SIC 
186 - 
Hellanicus of Lesbos, 80 years before the siege of Troy, or 
1364 years B. C., according to the chronology of Thucy¬ 
dides. The name of Siculi, which comprehended all the 
people who diffused themselves from the Tiber to the eastern 
extremity of Italy, the country occupied by the Liburni ex¬ 
cepted, was gradually abolished by the separate leagues and 
distinctions of the Sabines, Latins, Samnites, Oenotrians, and 
Italians. Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, men¬ 
tion these people. 
SICULI AN A, a considerable town on the south coast of 
Sicily, in the Val di Mazzira, situated at the mouth of the 
small river Canna. It has a harbour, and exports some 
wheat; also quantities of sulphur, obtained from mines in 
the neighbourhood. Population 6000; 8 miles west-by- 
north of Girgenti. 
SICUM, a town of Illyria, on the coast of Dalmatia, be¬ 
tween Scardona and Salone, according to Ptolemy and Pliny. 
The latter says, that the Emperor Claudius sent hither his 
veteran soldiers. 
SICUS, in Ichthyology, a name used by some authors to 
express albula nob ills. This, in the LirmEean system, is a 
species of sa/mo. 
SICUT ALIAS, in Law, a writ sent out in the second 
place, where the first was not executed. 
SICYEDON [from at kvo<;, a cucumber], in Surgery, a 
transverse fracture, 
. SICYON, a town of Greece, and capital of a small state 
in the gulf of Corinth, and not far distant from it. It was 
anciently called 5£gialse, from iEgialeus, its supposed founder 
and first monarch. It is not certain whether the whole king¬ 
dom, or only its metropolis, was called by that name, but it 
was exchanged for Apia, from Apis its fourth king; and in 
process of time it acquired that of Sicyon, who was the 19th 
monarch. He reigned about 740 years after its supposed 
foundation ; and from that time not only the kingdom, but 
the whole peninsula of Peloponnesus, was called Sicyonia 
until its dissolution. 
This little kingdom lay on the north part of the Pelopon¬ 
nesus., since called, the bay of Corinth. On the west it had 
the province of Achaia, and on the east the isthmus, which 
joins the peninsula to the continent of Greece. Its extent 
has not been ascertained. Its capital is supposed to have 
been situated upon the river Asopus, having the bay of Co¬ 
rinth on the north, and the rest of the Peloponnesus at the 
three other points. Strabo and Livy say, that it was parted 
from the kingdom of Corinth by the river Nemia; and Pto¬ 
lemy adds that it was first called Micone, and afterwards 
jEgiali; he gave it two cities, Platius and Sicyou, both of 
which he placed at some distance from the sea. 
The territory of this small state was rich, abounding with 
corn, vines, olive-trees, and other commodities, besides some 
iron mines. Its metropolis was, in process of time, very 
much adorned by Sicyon and his successors, with temples, 
altars, monuments, and statues of all their gods and an¬ 
cient monarchs. This would be justly deemed the most 
ancient monarchy in the world, not excepting those of Egypt 
and Assyria, if it were true that its founder lived about 
150 years after the flood, or about 200 years before Noah’s 
death; as some have computed it from Eusebius, who affirms 
this monarchy to have been founded 1313 years before the 
first Olympiad, or 2089 B. C. But other chronologers have 
corrected this mistake, and made him contemporary with 
Terah, Abraham’s father, and stated the commencement of 
his reign about the year of the world 1915, or even later, 
about A. M. 1236; by which computation it is brought 
somewhat lower than the year of the flood 900. This 
kingdom is said to have had, during an interval of 962 years, 
a succession of 26 kings, but their reigns are distinguished 
by no memorable action or conquest. The first king was 
JSgialeus, and the last Zeuxippus or Deuxippus; but in 
• Blair’s chronology the last king is Charidemus, with whom 
they end, 1089 years B. C., or 15 years after the return of 
the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus. In the list of kings, the 
most remarkable is Sicyon, who gave name to the state, and 
who is supposed to have built, or at least enlarged, the 
S I D 
metropoiss of the kingdom, and to have called it by his own 
name. Accordingly it was not only one of the noblest cities 
in Greece, on account both of its -magnificent edifices and 
ingenious workmen, but it was a considerable place when 
the Venetians were masters of the Morea, under the new name. 
of “ Basilica,” though it has been for near the two last cen¬ 
turies reduced to a heap of ruins, containing only three. 
