Part 172

"Undoubtedly, one of the important results already obtained from the study of the native chronicles of Babylon is the establishment, on grounds apart from the question of the authenticity of the Book of Daniel, of the historical character of Belshazzar. The name of this prince had always been a puzzle to commentators and historians. The only native authority on Babylonian history—Berosus—did not appear to have mentioned such a person. … According to the extracts from the work of Berosus preserved for us in the writings of these authors, the following is the history of the last King of Babylon. His name was Nabonidus, or Nabonedus, and he first appears as the leader of a band of conspirators who determined to bring about a change in the government. The throne was then occupied by the youthful Laborosoarchod (for this is the corrupt Greek form of the Babylonian Lâbâshi-Marduk), who was the son of Neriglissar, and therefore, through his mother, the grandson of the great Nebuchadnezzar; but, in spite of his tender age, the new sovereign who had only succeeded his father two months before, had already given proof of a bad disposition. … When the designs of the conspirators had been carried out, they appointed Nabonidus king in the room of the youthful son of Neriglissar. … We next hear that in the seventeenth year of Nabonidus, Cyrus, who had already conquered the rest of Asia, marched upon Babylon, B. C. 538.

See PERSIA B. C. 549-521.

The native forces met the Persians in battle, but were put to flight, with their king at their head, and took refuge behind the ramparts of Borsippa. Cyrus thereupon entered Babylon, we are told, and threw down her walls. … Herodotus states that the last king of Babylon was the son of the great Nebuchadnezzar—to give that monarch his true name—for in so doing he bears out, so far as his testimony is of any value, the words of the Book of Daniel, which not only calls Belshazzar son of Nebuchadnezzar, but also introduces the wife of the latter monarch as being the mother of the ill-fated prince who closed the long line of native rulers. Such being the only testimony of secular writers, there was no alternative but to identify Belshazzar with Nabonidus. … Yet the name Nabonidus stood in no sort of relation to that of Belshazzar; and the identification of the two personages was, undoubtedly, both arbitrary and difficult. The cuneiform inscriptions brought to Europe from the site of Babylon and other ancient cities of Chaldæa soon changed the aspect of the problem. … Nabonidus, or, in the native form, Nabu naïd, that is to say, 'Nebo exalts,' is the name given to the last native king of Babylon in the contemporary records inscribed on clay. This monarch, however, was found to speak of his eldest son as bearing the very name preserved in the Book of Daniel, and hitherto known to us from that source alone. … 'Set the fear of thy great godhead in the heart of. Belshazzar, my firstborn son, my own offspring; and let him not commit sin, in order that he may enjoy the fulness of life.' … 'Belshazzar, my firstborn son, … lengthen his days; let him not commit sin. …' These passages provide us, in an unexpected manner, with the name which had hitherto been known from the Book of Daniel, and from that document alone; but we were still in the dark as to the reason which could have induced the author to represent Belshazzar as king of Babylon. … In 1882 a cuneiform inscription was for the first time interpreted and published by Mr. Pinches; it had been disinterred among the ruins of Babylon by Mr. Hormuzd Russam. This document proved to contain the annals of the king whose fate we have just been discussing—namely, Nabonidus. Though mutilated in parts, it allowed us to learn some portions of his history, both before and during the invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus; and one of the most remarkable facts that it added to our knowledge was that of the regency—if that term may be used—of the king's son during the absence of the sovereign from the Court and army. Here, surely, the explanation of the Book of Daniel was found: Belshazzar was, at the time of the irruption of the Persians, acting as his father's representative; he was commanding the Babylonian army and presiding over the Babylonian Court. When Cyrus entered Babylon, doubtless the only resistance he met with was in the royal palace, and there it was probably slight. In the same night Belshazzar was taken and slain."

