Part 174

An Egyptian name "in which science has for a long time and with perfect certainty recognized the Bedouins of the highest antiquity. They inhabited the great desert between Egypt and the land of Canaan and extended their wanderings sometimes as far as the river Euphrates."

_H. Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, chapter 11._

See, also, EGYPT: THE HYKSOS.

SHAWMUT.

The Indian name of the peninsula on which Boston, Massachusetts, was built.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1630.

SHAWNEES, OR SHAWANESE.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHAWANESE.

SHAYS REBELLION.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1786-1787.

SHEADINGS.

See MANX KINGDOM, THE.

SHEBA.

"The name of Sheba is still to be recognised in the tribe of Benu-es-Sab, who inhabit a portion of Oman" (Southern Arabia).

_F. Lenormant, Manual of the Ancient History of the East, book 7, chapter 1._

See, also, ARABIA: THE ANCIENT SUCCESSION AND FUSION OF RACES.

SHEEPEATERS (Tukuarika).

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

SHEKEL, The.

"Queipo is of opinion that the talent, the larger unit of Egyptian weight for monetary purposes, and for weighing the precious metals, was equal to the weight of water contained in the cube of 2/3 of the royal or sacred cubit, and thus equivalent to 42.48 kilos, or 113.814 lbs. troy. He considers this to have been the weight of the Mosaic talent taken by the Hebrews out of Egypt. It was divided into fifty minas, each equal to 849.6 grammes, or 13,111 English grains; and the mina into fifty shekels, each equal to 14.16 grammes, or 218.5 English grains. … There appears to be satisfactory evidence from existing specimens of the earliest Jewish coins that the normal weight of the later Jewish shekel of silver was 218.5 troy grains, or 14.16 grammes."

_H. W. Chisholm, On the Science of Weighing and Measuring, chapter 2._

SHELBURNE MINISTRY, and the negotiation of peace between England and the United States.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1782-1783; AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1782 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).

SHENANDOAH, The Confederate Cruiser.

See ALABAMA CLAIMS: A. D. 1862-1865.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: Start--------

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: A. D. 1716. Possession taken by the Virginians.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1710-1710.

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SHENANDOAH VALLEY: A. D. 1744. Purchase from the Six Nations.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1744.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: A. D. 1861-1864. Campaigns in the Civil War.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861-1862 (DECEMBER-APRIL,: VIRGINIA); 1862 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA), (SEPTEMBER: MARYLAND), (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER: VIRGINIA); A. D. 1864 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA), (JULY: VIRGINIA-MARYLAND), and (AUGUST-OCTOBER:VIRGINIA).

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: End--------

SHENIR, Battle of.

A crushing defeat of the army of king Hazael of Damascus by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, B. C. 841.

SHEPHELAH, The.

The name given by the Jews to the tract of low-lying coast which the Philistines occupied.

SHEPHERD KINGS.

See EGYPT: THE HYKSOS.

SHERIDAN, General Philip H.: In the Battle of Stone River.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862-1863 (DECEMBER-JANUARY: TENNESSEE).

At Chickamauga, and in the Chattanooga Campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER: TENNESSEE) ROSECRANS' ADVANCE, and (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER: TENNESSEE).

Raid to Richmond.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MAY: VIRGINIA).

Raid to Trevillian Station.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).

Campaign in the Shenandoah.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (AUGUST-OCTOBER: VIRGINIA).

Battle of Five Forks.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MARCH-APRIL: VIRGINIA).

SHERIFF. SCIRGEREFA.

"The Scirgerefa is, as his name denotes, the person who stands at the head of the shire, 'pagus' or county: he is also called Scirman or Scirigman. He is properly speaking the holder of the county court, scirgemot, or folcmot, and probably at first was its elected chief. But as this gerefa was at first the people's officer, he seems to have shared the fate of the people, and to have sunk in the scale as the royal authority gradually rose: during the whole of our historical period we find him exercising only a concurrent jurisdiction, shared in and controlled by the ealdorman on the one hand and the bishop on the other. … The sheriff was naturally the leader of the militia, posse comitatus, or levy of the free men, who served under his banner, as the different lords with their dependents served under the royal officers. … In the earliest periods, the office was doubtless elective, and possibly even to the last the people may have enjoyed theoretically, at least, a sort of concurrent choice. But I cannot hesitate for a moment in asserting that under the consolidated monarchy, the scirgerefa was nominated by the king, with or without the acceptance of the county-court, though this in all probability was never refused."