Turkish, and about as many Christian families. The town 
was situated on the top of a hill, about three miles from the 
gulf of Lepanto ; and has still several monuments of its an¬ 
cient as well as modern grandeur, particularly the walls of its ; 
famous citadel, of some fine churches and mosques, and a 
large ancient edifice, called the royal palace, with aqueducts. 
to supply it with water, all which, with other old remains, 
are described by Sir George Wheeler, Voy. 
After the death of Zeuxippus, the last king of Sicyon, 
this state is said to have been governed by the priests of; 
Apollo Carneus, five of whom held the sovereignty only 
during one year each; after which the Amphiclyons swayed 
the sceptre nine years successively, and Charidemus, the last 
of them, continued in it 18 years. After this hierarchy had 
lasted 32 years, the Heraclidae, who were at that time 
returned from Peloponnesus, became masters of it, or accord¬ 
ing to Pausanias, the kingdom was incorporated with the 
Dores, and became subject to that of Argos, the next king¬ 
dom to that of Sicyon in respect of antiquity. An. Un. 
Hist. vol. v. 
SICYONII, among the Romans, were shoes of a more 
delicate form, and better ornamented than ordinary, and 
chiefly worn by the ladies and the gallants. 
SICYOS of Theophrastus], in Botany, a genus of. 
the class monoecia, order syngenesia, natural order of Cu¬ 
curbit acese.—Generic Character, Male flowers.—Calyx 
perianth one-leafed, bell-shaped, five-toothed: toothlets 
awl-shaped. Corolla, five-parted, bell-shaped, fastened to 
the calyx : segments ovate. Stamina: filaments three, 
united. Anthers as many, sepaiate. Female flowers on the 
same plant—Calyx: perianth as in the male, superior, de-' 
ciduous. Corolla as in the male. Pistil: germ ovate, in, 
ferior. Style cylindrical. Stigma thickish, trifid. Peri¬ 
carp : berry ovate, set with spines, one-celled. Seed single* 
subovate. Essential Character, Calyx five-toothed. 
Corolla five-parted. Male filaments three. Female style 
trifid. Drupe one-seeded. 
1. Sicyos angulata, angular-leaved sicyos, or single,, 
seeded cucumber.—Leaves angular. This is an annual 
plant, which rises with two large s^ed-leaves like those of 
the cucumber; the stalk is trailing, and has tendrils, by 
which it fastens itself to neighbouring plants, and will rise 
fifteen or sixteen feet high, dividing into many branches,' 
with angular leaves on them like those of the cucumber. 
Flowers sulphur coloured.—Native of North America. 
2. Sicyos laeiniata, or jagged-leaved sicyos.—This is also 
an annual plant, with trailing slalks like the former; but 
the leaves are cut into several segments. The flowers are 
larger and of a deeper colour. The fruit is not quite so 
large, nor so closely armed with prickly hairs.—Native of 
the West Indies. 
3. Sicyos Garcini, or Garcin’s sicyos.—Leaves cordate, 
five-parted with the sinuses obtuse: segments sinuate with 
mucronafe teeth. Fruit sessile, solitary, ciliate, pressed to 
the stem.-—Native of Ceylon. 
Propagation and Culture. —If the seeds be permitted 
to scatter, the plants will come up in the spring better than 
when sown by hand, and require no other care but to keep 
them clean from weeds. These plants ramble, and take up 
too much room in small gardens; they should therefore be 
allowed a place near a hedge, upon which they may climb : 
they do not bear transplanting well, unless when they first 
come up. 
Sow the seeds upon a hot-bed in the spring, and treat 
the plants in the same way as cucumbers and melons, keep¬ 
ing them under frames. They require more room, so that a 
plant or two will be enough for curiosity. 
SIDA [2<8y of Theophrastus], in Botany, a genus of 
the 