_B. T. A. Evetts, New Light on the Bible and the Holy Land, chapter 11, part 2._

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Cyrus the Great, in whose vast empire the Babylonian kingdom was finally swallowed up, was originally "king of Anzan in Elam, not of Persia. Anzan had been first occupied, it would appear, by his great-grandfather Teispes the Achaemenian. The conquest of Astyages and of his capital Ekbatana took place in B. C. 549, and a year or two later Cyrus obtained possession of Persia." Then, B. C. 538, came the conquest of Babylonia, invited by a party in the country hostile to its king, Nabonidos. Cyrus "assumed the title of 'King of Babylon,' thus claiming to be the legitimate descendant of the ancient Babylonian kings. He announced himself as the devoted worshipper of Bel and Nebo, who by the command of Merodach had overthrown the sacrilegious usurper Nabonidos, and he and his son accordingly offered sacrifices to ten times the usual amount in the Babylonian temples, and restored the images of the gods to their ancient shrines. At the same time he allowed the foreign populations who had been deported to Babylonia to return to their homes along with the statues of their gods. Among these foreign populations, as we know from the Old Testament, were the Jews."

_A. H. Sayce, Primer of Assyriology, pages 74-78._

SEMITES: Hebraic branch.

See JEWS, AMMONITES; MOABITES; and EDOMITES.

SEMITES: Canaanitic branch.

See JEWS: EARLY HISTORY; and PHŒNICIANS.

SEMITES: Southern branches.

See ARABIA; ETHIOPIA; and ABYSSINIA.

SEMITES: End--------

SEMITIC LANGUAGES.

"There is no stronger or more unchanging unity among any group of languages than that which exists in the Semitic group. The dead and living languages which compose it hardly differ from each other so much as the various Romance or Sclavonic dialects. Not only are the elements of the common vocabulary unchanged, but the structure of the word and of the phrase has remained the same. … The Semitic languages form two great branches, each subdivided into two groups. The northern branch comprehends the Aramaic-Assyrian group and the Canaanitish group; the southern … includes the Arabic group, properly so called, and the Himyarite group. The name Aramaic is given to two dialects which are very nearly allied—Chaldean and Syriac. … The Aramaic which was spoken at the time of Christ was divided into two sub-dialects: that of Galilee, which resembled the Syriac pronunciation, and that of Jerusalem, of which the pronunciation was more marked and nearer to Chaldean. Jesus and his disciples evidently spoke the dialect of their country. … Syriac, in its primitive state, is unknown to us, as also Syro-Chaldean. … Assyrian is a discovery of this century. … To the Canaanitish group belong Phœnician, Samaritan, the languages of the left bank of the Jordan, notably Moabite. … and lastly, Hebrew. The first and the last of these dialects are almost exactly alike. … Arabic, being the language of Islam, has deeply penetrated all the Mussulman nations, Turkish, Persian, and Hindustani. … Himyarite reigned to the south of Arabic; it was the language of the Queen of Sheba, and is now well known through a great number of inscriptions, and is perhaps still spoken under the name of Ekhili in the district of Marah. … It is in Abyssinia that we must seek for the last vestiges of Himyarite. Several centuries before our era, the African coast of the Red Sea had received Semitic colonies, and a language known as Ghez or Ethiopian."

_A. Lefèvre, Race and Language, pages 213-223._

SEMNONES, The.

"The Semnones were the chief Suevic clan. Their settlements seem to have been between the Elbe and Oder, coinciding as nearly as possible with Brandenburg, and reaching possibly into Prussian Poland."-

_Church and Brodribb, Geographical Notes to The Germany of Tacitus._

See ALEMANNI: A. D. 213.

SEMPACH, Battle of (1386).

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1386-1388.

SEMPRONIAN LAWS.

The laws proposed and carried at Rome by the Gracchi, who were of the Sempronian gens, are often so referred to.

See ROME: B. C. 133-121.

SENA, The Druidic oracle of.

A little island called Sena—modern Sein—off the extreme western coast of Brittany, is mentioned by Pomponius Mela as the site of a celebrated oracle, consulted by Gaulish navigators and served by nine virgin priestesses.

_E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, chapter 23, section 2 (volume 2)._

SENATE, Canadian.

See CANADA: A. D. 1867.

SENATE, French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).

SENATE, Roman.