_J. M. Kemble, The Saxons in England, book 2, chapter 5 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN: _R. Gneist, History of the English Constitution, chapter 4._

See, also, SHIRE; and EALDORMAN.

SHERIFFMUIR, Battle of.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1715.

SHERMAN, General W. T.: At the first Battle of Bull Run.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (JULY: VIRGINIA).

Removal from command in Kentucky.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE).

Battle of Shiloh.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: TENNESSEE).

The second attempt against Vicksburg.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (DECEMBER: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

The final Vicksburg campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (APRIL-JULY: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

The capture of Jackson.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY: MISSISSIPPI).

The Chattanooga Campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).

Meridian expedition.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863-1864 (DECEMBER-APRIL; TENNESSEE-MISSISSIPPI).

Atlanta campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MAY: GEORGIA), and (MAY-SEPTEMBER: GEORGIA).

March to the Sea.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER; GEORGIA), and (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER: GEORGIA).

The last campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D.1865 (FEBRUARY-MARCH: THE CAROLINAS), and (APRIL 26TH).

SHERMAN SILVER ACT, and its repeal.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1890-1893.

SHERSTONE, Battle of.

The second battle fought between Cnut, or Canute, and Edmund Ironsides for the English crown. It was in Wiltshire, A. D. 1016.

SHERWOOD FOREST.

"The name of Sherwood or Shirewood is, there can be no reasonable doubt," says Mr. Llewellyn Jewett, "derived from the open-air assemblies, or folk-moots, or witenagemotes of the shire being there held in primitive times." The Forest once covered the whole county of Nottingham and extended into both Yorkshire and Derbyshire, twenty-five miles one way by eight or ten the other. It was a royal forest and favorite hunting resort of both Saxon and Norman kings; but is best known as the scene of the exploits of the bold outlaw Robin Hood. Few vestiges of the great forest now remain.

_J. C. Brown, The Forests of England._

SHESHATAPOOSH INDIANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

SHETLAND, OR ZETLAND, ISLES: 8-13th Centuries. The Northmen in possession.

See NORMANS. NORTHMEN: 8-9TH CENTURIES, and 10-13TH CENTURIES.

SHEYENNES, OR CHEYENNES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

SHI WEI, The.

See MONGOLS: ORIGIN, &c.

SHIAHS, OR SHIAS, The.

See ISLAM; also PERSIA: A. D. 1499-1887.

SHIITES, Sultan Selim's massacre of the.

See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.

SHILOH, OR PITTSBURG LANDING, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: TENNESSEE).

SHINAR.

See BABYLONIA: PRIMITIVE.

SHIP OF THE LINE.

In the time of wooden navies, "a ship carrying not less than 74 guns upon three decks, and of sufficient size to be placed in line of battle," was called a "ship of the line," or a "line-of-battle ship."

SHIP-MONEY.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1634-1637.

SHIPKA PASS, Struggle for the.

See TURKS: A. D. 1877-1878.

SHIPWRECK, Law of.

See LAW: ADMIRALTY.

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SHIRE. SHIREMOOT.

"The name scir or shire, which marks the division immediately superior to the hundred, merely means a subdivision or share of a larger whole, and was early used in connexion with an official name to designate the territorial sphere appointed to the particular magistracy denoted by that name. So the diocese was the bishop's scire. … The historical shires or counties owe their origin to different causes. … The sheriff or scir-gerefa, the scir-man of the laws of Ini, was the king's steward and judicial president of the shire. … The sheriff held the shiremoot, according to Edgar's law, twice in the year. Although the ealdorman and bishop sat in it to declare the law secular and spiritual, the sheriff was the constituting officer."

