812 S Y N 
in different words.—This word fortis we may synonymise 
after all these fashions—stout, hardy, valiant, doughty, 
courageous, adventurous, brave, bold, daring, intrepid. 
Camden. 
SYNO'NYMOUS, adj. [$wcovi ytaj, Gr.] Expressing 
the same thing by different words; having the same signifi¬ 
cation ; univocal.—When two or more words signify the 
same thing, as wave and billow, mead and meadow, they are 
usually called synonymous words. Watts. —Fortune is but 
a synonymous word for nature and necessity. Bentley. 
SYNO'NYMOUSLY, adv. In a synonymous manner.^- 
It is often used synonymously with words which signify any 
kind of production or formation. Pearson. 
SYNO'NYMY, s. \yvvu>vvp.ia,, Gr.] The quality of 
expressing by different words the same thing.—We having 
three rivers of note, synonymies with her. Selden. 
SYNO'PSIS, s. [a-woipit;, Gr.] A general view; all 
the parts brought under one view.—Breviaries, synopses , 
and other loitering gear. Milton. 
SYNOPTICAL, adj. Affording a view of many parts 
at once.—We have collected so many synoptical tables, cal¬ 
culated for his monthly use. Evelyn. 
SYNOPTICALLY, adv. In a synoptical manner.—I 
shall more synoptically here insert a catalogue of all dying 
materials. Sir W. Petty. 
SYNTA'CTICAL, adj. [from syntaxis, Lat.] Con¬ 
joined ; fitted to each other. Relating to the construction 
of speech.—A figure is divided into tropes, &c., grammatical, 
orthographical, syntactical. Peacham. 
SY'NTAX, or Syntaxis, s. [<?vvt a^a;, Gr.] A system; 
a number of things joined together.—They owe no other 
dependance to the first than what is common to the whole 
syntax of beings. Glanville. —That part of grammar 
which teaches the construction of words.—To make the 
word gift, like the river Mole in Surrey, to run under the bot¬ 
tom of a long line, and so start up to govern the word presby¬ 
tery, as in immediate syntaxis. Milton. 
SYNTERE'SIS, s. [crw and -njyew, Gr.] A remorse of 
conscience.—Though the principles of synteresis, the seeds 
of piety, and virtue, scattered and disseminated in the soul, 
to bring forth the fruit of virtue and felicity, may be 
trampled on and kept under, cropped and snibbed, by the 
bestial part; yet they will sometimes be starting out, sprout¬ 
ing, and putting forth themselves. Bp. Ward. 
SY'NTHESIS, s. [o-wS’eo-i?, Gr.] The act of joining: 
opposed to analysis. 
SYNTHETIC, or Synthetical, adj. {o-wBctiko^, 
Gr.; synthetique, Fr.] Conjoining; compounding; form¬ 
ing composition: opposed to analytic. — Synthetic method 
is that which begins with the parts, and leads onward to the 
knowledge of the whole; it begins with the most simple 
principles and general truths, and proceeds by degrees to 
that which is drawn from them or compounded of them; 
and therefore it is called the method of composition. Watts. 
SYNTHETICALLY, adv. By synthesis.—The plan pro¬ 
ceeds synthetically from parts to the whole. Walker. 
SY'PHON, s. A tube; a pipe.—Take your glass, syphon, 
or crane, and draw it off from its last faeces into small bottles- 
Mortimer. 
SYPOMBA, an island on the coast of Brazil, about 7 
leagues north-east of St. John’s island, and north-west from 
a range of islands which form the great bay of Para. 
SYPOTUBA, one of the head branches of the river Para¬ 
guay, in South America. 
SYRA, or Syros, an island of the archipelago, lying in 
the midst of the Cyclades, near Delos, in Lat. 27. 22. N. 
long. 24. 34. E. Its length is about 14, its circumference 
nearly 36 miles. Its surface is mountainous, but its soil pro¬ 
ductive. Its climate, like that of the surrounding islands, is 
very mild, winter being scarcely perceptible, and the heats 
of summer moderated by the sea breezes. Hence the 
trees rarely lose their verdure. The products are wheat, 
barley, wine, olives, honey, cotton, and several kinds of 
fruit. 