"In prehistoric times, the clans which subsequently united to form cantons had each possessed a monarchical constitution of its own. When the clan governments were merged in that of the canton, the monarchs ('reges') of these clans became senators, or elders, in the new community. In the case of Rome the number of senators was three hundred, because in the beginning, as tradition said, there were three hundred clans. In regal times the king appointed the senators. Probably, at first, he chose one from each clan, honoring in this way some man whose age had given him experience and whose ability made his opinion entitled to consideration. Afterward, when the rigidity of the arrangement by clans was lost, the senators were selected from the whole body of the people, without any attempt at preserving the clan representation. Primarily the senate was not a legislative body. When the king died without having nominated his successor, the senators served successively as 'interreges' ('kings for an interval'), for periods of five days each, until a 'rex' was chosen. … This general duty was the first of the senate's original functions. Again, when the citizens had passed a law at the suggestion of the king, the senate had a right ('patrum auctoritas') to veto it, if it seemed contrary to the spirit of the city's institutions. Finally, as the senate was composed of men of experience and ability, the king used to consult it in times of personal doubt or national danger."

_A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Constitution, chapter 3._

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Of the Roman Senate as it became in the great days of the Republic—at the close of the Punic Wars and after—the following is an account: "All the acts of the Roman Republic ran in the name of the Senate and People, as if the Senate were half the state, though its number seems still to have been limited to Three Hundred members. The Senate of Rome was perhaps the most remarkable assembly that the world has ever seen. Its members held their seats for life; once Senators always Senators, unless they were degraded for some dishonourable cause. But the Senatorial Peerage was not hereditary. No father could transmit the honour to his son. Each man must win it for himself. The manner in which seats in the Senate were obtained is tolerably well ascertained. Many persons will be surprised to learn that the members of this august body, all —or nearly all—owed their places to the votes of the people. In theory, indeed, the Censors still possessed the power really exercised by the Kings and early Consuls, of choosing the Senators at their own will and pleasure. But official powers, however arbitrary, are always limited in practice; and the Censors followed rules established by ancient precedent. … The Senate was recruited from the lists of official persons. … It was not by a mere figure of speech that the minister of Pyrrhus called the Roman Senate 'an Assembly of Kings.' Many of its members had exercised Sovereign power; many were preparing to exercise it. The power of the Senate was equal to its dignity. … In regard to legislation, they [it] exercised an absolute control over the Centuriate Assembly, because no law could be submitted to its votes which had not originated in the Senate. … In respect to foreign affairs, the power of the Senate was absolute, except in declaring War or concluding treaties of Peace,—matters which were submitted to the votes of the People. They assigned to the Consuls and Prætors their respective provinces of administration and command; they fixed the amount of troops to be levied every year from the list of Roman citizens, and of the contingents to be furnished by the Italian allies. They prolonged the command of a general or superseded him at pleasure. … In the administration of home affairs, all the regulation of religious matters was in their hands. … All the financial arrangements of the State were left to their discretion. … They might resolve themselves into a High Court of Justice for the trial of extraordinary offences."

_H. G. Liddell, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 35 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN: _W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 6, chapter 2._

See, also, ROME: B. C. 146; and CONSCRIPT FATHERS.

SENATE, United States.

"The Senate is composed of two Senators from each State, and these Senators are chosen by the State Legislatures. The representation is then equal, each State having two Senators and each Senator having one vote; and no difference is made among the States on account of size, population, or wealth. The Senate is not, strictly speaking, a popular body, and the higher qualifications demanded of its members, and the longer period of service, make it the more important body of the two. The Senate is presumedly more conservative in its action, and acts as a safeguard against the precipitate and changing legislation that is more characteristic of the House of Representatives, which, being chosen directly by the people, and at frequent intervals, is more easily affected by and reflects the prevailing temper of the times. The Senate is more intimately connected with the Executive than is the lower body. The President must submit to the Senate for its approval the treaties he has contracted with foreign powers; he must ask the advice and consent of the Senate in the appointment of ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments have not been otherwise provided for. … The Senate has sole power to try all impeachments, but it cannot originate proceedings of impeachment. … In case a vacancy occurs when the State Legislature is not in session, the governor may make a temporary appointment; but at the next meeting of the Legislature the vacancy must be filled in the usual way. The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice-President of the United States. He is elected in the same manner as the President, for were he chosen from the Senate itself, the equality of representation would be broken. He has no vote save when the Senate is equally divided, and his powers are very limited."

