SESAME 351 SESTERCE and the Etruscans, and divided the popu- lation of Rome into tribes, instituting at the same time the comitia centuriata and tributa; he also beautified the city, and built several temples. According to the common story Servius married his two daughters to the grandsons of his father- in-law; the elder to Tarquin, and the younger to Aruns. The wife of Aruns murdered her own husband to unite her- self to Tarquin, who had assassinated his wife. Servius was murdered by Tarquin, and his own daughter Tullia ordered her chariot to be driven over the mangled body of her father (534 B. a). SESAME, an annual herbaceous plant of the genus Sesamum, natural order Bignoniacese, sub-order Pedaliacese a sub- order characterized by wingless seeds, and placenta? with woody lobes attached to the inner wall of the fruit. The spe- cies most noteworthy of notice is S. indi- cum, sometimes identified with and some- times distinguished from S. orientate, a native of India. Sesame is cultivated throughout the East from Egypt to Japan for the sake of the seeds, which yield by expression gingili oil. The oil is used in cookery — as a substitute for butter in the same way as olive oil — for lighting, and for the purposes of lubrication. It is inodorous, has a sweet taste, and keeps for years without becoming rancid. In Egypt and Arabia it is preferred to olive oil. It is used in connection with medi- cine. Egyptian women consider it the best of cosmetics. The oil cake, mixed with honey and preserved citron, is an Oriental luxury. The leaves of sesame abound in a gummy substance, which they readily impart to water, making a rich bland mucilage, which is used in the S. parts of the United States (where it is grown a little) as a demulcent drink. Se- same is sometimes called til seed. SESAMOID BONES, the name given to certain rounded bodies, at first car- tilaginous and then bony, found in the tendons of muscles. The patella or knee cap is a sesamoid bone. Another is de- veloped in the upper joint of the thumb, and at the corresponding joint of the great toe. These bones are said to occur most frequently in males, and in persons of robust and muscular build. SESHA, in Hindu mythology, the king of the serpent race, on which Vishnu re- clines on the primeval waters. It has 1,000 heads, on one of which the world rests. The coiled-up Sesha is the emblem of eternity. SESOSTRIS, the most celebrated of the early kings of Egypt. According to the legend, which evidently confounds the military exploits of several monarchs, he, on succeeding to the throne, became am- bitious of military fame, and marched at the head of a numerous army to make the conquest of the world. Libya, Ethio- pia, Arabia, with all the islands of the Red Sea, were conquered; and the vic- torious monarch marched through Asia, and penetrated farther into the East than the conqueror of Darius. He also in- vaded Europe, defeated the Thracians, and placed columns in the several provinces he had subdued, bearing the pompous in- scription, "Sesostris, the king of kings, has conquered this territory by his arms." After his return, he employed himself in encouraging the fine arts, and in improv- ing the revenues of his kingdom. In his old age, Sesostris, having grown infirm and blind, destroyed himself. The time of Sesostris is placed from 1400 to 1250 B. c. Sesostris, so called by the Greeks, is identical with Rameses II., one of the most famous of the Pharaohs. SESSA (the ancient Suessa Aurunca), a town of southern Italy in the province of Caserta; on the crater of an extinct volcano, and on the road from Gaeta to Capua; 16 miles N. W. of the latter. It contains the ruins of an amphitheater, and ancient medals and bronzes have been found. SESSION, the sitting together of a body of individuals for the transaction of business; the sitting of a court, council, legislature, academic body, or the like, or the actual assembly of the members of such or like bodies for the transaction of business. Also the time, space or term during which a court, council, legislature, or the like meets for business, or trans- acts business regularly without breaking up or dissolving. The session of a judicial court is called a term. Sessions is used as the title of some courts of criminal jurisdiction in the United States and Eng- land. SESTERCE, a Roman coin, the fourth part of the Denarius, and thus containing at first two asses or librse. The name is an abbreviation of the Latin semis-tertius, which was their mode of expressing two, and their custom was to derive the names of all their coins from the foundation of their money system, the As. The sym- bols for it were indifferently HS or IIS, the former being only a modification of the latter, which expresses two units, and S for the additional half -unit (semis). In the Latin classics, the phrase sester~ tius-nummus, or merely minimus, is fre- quently employed to denote this coin. When the Denarius was made to contain 16 asses, the relation between it and the sestertius was preserved and the latter from that time contained 4 asses, though
