the groups of sounds occurring in the rest of the inscription, nor any of the endings of words so far as they may be guessed, present any reason for doubting this hypothesis; and the glosses already mentioned can one and all be easily connected with Greek or Latin words (e.g. μοῖτον, mutuum) ; in fact it would be difficult to rebut the contention that they should all be regarded as mere borrowings. (R. S. C.)
The towns of the Siculi, like those of the Sicani, formed no political union, but were under independent rulers. They played an important part in the history of the island after the arrival of the Greeks (see Sicily). Their agricultural pursuits and the volcanic nature of the island made them worshippers of the gods of the nether world, and they have enriched mythology with some distinctly national figures. The most important of these were the Palici, protectors of agriculture and sailors, who had a lake and temple in the neighbourhood of the river Symaethus, the chief seat of the Siceli; Adranus, father of the Palici, a god akin to Hephaestus, in whose temple a fire was always kept burning; Hybla (or Hyblaea), after whom three towns were named, whose sanctuary was at Hybla Gereatis. The connexion of Demeter and Kore with Henna (the rape of Proserpine) and of Arethusa with Syracuse is due to Greek influence. The chief Sicel towns were: Agyrium (San Filippo d’ Argiró); Centuripa (or Centuripae; Centorbi); Henna (Castrogiovanni, a corruption of Castrum Hennae through the Arabic Casr-janni) ; Hybla, three in number, (a) Hybla Major, called Geleatis or Gereatis, on the river Symaethus, probably the Hybla famous for its honey, although according to others this was (b) Hybla Minor, on the E. coast N. of Syracuse, afterwards the site of the Dorian colony of Megara, (c) Hybla Heraea in the S. of the island.
For authorities see Sicily.
SICYON, or Secyon (the latter being the older form used by
the natives), an ancient Greek city situated in northern Peloponnesus
between Corinthia and Achaea. It was built on a low
triangular plateau about 2 m. from the Corinthian Gulf, at the
confluence of the Asopus and the Helisson, whose sunken beds
protected it on E. and W. Between the city and its port lay a
fertile plain with olive-groves and orchards. Sicyon’s primitive
name Aegialeia indicates that its original population was Ionian;
in the Iliad it appears as a dependency of Agamemnon, and its
early connexion with Argos is further proved by the myth and
surviving cult of Adrastus. After the Dorian invasion the community
was divided anew into the ordinary three Dorian tribes
and an equally privileged tribe of Ionians, besides which a class
of κορυνηφόροι or κατωνακοφόροι lived on the land as serfs. For
some centuries Sicyon remained subject to Argos, whence its
Dorian conquerors had come; as late as 500 B.C. it acknowledged
a certain suzerainty. But its virtual independence was established
in the 7th century, when a line of tyrants arose and initiated
an anti-Dorian policy. This dynasty, known after its founder
Orthagoras as the Orthagoridae, exercised a mild rule, and therefore
lasted longer than any other succession of Greek tyrants
(about 665–565 B.C.). Chief of these rulers was the founder's
grandson Cleisthenes—the uncle of the Athenian legislator of that
name (see Cleisthenes, 2). Besides reforming the city’s constitution
to the advantage of the Ionians and replacing Dorian
cults by the worship of Dionysus, Cleisthenes gained renown as
the chief instigator and general of the First Sacred War (590)
in the interests of the Delphians. From Herodotus' famous
account of the wooing of Agariste it may be inferred that he
held intercourse with many commercial centres of Greece and
south Italy. About this time Sicyon developed the various
industries for which it was noted in antiquity. As the abode of
the sculptors Dipoenus and Scyllis it gained pre-eminence in wood-carving
and bronze work such as is still to be seen in the archaic
metal facings found at Olympia. Its pottery, which resembled
the Corinthian ware, was exported with the latter as far as
Etruria. In Sicyon also the art of painting was supposed to have
been “invented.” After the fall of the tyrants their institutions
survived till the end of the 6th century, when the Dorian supremacy
was re-established, perhaps by the agency of Sparta, and
the city was enrolled in the Peloponnesian League. Henceforth
its policy was usually determined either by Sparta or by its
powerful neighbour Corinth. During the Persian wars Sicyon
could place 3000 heavy-armed men in the field; its school of
bronze sculptors still flourished, and produced in Canachus (q.v.)
