S
Sabini
One of the most ancient and powerful of the peoples of Central Italy. The Sabines formed one of the elements of which the Roman people was…
Sacra Via
An important street in Rome, where a treaty of peace was made between Romulus and Tatius. Sais (Sa-el-Hajjar, Ru.). A great city of Egypt…
Salamis
An island of Attica celebrated for a battle fought there between the fleets of the Greeks and Persians, in which the latter suffered…
Salus
A Roman goddess, the personification of health, prosperity, and the public welfare. Samos or Samus (Greek Samo, Turkish Susam Adassi). One…
Sapor
A king of Persia, who succeeded to the throne about the 238th year of the Christian era. He wished to increase his dominions by conquest…
Sappho
Celebrated for her beauty and poetical talents, was born at Lesbos about 600 years before Christ. She became enamored of Phaon, a youth of…
Sardanapalus
The last king of Assyria, celebrated for his luxury and indolence. His effeminacy induced his subjects to conspire against him with…
Saturnius
A name given to a son of Saturnus, and accordingly used as a surname of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. For the same reason the name of…
Saturnus
The son of Coelus, or Uranus, by Terra. It was customary to offer human victims on his altars till this custom was abolished by Hercules…
Saxones
A powerful people in Germany, who originally dwelt in the southern part of the Cimbric Chersonesus, between the rivers Albis (Elbe) and…
Scipio
The name of a celebrated family at Rome, the most conspicuous of which was Publius Cornelius, afterward called Africanus. He was the son of…
Scoti
A people mentioned, together with the Picti, by the later Roman writers as one of the chief tribes of the ancient Caledonians. They dwelt…
Scymnus
A native of Chios, who wrote a Periegesis, or description of the earth, in prose, and which is consequently different from the Periegesis…
Semele
A daughter of Cadmus, and Hermione, the daughter of Mars and Venus. She was the mother of Bacchus. After death she was made immortal under…
Semiramis
A celebrated queen of Assyria, who married the governor of Nineveh, and at his death she became the wife of King Ninus. She caused many…
Sertorius
A native of Nursia, a Sabine village, one of the most extraordinary men in the later times of the republic. He served under Marius, and…
Sesostris
A celebrated king of Egypt, who lived long prior to the Trojan war. He was ambitious of military fame, and achieved many conquests. On his…
Sibyllae
The name by which several prophetic women are designated. The first Sibyl, from whom all the rest are said to have derived their name, is…
Sidon
(O. T. Tsidon, or, in the English form, Zidon: Saida, Ru.). One of the most ancient of the cities of Phoenice and for a long time the most…
Silvius
The son of Ascanius, who is said to have been so called because he was born in a wood. All the succeeding kings of Alba bore the cognomen…
Sinon
Son of Aesimus, or, according to Vergil (Aen. ii. 79), of Sisyphus, and grandson of Autolycus, was a relation of Ulysses, whom he…
Sisyphus
Son of Aeolus and Enaretta. After death he was condemned, in the infernal regions, to roll a stone to the summit of a hill, which always…
Socrates
The most celebrated philosopher of antiquity, born near Athens, whose virtues rendered his name venerated. His independence of spirit…
Solon
One of the wise men of Greece, who was born at Salamis and educated at Athens. After traveling over Greece he returned, and was elected…
Sophocles
A celebrated tragic poet of Athens. He was distinguished also as a statesman, and exercised the office of archon with credit and honor. He…
Sophonisba
A daughter of Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian, celebrated for her beauty. She See page 248, Pudicitia. married Syphax, prince of Numidia, and…
Sparta
The capital of Laconia and the chief city of Peloponnesus, was situated on the right bank of the Eurotas (Iri), about twenty miles from the…
Spartacus
A Thracian, by birth who was successively a shepherd, a soldier, and a chief of banditti. On one of his predatory expeditions he was taken…
Spes
The personification of Hope, was worshipped at Rome, where she had several temples. The Greeks also worshipped the personification of Hope…
Sphinx
A monster, having the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the wings of a bird, and the paws of a lion…
Sporades
A group of scattered islands in the Aegean Sea, off the island of Crete and the western coast of Asia Minor, so called in opposition to the…
Spurinna Vestritius
The haruspex who warned Caesar to beware of the Ides of March. Stabiae (Castell a Mare di Stabia). An ancient town in Campania between…
Stagira
A town on the borders of Macedonia, where Aristotle was born; hence he is called the Stagirite.. A Statius, P. Papinius. A poet, born at…
Stator
A Roman surname of Jupiter, describing him as staying the Romans in their flight from an enemy, and generally as preserving the existing…
Stentor
One of the Greeks who went to the Trojan war. He was noted for the loudness of his voice, and from him the term "stentorian" has become…
Stesichorus
A celebrated Greek poet, of Himera, in Sicily. Stesichorus was one of the nine chiefs of lyric poetry recognized by the ancients. He…
Salacia – Stobi
The female divinity of the sea among the Romans, and the wife of Neptune. The second king of Persia of that name.
Strabo
A celebrated geographer, born at Amasia, on the borders of Cappadocia. He flourished in the age of Augustus. His work on geography consists…
Strophades Insulae
Two islands in the Ionian Sea, formerly called Plotae (Strofadia and Strivali). The Harpies were pursued to these islands by the sons of…
Stymphalus
A town in the northeast of Arcadia. The town itself was situated on a mountain of the same name, and on the north side of the lake…
Sublicius Pons
The oldest of the bridges at Rome, said to have been built by Ancus Martius. Suessa Aurunca (Sessa). A town of the Aurunci in Latium, east…
Summanus
A derivative form from summus, the highest, an ancient Roman or Etruscan divinity, who was of equal or even of higher rank than Jupiter. As…
Sybarite
Sylla (or Sulla), L. Cornelius. A celebrated Roman, of a noble family, who rendered himself conspicuous in military affairs, and became…
Syphax
A king of the Masaesyllii in Numidia, who married Sophonisba, the daughter of Hasdrubal. He joined the Carthaginians against the Romans…
Syrinx
An Arcadian nymph, who being pursued by Pan fled into the river Ladon, and at her own prayer was metamorphosed into a reed, of which Pan…
Stoici, Styx, Suada, Sulla, Susarion & Sybaris
A celebrated sect of philosophers founded by Zeno. They preferred virtue to all other things, and regarded everything opposed to it as an…