_W. C. Ford, The American Citizen's Manual, part 1, chapter 1._

ALSO IN: _The Federalist, Numbers 62-66._

_J. Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, chapter 10 (volume 2)._

_J. Bryce, The American Commonwealth, chapters 10-12 (volume 1)._

See, also, CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

SENATUS-CONSULTUM. SENATUS-DECRETUM.

"A proposition sanctioned by a majority of the [Roman] Senate, and not vetoed by one of the Tribunes of the Plebs, who might interrupt the proceedings at any stage, was called Senatus-Consultum or Senatus-Decretum, the only distinction between the terms being that the former was more comprehensive, since Senatus-Consultum might include several orders or Decreta."

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 6._

SENCHUS MOR, The.

One of the books of the ancient Irish laws, known as the Brehon Laws.

SENECAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SENECAS.

SENEFFE, Battle of (1674).

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674-1678.

SENLAC OR HASTINGS, Battle of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1066 (OCTOBER).

SENNACHIES.

One of the names given to the Bards, or Ollamhs, of the ancient Irish.

SENONES, The.

A strong tribe in ancient Gaul whose territory was between the Loire and the Marne. Their chief town was Agedincum—modern Sens.

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2, foot-note._

The Senones were also prominent among the Gauls which crossed the Alps, settled Cisalpine Gaul and contested northern Italy with the Romans.

See ROME: B. C. 390-347, and 295-191.

SENS, Origin of.

See SENONES.

SENTINUM, Battle of (B. C. 295).

See ROME: B. C. 343-290, and B. C. 295-191.

SEPARATISTS.

See INDEPENDENTS.

SEPHARDIM, The.

Jews descended from those who were expelled from Spain in 1492 are called the Sephardim.

See JEWS: 8-15TH CENTURIES.

SEPHARVAIM.

See BABYLONIA: THE EARLY (CHALDEAN) MONARCHY.

SEPHER YETZIRA, The.

See CABALA.

SEPOY: The name.

See INDIA: A. D. 1600-1702.

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SEPOY MUTINY, of 1763, The.

See INDIA: A. D. 1757-1772.

Of 1806.

See INDIA: A. D. 1805-1816.

Of 1857-1858.

See INDIA: A. D. 1857, to 1857-1858 (JULY-JUNE).

SEPT, OR CLAN.

See CLANS.

SEPTA.

See CAMPUS MARTIUS.

SEPTEMBER LAWS, The.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1830-1840.

SEPTEMBER MASSACRES AT PARIS.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).

SEPTENNATE IN FRANCE, The.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1871-1876.

SEPTENNIAL ACT, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1716.

SEPTIMANIA: Under the Goths.

See GOTHIA, IN GAUL; also GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 410-419; and 419-451.

SEPTIMANIA: A. D. 715-718. Occupation by the Moslems.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-732.

SEPTIMANIA: A. D. 752-759. Recovery from the Moslems.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 752-759.

SEPTIMANIA: 10th Century. The dukes and their successors.

See TOULOUSE: 10-11TH CENTURIES.

SEPTUAGINT, The.

"We have in the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament, the first great essay in translation into Greek, a solitary specimen of the ordinary language spoken and understood in those days [at Alexandria 3d century B. C.]. There is a famous legend of the origin of the work by order of the Egyptian king, and of the perfect agreement of all the versions produced by the learned men who had been sent at his request from Judæa. Laying aside these fables, it appears that the books were gradually rendered for the benefit of the many Jews settled in Egypt, who seem to have been actually forgetting their old language. Perhaps Philadelphus gave an impulse to the thing by requiring a copy for his library, which seems to have admitted none but Greek books."

