SMYRNA

did not carry out his plan. It was left for one of his successors, Lysimachus, who accomplished it in B.C. 290. The old city had been on a steep high hill on the N. side of the extreme eastern recess of the gulf; the new was planted on the S.E. shore of the gulf, about 2 miles away. The object of the change was to obtain a good harbour and a suitable point for the starting of a land trade- route to the E. There were in reality two ports — a small inner one with a narrow entrance, and a mooring ground ; the former has gradually filled up through neglect. Its maritime connexion brought it into contact with the Romans, who made an alliance with Smyrna against the Seleucid power. In B.C. 195 Smyrna built a temple to Rome, and ever afterwards remained faithful to that State through good fortune and bad. Rome showed a thorough appreciation of this friendship and loyalty, and in a.d. 26 this city was preferred before all others in Asia as the seat of the new temple to be dedicated by the confederacy of that province to Tiberius.

The city was of remarkable beauty. Its claim to be the chief city of Asia was contested by Ephesus and Pergamum, but in beauty it was easily first. In ad-dition to its picturesque situation it was commended by its handsome and excellently paved streets, which were fringed by the groves in the suburbs. The city was well walled, and in the pagos above possessed an ideal acropolis, which, with its splendid buildings in orderly arrangement, was known as the crown or garland of Smyrna. The protecting divinity of the city was a local variety of Cybele, known as the Sipylene Mother, and the towers and battlements of her head-dress bore an obvious resemblance to the appearance of the city. (The Greeks identified her with Nemesis, who here alone in the Greek world was worshipped, and not as one but as a pair of goddesses.) There was one street known as the Street of Gold. It went from W. to E., curving round the sloping hill, and had a temple on a hill at each end. For its length and fine buildings it was compared to a necklace of jewels round the neck of a statue. The life of the city was and is much benefited in the hottest period of the day by a west wind which blows on it with great regularity, dying down at sunset. This was counterbalanced by a disadvantage, the difficulty of draining the lowest parts of the city, a difficulty accen-tuated by this very wind. Smyrna boasted that it was the birthplace of Homer, who had been bom and brought up beside the river Meles. This stream is identified by local patriotism with the Caravan Bridge River, which flows northwards till it comes below the pagos, then flows round its eastern base and enters the sea to the N.E. of it. But this is a mistaken view. The Meles is undoubtedly to be identified with the stream coming from the Baths of Diana and called Chalka^bounar, as it alone satisfies the minute description of the Smymaean orator Aristides (fiourished 2nd cent, a.d.) and other ancient writers. It rises in the very suburbs of the city, and is fed by a large number of springs, which rise close to one another. Its course is circle-shaped at first, and after-wards it flows gently to the sea like a canal . Its tempera-ture is equable all the year round, and it never either overflows or dries up. The city has suffered from frequent earthquakes (for instance, in a.d. 180), but has always risen superior to its misfortunes. It did not become a Turkish city till Tamerlane captured it in A.D. 1402. Even now the Christian element is three times as large as the Mohammedan, and the Turks call the city Infidel Smyrna. It has always been an important place ecclesiastically.

The letter to the Chuich at Smyrna (Rev 2'-") is the most favourable of all. The writer puts its members on a higher plane than any of the others. They have endured persecution and poverty, but they are rich in real wealth. They are the victims of calumny, but are not to be afraid. Some are even to be sent to prison as a prelude to execution, and to have suffering for a time. If they are faithful they shall receive real life.

SOAP

The church was dead and yet lived, like the city in former days. The Jews in Smyrna had been specially hostile to the Christians, and had informed against them before the Roman officials. Most of them were probably citizens of Smyrna, but became merged in the general population and were not confined to a certain tribe, since the Romans ceased to recognize the Jews as a nation after A.D. 70. The hatred of the Jews there can be explained only by the supposition that many of the Christians were converted Jews. Similarly they helped in the martyrdom of Polycarp (a.d. 155). The city and its Christianity have survived all attacks. A. Souteii.

SSAJL.—l. chSmet.Zvll'". SeeLizARD. 2. shabhtlul, Ps 68' ' Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away.' The reference here appears to be to the slimy track which a snail leaves behind it, which gives the ap-pearance of ' melting away.' E. W. G. Masterman.

SNARES. — A cord with running noose (mOq^sh, Am 35 etc.; cf. yOgdsh 'one who lays snares,' 'fowler' Hos 9') was used to catch ground game and birds. The fowler also used a net (xesheth, Pr 1", Hos 5' etc.), under which he tempted birds by means of food, and then, concealed near by, pulled it down upon them. The pack (Ps 124', Pr 7", Ec 9'^ etc.) probably corresponded to the Arab, fakhkh, a trap made of bone and gut, with tongue and jaws on the principle of the common rat-trap. It is light, and the bird caught by the foot easily sprmgs up with it from the ground in its vain efforts to escape. Of this Amos gives a vivid picture (3'). In later times the fowler used decoys to lure birds into his cage (Sir 11'"). Both mSqesh and pack are several times rendered in EV by gin. The NT pagis (Ro 11» etc.), and broctios (1 Co 7'=), may mean 'snare,' 'net,' or 'trap'; whatever seizes one unawares. W. Ewino.

SNOW. — Every winter snow falls occasionally in the mountainous districts of Palestine, but seldom lies for more than a few hours— at most for a day or two. The greater part of the year, however, snow, glistening on the shoulders of Great Hermon, is easily seen from most of the higher hills in the country. It is frequently used as a symbol of whiteness and purity (Ex 4', Ps 51', Is 1", Mt 28' etc.). It stands for the cold against which the good housewife provides (Pr 31"). From Mt. Hermon snow has been carried since olden times to great dis-tances, to refresh the thirsty in the burning heat of summer (Pr 26'). Water mithl eth-thilj ('like the snow ') for coolness, is the modern Arab's ideal drink.

W. EWING.

SNUFFERS, SNUFF DISHES.— The former of these are the 'tongs' of Ex 372^, the latter the vessels in which the burnt portions of the wicks were deposited. See Tabeknacle, 6 (6). Cf. Fibepan.

SO. — The king of Egypt (Mizraim), Hoshea's cor-respondence with whom led shortly to the captivity of Israel (2 K 17*). In B.C. 725 the kingdom of Egypt was probably in confusion (end of Dyn. 23), the land being divided among petty princes, and threatened or held by the Ethiopians. It is difficult to find an Egyptian name of this period that would be spelt So in Hebrew. Assyrian annals, however, inform us that in 722, shortly after the fall of Samaria, a certain Sib'i, 'tartan' (commander-in-chief) of Musri, was sent by Pir'u, king of Musri (i. e. probably Pharaoh, king of Egypt), to the help of Gaza against Sargon. This Sib'i may be our So (or Seve), not king, but commander-in-chief. It has been thought that the Heb. So, Seve, and the Assyr. Sib'i might stand for the name of the Ethiopian Shabako of the 2Sth Dyn., as crown prince and then king, but they would be singularly imperfect renderings of that name. Shabako gained the throne of Egypt about B.C. 713. F. Ll. Griffith.

SOAP (bSrtth) occurs in EV (AV 'sope') only in Jer 22^ (washing of the person) and Mai 3^ (operations of the fuller). Properly bUrUh denotes simply 'that

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