_W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 5, sections 48-50 (volume 1)._

See, also, KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE; EALDORMAN; and GAU.

SHOE-STRING DISTRICT, The.

See GERRYMANDERING.

SHOGUN.

See JAPAN: SKETCH OF HISTORY.

SHOSHONES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

SHREWSBURY, Battle of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1403.

SHREWSBURY SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.—ENGLAND.

SHULUH, The.

See LIBYANS.

SHUMIR, OR SUMIR.

See BABYLONIA: THE EARLY (CHALDEAN) MONARCHY.

SHUPANES. GRAND SHUPANES.

The princes, ultimately kings, of the early Servian people.

_L. Ranke, History of Servia, chapter 1._

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES, 9TH CENTURY (SERVIA).

SHUSHAN.

See SUSA.

SIAM.

"The people known to Europeans as the 'Siamese,' but who call themselves 'Thai,' that is 'Free Men,' have exercised the greatest civilising influence on the aboriginal populations of the interior. Within the historic period Siam has also generally held the most extensive domain beyond the natural limits of the Menam basin. Even still, although hemmed in on one side by the British possessions, on the other by the French protectorate of Camboja, Siam comprises beyond the Menam Valley a considerable part of the Malay Peninsula, and draws tribute from numerous people in the Mekong and Salwen basins. But this State, with an area about half as large again as that of France, has a population probably less than 6,000,000. … The inhabitants of Siam, whether Shans, Laos, or Siamese proper, belong all alike to the same Thai stock, which is also represented by numerous tribes in Assam, Manipur, and China. The Shans are very numerous in the region of the Upper Irrawaddi and its Chinese affluents, in the Salwen Valley and in the portion of the Sittang basin included in British territory. … The Lovas, better known by the name of Laos or Laotians, are related to the Shans, and occupy the north of Siam. … They form several 'kingdoms,' all vassals of the King of Siam. … The Siamese, properly so called, are centred chiefly in the Lower Menam basin and along the seaboard. Although the most civilised they are not the purest of the Thai race. … Siam or Sayam is said by some natives to mean 'Three,' because the country was formerly peopled by three races now fused in one nation. Others derive it from saya, 'independent,' sama, 'brown,' or samo, 'dark'. … The Siamese are well named 'Indo-Chinese,' their manners, customs, civil and religious institutions, all partaking of this twofold character. Their feasts are of Brahmanical origin, while their laws and administration are obviously borrowed from the Chinese. … About one-fourth of the inhabitants of Siam had from various causes fallen into a state of bondage about the middle of the present century. But since the abolition of slavery in 1872, the population has increased, especially by Chinese immigration. … The 'Master of the World,' or 'Master of Life,' as the King of Siam is generally called, enjoys absolute power over the lives and property of his subjects. … A second king, always nearly related to the first, enjoys the title and a few attributes of royalty. But he exercises no power. … British having succeeded to Chinese influence, most of the naval and military as well as of the custom-house officers are Englishmen."

_É. Reclus, The Earth and its Inhabitants: Asia, volume 3, chapter 21._

The former capital of Siam was Ayuthia, a city founded A. D. 1351, and now in ruins. "Anterior to the establishment of Ayuthia … the annals of Siam are made up of traditional legends and fables, such as most nations are fond of substituting in the place of veracious history. … There are accounts of intermarriages with Chinese princesses, of embassies and wars with neighbouring States, all interblended with wonders and miraculous interpositions of Indra and other divinities; but from the time when the city of Ayuthia was founded by Phaja-Uthong, who took the title of Phra-Rama-Thibodi, the succession of sovereigns and the course of events are recorded with tolerable accuracy."

_Sir J. Bowring, Kingdom and People of Siam, volume 1, chapter 2._

"For centuries the Siamese government paid tribute to China; but since 1852 this tribute has been refused. In 1855 the first commercial treaty with a European power (Great Britain) was concluded."