SYR 
SYRACUSE, a celebrated town of Sicily, situated in the 
south-east of the island, and possessing, in aucient times, a 
larger population than Athens, or any of the Grecian cities. 
This estimate, sanctioned by the authority of Thucydides, 
Strabo, and Cicero, receives confirmation from the nature of 
the locality, and the still remaining traces of the walls. 
Syracuse had two harbours, of which the larger is a basin of 
nearly two miles in length, and the above one in width, with 
an entrance sufficiently wide for navigation, and sufficiently 
contracted for defence. To this, and to the means of easy 
defence on the land side, were owing its increase and even¬ 
tual magnitude. It was founded by a colony of Corinthians 
about 736 years before the birth of our Saviour, and was 
governed at one time as a republic, at another by Gelon, 
Hiero, and other rulers. The siege by the Athenians, so im¬ 
pressively described by Thucydides, took place 414 years 
before Christ; the government of Dionysius the Elder, and 
Timoleon, in less than half a century after. Syracuse was 
taken by the Romans 212 years before Christ, and continued 
in their possession until the inroads of the Barbarians on the 
downfall of the empire. 
The shape of ancient Syracuse was triangular, one side 
being formed by the sea, the other by a line of rock, the 
third by a strong wall. The city consisted of four parts, that 
called Ortygia, situated between the two harbours; Acradina, 
a more extensive quarter, extending along the sea side from 
north to south; Tyehe, an inland and equally large division, 
and finally, Neapolis, forming the west extremity of the city, 
and defended by a high and strong ground. The space thus 
occupied was of great extent, being equal to rather more 
than half the ground covered by London, Westminster, and 
Southwark. It was not, however, closely inhabited; for 
the population could not at any time have exceeded a sixth 
of that of the English metropolis; nor would it, strong as is 
its position, have been capable of repelling so formidable an 
army as that of the Athenians under Nicias, or to resist, 
during three years, the Romans under Marcellus, had not the 
difficulties of besieging been far greater in ancient than in 
modern times. 
At present, the only inhabited part of Syracuse is the 
south-east corner, containing Ortygia and part of Acradina. 
It is insulated, walled, and entered by draw-bridges. The 
streets are regular, but narrow; the houses tolerably built. 
The population is not above 15,000. The cathedral or 
principal church is the ancient temple of Minerva. The 
palace of Dionysius, his tomb, the baths of Daphnis, and 
other ancient buildings, have disappeared; but there remains 
the ancient ampitheatre, of an oval form, above 300 feet in 
length, and 200 in width; the arena, the seats, and the 
passages of communication, were cut out of the rock; and 
enough yet remains, to convey an idea of its ancient gran¬ 
deur. In 1810 a beautiful statue of Venus was dug out from 
among ruins. There still remains a considerable part of the 
long wall built on the north side of the town by Dionysius; its 
height does not exceed seven feet, but it is ten feet in thick¬ 
ness, and exhibits a very solid mass of masonry. The cala- 
combs continue in existence, and form another remarkable 
feature of Syracuse. The speaking grotto, or, as it was called 
by the ancients, the Ear of Dionysius, is a cave of 170 feet 
in length, 60 in height, and from 20 to 35 in width, 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 can no longer boast of ornament, 
being the resort of the laundresses of the place. It continues, 
however, a striking object, from itsdischarge of water, which 
is such as to resemble the stream of a river. The fountain of 
of Cyane, a few miles from the town, has also a copious dis¬ 
charge. The harbour exists in all its beauty. It is capable 
of receiving vessels of the greatest burden, and of containing 
a very numerous fleet. Though at present entirely neglect¬ 
ed, it might easily be rendered a great naval and commercial 
station. The environs of Syracuse are fertile. The exports 
from the town are limited to wine, oil, hemp, nitre, and 
some 
