on from Ezion-gebcr and Eloth, 

 on the Red fea, to Ophir ; for the fituation of which fee m 

 Ophir. I 



Solomon, however, notwithitanding the wifdom which 

 rendered him fo famous, had not fufficient fortitude for 

 refilting the temptations that accompanied his profperity. 

 He was betrayed, in the mottculpable and difgraccful manner, 

 into the vices attendant on luxury and fenluality. Befides 

 700 wives, he had 300 concubines ; and in his declining age, 

 though he had erefted a temple to .lehovah the true God, 

 and was thus implicitly pledged to preferve the religion of 

 the Jews pure and uncorruptcd, their influence caufed him to 

 degenerate into the iiioit inexcufable idolatry, fetting up as 

 objefls of worfliip, Alhtorcth, goddefs of the Sidonians, 

 Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites, and Chemofh, the god 

 of the Moabites, and building for them temples on the mount 

 of Olives, over-againit, and ealt, of .lerufalem. As a juft 

 punifliment of his culpable conduft, the fovereigns of Edom 

 and Syria were excited againlf him, and he faw, before his 

 death, the commencement of that revolt which terminated 

 in the divilion of the kingdom. 



Solomon clofed his life and reign in the year B.C. 975, 

 having reigned 40 years, at the age of 58. Such is the 

 .Scripture account, but Jofephus affigns to him a reign of 

 80 years, and a life of 94 years. He was buried in the city 

 of David, and fucceeded by his fon Rehoboam, who reigned 

 only over part of the divided kingdom of Ifrael. Tradition 

 afcribes to him a great number of books; but thofe only 

 under his name admitted into the canon of Scriptures, are 

 the " Proverbs," '< Ecclefiartes," and the " Canticles." See 

 each in its proper place. 



SoLOMOx'j Seal, in Botany, a plant called by authors ^o- 

 lygoiiatum ; which fee. See alfo Conv.^llaria. 



Solo.mon'j Iflands, in Geographs, a group of iflands in the 

 Pacific ocean, difcovered by Mendana in 1565 ; and after- 

 wards by M. Survilie, in 1767, who called them .Arfacides, 

 or Aflaliins ; they were pafled by Lieut. Shortland in 1788, 

 and called by him New Georgia. See Arsacid.?: and 

 Georgia. 



SOLON, in Biography, one of the fages of Greece, and 

 the celebrated law-giver of the Athenians, was born in the 

 feventh century before Chrilt. He was of a family defcend- 

 ed from the ancient kings of Athens, but which, in the 

 revolutians of time, had fallen into indigence, for he pafled 

 his early years in travelhng on mercantile bufinefs. He 

 fhewed an early difpofition for poetiy, which he firll exer- 

 cifed on the following occafion. The Athenians, in a war 

 with the Megarenfianp, had been expelled fx-om the ifle of 

 Salamis, and their efforts to recover it were attended with fo 



much 