_G. G. Chisholm, The Two Hemispheres, page 523._

ALSO IN: _A. R. Colquhoun, Amongst the Shans, introduction by T. de La Couperie, and sup. by H. S. Hallett._

SIBERIA: The Russian conquest.

Siberia was scarcely known to the Russians before the middle of the 16th century. The first conquest of a great part of the country was achieved in the latter part of that century by a Cossack adventurer named Yermac Timoseef, who began his attack upon the Tartars in 1578. Unable to hold what he had won, Yermac offered the sovereignty of his conquests to the Czar of Muscovy, who took it gladly and sent reinforcements. The conquests of Yermac were lost for a time after his death, but soon recovered by fresh bodies of Muscovite troops sent into the country. "This success was the forerunner of still greater acquisitions. The Russians rapidly extended their conquests; wherever they appeared, the Tartars were either reduced or exterminated; new towns were built and colonies planted. Before a century had elapsed, that vast tract of country now called Siberia, which stretches from the confines of Europe to the Eastern Ocean, and from the Frozen Sea to the frontiers of China, was annexed to the Russian dominions."

_W. Coxe, Russian Discoveries between Asia and America, part 2, chapter 1._

{2903}

SIBUZATES, The.

See AQUITAINE: THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

SIBYLS. SIBYLLINE BOOKS.

"Tarquinius [Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the kings of "Rome] built a mighty temple, and consecrated it to Jupiter, and to Juno, and to Minerva, the greatest of the gods of the Etruscans. At this time there came a strange woman to the king and offered him nine books of the prophecies of the Sibyl for a certain price. "When the king refused them, the woman went and burnt three of the books, and came back and offered the six at the same price which she had asked for the nine; but they mocked at her and would not take the books. Then she went away and burnt three more, and came back and asked still the same price for the remaining three. At this the king was astonished, and asked of the augurs what he should do. They said that he had done wrong in refusing the gift of the gods, and bade him by all means to buy the books that were left. So he bought them; and the woman who sold them was seen no more from that day forwards. Then the books were put into a chest of stone, and were kept under ground in the Capitol, and two men were appointed to keep them, and were called the two men of the sacred books."

_T. Arnold, History of Rome, chapter 4._

"Collections of prophecies similar to the Sibylline books are met with not only among the Greeks, but also among the Italians —Etruscans as well as those of Sabellian race. The Romans had the prophecies of the Marcii ('Carmina Marciana,' Hartung, 'Religion der Römer,' i. 139); prophetic lines ('sortes') of the nymph Albunea had come down to Rome from Tibur in a miraculous manner (Marquardt, 'Röm. Alterth., iv. 299). There existed likewise Etruscan 'libri fatales' (Livy, v. 45; Cicero, 'De Divin., i. 44, 100), and prophecies of the Etruscan nymph Begoe (quæ artem scripserat fulguritorum apud Tuscos. Lactant, 'Instit.,' i. 6, 12). Such books as these were kept in the Capitol, together with the Sibylline books, in the care of the Quindecemveri sacris faciundis. They are all called without distinction 'libri fatales' and 'Sibylline' books, and there seems to have been little difference between them."

_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 1, chapter 8, foot-note (volume 1)._

"Every schoolboy is familiar with the picturesque Roman legend of the Sibyl. It is variously told in connection with the elder and the later Tarquin, the two Etruscan kings of Rome; and the scene of it is laid by some in Cumæ, where Tarquinius Superbus spent the last years of his life in exile—and by others in Rome. … The original books of the Cumæan Sibyl were written in Greek, which was the language of the whole of the south of Italy at that time. The oracles were inscribed upon palm leaves; to which circumstance Virgil alludes in his description of the sayings of the Cumæan Sibyl being written upon the leaves of the forest. They were in the form of acrostic verses. … It is supposed that they contained not so much predictions of future events, as directions regarding the means by which the wrath of the gods, as revealed by prodigies and calamities, might be appeased. They seem to have been consulted in the same way as Eastern nations consult the Koran and Hafiz. … The Cumæan Sibyl was not the only prophetess of the kind. There were no less than ten females, endowed with the gift of prevision, and held in high repute, to whom the name of Sibyl was given. We read of the Persian Sibyl, the Libyan, the Delphic, the Erythræan, the Hellespontine, the Phrygian, and the Tiburtine. With the name of the last-mentioned Sibyl tourists make acquaintance at Tivoli. … Clement of Alexandria does not scruple to call the Cumæan Sibyl a true prophetess, and her oracles saving canticles. And St. Augustine includes her among the number of those who belong to the 'City of God.' And this idea of the Sibyls' sacredness continued to a late age in the Christian Church. She had a place in the prophetic order beside the patriarchs and prophets of old."