_J. P. Mahaffy, Story of Alexander's Empire, chapter 14._

ALSO IN: _W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, lecture 4._

_F. W. Farrar, History of Interpretation ( Bampton Lectures, 1885), lecture 3._

SEQUANA, The. The ancient name of the river Seine.

SEQUANI, The.

See GAULS.

SERAI.

See MONGOLS: A. D. 1238-1391.

SERAPEUM, at Alexandria.

See ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 282-246, and A. D. 389; also LIBRARIES, ANCIENT: ALEXANDRIA.

SERAPEUM, at Memphis.

"The Serapeum is one of the edifices of Memphis [Egypt] rendered famous by a frequently quoted passage of Strabo, and by the constant mention made of it on the Greek papyri. It had long been sought for, and we had the good fortune to discover it in 1851. Apis, the living image of Osiris revisiting the earth, was a bull who, while he lived, had his temple at Memphis (Mitrahenny), and, when dead, had his tomb at Sakkarah. The palace which the bull inhabited in his lifetime was called the Apieum; the Serapeum was the name given to his tomb."

_A. Mariette, Monuments of Upper Egypt, page 88._

SERAPHIM, OR "BLUE RIBBON," The order of the.

"There is no doubt whatever of the antiquity of this Order, yet it is very difficult to arrive at the exact date of the foundation. General opinion, though without positive proof, ascribes its origin, about the year 1280, to King Magnus I. [of Sweden], who is said to have instituted it at the persuasion of the Maltese Knights. Another account ascribes the foundation to Magnus's grandson, Magnus Erichson. … King Frederick I. revived the Order, as also those of the Sword and North Star, on the 28th April, 1748."

_Sir B. Burke, The Book of Orders of Knighthood, page 329._

SERBONIAN BOG.

"There is a lake between Cœlo-Syria and Egypt, very narrow, but exceeding deep, even to a wonder, two hundred furlongs in length, called Serbon: if any through ignorance approach it they are lost irrecoverably; for the channel being very narrow, like a swaddling-band, and compassed round with vast heaps of sand, great quantities of it are cast into the lake, by the continued southern winds, which so cover the surface of the water, and make it to the view so like unto dry land, that it cannot possibly be distinguished; and therefore many, unacquainted with the nature of the place, by missing their way, have been there swallowed up, together with whole armies. For the sand being trod upon, sinks down and gives way by degrees, and like a malicious cheat, deludes and decoys them that come upon it, till too late, when they see the mischief they are likely to fall into, they begin to support and help one another, but without any possibility either of returning back or escaping certain ruin."

_Diodorus (Booth's translation) book 1, chapter 3._

According to Dr. Brugsch, the lake Serbon, or Sirbonis, so graphically described by Diodorus, but owing its modern celebrity to Milton's allusion (_Paradise Lost, ii. 502-4_), is in our days almost entirely dried up. He describes it as having been really a lagoon, on the northeastern coast of Egypt, "divided from the Mediterranean by a long tongue of land which, in ancient times, formed the only road from Egypt to Palestine." It is Dr. Brugsch's theory that the exodus of the Israelites was by this route and that the host of Pharaoh perished in the Serbonian quicksands.

_H. Brugsch, History of Egypt, volume 2, appendix._

SERBS, The.

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES, 7TH CENTURY (SERVIA, CROATIA, ETC.).

SERES.

See CHINA: THE NAMES OF THE COUNTRY.

SERFDOM. SERFS.

See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN.

SERGIUS I., Pope, A. D. 687-701.

Sergius II., Pope, 844-847.

Sergius III., Pope, 904-911.

Sergius IV., Pope, 1009-1012.

SERINGAPATAM: A. D. 1792. Siege by the English.

See INDIA: A. D. 1785-1793.

SERINGAPATAM: A. D. 1799. Final capture by the English. Death of Sultan Tippoo.

See INDIA: A. D. 1798-1805.

SERJEANTS-AT-LAW.

See TEMPLARS: THE ORDER IN ENGLAND.

SERPUL, Treaty of (1868).

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1850-1876.

SERRANO, Ministry and Regency of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1866-1873.

SERTORIUS, in Spain.