a master of the late archaic style. In the 5th century it suffered
like Corinth from the commercial rivalry of Athens in the western
seas, and was repeatedly harassed by flying squadrons of Athenian
ships. In the Peloponnesian war Sicyon followed the lead of
Sparta and Corinth. When these two powers quarrelled after the
peace of Nicias it remained loyal to the Spartans; but the
latter thought it prudent to stiffen the oligarchic government
against a nascent democratic movement. Again in the Corinthian
war Sicyon sided with Sparta and became its base of operations
against the allied troops round Corinth. In 369 it was captured
and garrisoned by the Thebans in their successful attack on the
Peloponnesian League. On this occasion a powerful citizen
named Euphron effected a democratic revolution and established
himself tyrant by popular support. His deposition by the
Thebans and subsequent murder freed Sicyon for a season, but
new tyrants arose with the help of Philip II. of Macedon. Nevertheless
during this period Sicyon reached its zenith as a centre
of art: its school of painting gained fame under Eupompus
and attracted the great masters Pamphilus and Apelles as
students; its sculpture was raised to a level hardly surpassed in
Greece by Lysippus and his pupils. After participating in the
Lamian war and the campaigns of the Macedonian pretenders the
city was captured (303) by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who transplanted
all the inhabitants to the Acropolis and renamed the site
Demetrias. In the 3rd century it again passed from tyrant to
tyrant, until in 251 it was finally liberated and enrolled in the
Achaean League by Aratus (q.v.). The destruction of Corinth
(146) brought Sicyon an acquisition of territory and the presidency
over the Isthmian games; yet in Cicero’s time it had fallen deep
into debt. Under the empire it was quite obscured by the restored
cities of Corinth and Patrae; in Pausanias’ age (A.D. 150)
it was almost desolate. In Byzantine times it became a bishop’s
seat, and to judge by its later name “Hellas” it served as a refuge
for the Greeks from the Slavonic immigrants of the 8th century.
The village of Vasiliko which now occupies the site is quite insignificant. On the plateau parts of the ancient fortifications are still visible, including the wall between town and Acropolis near the southern apex. A little north of this wall are remains of a theatre and stadium, traces of aqueducts and foundations of buildings. The theatre, which was excavated by the American School of Archaeology in 1886–1887, 1891 and 1898, was built in the slope towards the Acropolis, probably in the first half of the 4th century, and measured 400 ft. in diameter; the stage was rebuilt in Roman times. The side entrances to the auditorium were covered in with vaults of Greek construction; a curious feature is a tunnel from below the stage into the middle of the auditorium.
Authorities.—Strabo, pp. 382, 389; Herodotus v. 67-68, vi. 92, ix. 28; Thucydides i. 108, in; iv. 70, 101; v. 52, 82; Xenophon, Hellenica, iv., vi., vii. ; Diodorus xviii. n, xx. 102; Pausanias ii. 5-11 ; W. M. Leake, Travels in the Morea (London, 1830), iii. PP- 351-381; E. Curtius, Peloponnesos (Gotha, 1851), ii. pp. 482-505; American Journal of Archaeology, v. (1889) pp. 267-303, viii. (1893) pp. 288-400, xx. (1905) pp. 263-276; L. Dyer in the Journal of Hellenic Studies (1906), pp. 76-83; for coins, B. V. Head, Historia numorum (Oxford, 1887), pp. 345-346; also Numismatics, section Greek, § “Patrae, Sicyon.” (M. O. B. C.)
SIDDONS, SARAH (1755–1831), English actress, the eldest of twelve children of Roger Kemble, was born in the “Shoulder of Mutton” public-house, Brecon, Wales, on the 5th of July 1755. Through the special care of her mother in sending her to the schools in the towns where the company played, Sarah Kemble received a remarkably good education, although she was accustomed to make her appearance on the stage while still a child. She became attached to William Siddons, an actor of the company; but this was discountenanced by her parents, who wished her to accept the offer of a squire. Siddons was dismissed from the company, and she was sent to a situation as lady’s maid to Mrs Greathead at Guy’s Cliff in Warwickshire. Here she recited Shakespeare, Milton and Rowe in the servants'