_H. Macmillan, Roman Mosaics, chapter 3._

"Either under the seventh or the eighth Ptolemy there appeared at Alexandria the oldest of the Sibylline oracles, bearing the name of the Erythræan Sibyl, which, containing the history of the past and the dim forebodings of the future, imposed alike on the Greek, Jewish, and Christian world, and added almost another book to the Canon. When Thomas of Celano composed the most famous hymn of the Latin Church he did not scruple to place the Sibyl on a level with David; and when Michel Angelo adorned the roof of the Sixtine Chapel, the figures of the weird sisters of Pagan antiquity are as prominent as the seers of Israel and Judah. Their union was the result of the bold stroke of an Alexandrian Jew."

_A. P. Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, lecture 47 (volume 3)._

ALSO IN: _Dionysius, History, book 4, section 62._

See, also, CUMÆ.

SICAMBRI, SIGAMBRI, SUGAMBRI.

See USIPETES; also, FRANKS: ORIGIN, and A. D. 253.

SICARII, The.

See JEWS: A. D. 66-70.

SICELIOTES AND ITALIOTES.

The inhabitants of the ancient Greek colonies in southern Italy (Magna Graecia) and Sicily were known as Siceliotes and Italiotes, to distinguish them from the native Siceli and Itali.

_H. G. Liddell, History of Rome, book 3, chapter 25 (volume 1)._

SICELS. SICANIANS.

See SICILY: THE EARLY INHABITANTS.

SICILIAN VESPERS, The.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1282-1300.

SICILIES, The Two.

See Two SICILIES.

SICILY: Start--------

SICILY: The early inhabitants.

The date of the first known Greek settlement in Sicily is fixed at B. C. 735. It was a colony led from the Eubœan city of Chalcis and from the island of Naxos, which latter gave its name to the town which the emigrants founded on the eastern coast of their new island home. "Sicily was at this time inhabited by at least four distinct races: by Sicanians, whom Thucydides considers as a tribe of the Iberians, who, sprung perhaps from Africa, had overspread Spain and the adjacent coasts, and even remote islands of the Mediterranean; by Sicels, an Italian people, probably not more foreign to the Greeks than the Pelasgians, who had been driven out of Italy by the progress of the Oscan or Ausonian race, and in their turn had pressed the Sicanians back toward the southern and western parts of the island, and themselves occupied so large a portion of it as to give their name to the whole. Of the other races, the Phœnicians were in possession of several points on the coast, and of some neighbouring islets, from which they carried on their commerce with the natives. {2904} The fourth people, which inhabited the towns of Eryx and Egesta, or Segesta, at the western end of the island, and bore the name of Elymians, was probably composed of different tribes, varying in their degrees of affinity to the Greeks. … The Sicels and the Phœnicians gradually retreated before the Greeks. … But the Sicels maintained themselves in the inland and on the north coast, and the Phœnicians, or Carthaginians, who succeeded them, established themselves in the west, where they possessed the towns of Motya, Solus, and Panormus, destined, under the name of Palermo, to become the capital of Sicily."

_C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 12._

ALSO IN: _G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 22._

_E. A. Freeman, History of Sicily, chapter 2._

See, also, ŒNOTRIANS.

SICILY: Phœnician and Greek colonies.