is alleged to have brought the Stone of Destiny, on which the Celtic kings were crowned, from Dunstaffnage Castle on Loch Etive, and to have deposited it in Scone, whence it was conveyed to Westminster Abbey (where it lies beneath the Coronation Chair) by Edward I. in 1296. Most of the Scottish kings were crowned at Scone, the last function being held on the 1st of January 1651, when Charles II. received the crown. Apparently there was never any royal residence in the town, owing to the proximity of Perth. Probably the ancient House of Scone, which stood near the abbey, provided the kings with temporary accommodation. Both the abbey and the house were burned down by the Reformers in 1559, and next year the estates were granted to the Ruthvens. On the attainder of the family after the Gowrie conspiracy in 1600, the land passed to Sir David Murray of the Tullibardine line, who became 1st viscount Stormont (1621) and was the ancestor of the earl of Mansfield, to whom the existing house belongs. Sir David completed in 1606 the palace which the earl of Gowrie had begun. The 5th viscount—father of the 1st earl of Mansfield, the lord chief justice of England (b. at Scone 1705)—entertained the Old Pretender for three weeks in 1716, and his son received Prince Charles Edward in 1746. The present palace, which dates from 1803, stands in a beautiful park. It contains several historic relics, the most interesting being a bed adorned with embroidery worked by Mary Queen of Scots during her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle. The gallery in which Charles II. was crowned, a hall 160 ft. long, has been included in the palace. Two hundred yards east of the mansion is an ancient gateway, supposed to have led to the old House of Scone, and near it stands the cross of Scone, removed hither from its original site in the town.
SCONE, the Scots name of a species of cake made of wheat
or barley meal and baked on a griddle. The cakes are round
and are usually cut into four pieces, thus giving the familiar
shape of a wedge with circular edge. The broad lowland bonnet
was called a “ scone ” or “ scone-cap ” from its shape. The
word appears to have been a shortened form of a Low Ger.
Schonbrot, i.e. fine bread, explained in the Bremen Glossary
(1771), quoted in the New English Dictionary, as a sort of white
loaf with two acute and two obtuse angles. The Hamburg
dialect word schönroggen, fine rye, was adopted into Swedish
and Icelandic in the sense of biscuit.
SCOOP (from M. L. Ger. or M. Du. schope, cf. Du. schoep,
a bailing vessel, Ger. schöpfen, and, from M. Du. schoppe, Ger.
Schüppe, shovel), properly a utensil or implement for ladling
or bailing out water or liquid from a vessel, and so used of the
bucket of a water-wheel or of a dredger; in its most usual sense
the word is applied to a small kind of shovel with a short handle
and a sharply curved blade, often covered in towards the handle
end, and used for the moving and lifting of loose materials or
for cutting out a rounded piece from any substance. In journalistic
slang, originally American, a “ scoop " is an exclusive
piece of information obtained by a newspaper.
SCOPAS, probably of Parian origin, the son of Aristander,
a great Greek sculptor of the 4th century B.C. Although classed
as an Athenian, and similar in tendency to Praxiteles, he was
really a cosmopolitan artist, working largely in Asia and Peloponnesus.
The extant works with which he is associated are the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the temple of Athena Alea at
Tegea. In the case of the Mausoleum, though no doubt the
sculpture generally belongs to his school, we are unable to single
out any special part of it as his own. But we have good reason
to think that the pedimental ngures from Tegea, some of which
are at Athens, while some are kept in the local museum, are
Scopas' own work. The subjects of the pedimental compositions
were the hunting of the Calydonian boar and the battle between
Achilles and Telephus. Four heads remain, that of Hercules,
that of Atalanta and two of warriors: also part of the body of
Atalanta and the head of the boar. Unfortunately all these are
in very poor preservation; but it is allowed that they are our best
evidence for the style of Scopas. The head of a helmeted warrior
(see Greek Art, Plate III. fig. 63) is especially valuable to us.
It is very powerful, with massive bony framework; the forehead
is projecting, the eyes deep-set and heavily shaded, the
mouth slightly open and full of passion. It shows us that while
in general style Scopas approached Praxiteles, he differed from
him in preferring strong expression and vigorous action to repose
and sentiment. The temple at Tegea was erected after 395 B.C.;
and the advanced character of the sculpture seems to indicate
a date at least twenty years later than this.
Attempts have been made, through comparison of these heads,
to assign to Scopas many sculptures now in museums, heads
of Heracles, Hermes, Aphrodite, Meleager and others. It is,
however, very risky thus to attribute works executed in Roman
times, and often thoroughly eclectic in character. Ancient writers
give us a good deal of information as to works of Scopas. He
made for the people of Elis a bronze Aphrodite, riding on a goat
(copied on the coins of Elis); a Maenad at Athens, running with
head thrown back, and a torn kid in her hands was ascribed to
him; of this Dr Treu has published a probable copy in the
Albertinum at Dresden (Mélanges Perrot, p. 317). Another type
of his was Apollo as leader of the Muses, singing to the lyre.
The most elaborate of his works was a great group representing
Achilles being conveyed over the sea to the island of Leuce by his
mother Thetis, accompanied by Nereids riding on dolphins and
sea-horses, Tritons and other beings of the sea, “ a group,” says
Pliny (36. 25), “which would have been remarkable had it been
the sole work of his life.” He made also an Aphrodite which
rivalled the creation of Praxiteles, a group of winged love-gods
whom he distinguished by naming them Love, Longing and
Desire, and many other works.
Jointly with his contemporaries Praxiteles and Lysippus, Scopas may be considered as having completely changed the character of Greek sculpture. It was they who initiated the lines of development which culminated in the schools of Pergamum, Rhodes and other great cities of later Greece, In most of the modern museums of ancient art their influence may be seen in three-fourths of the works exhibited. At the Renaissance it was especially their influence which dominated Italian painting and through it modern art. (P. G.)
SCOPE (through Ital. scopo, aim, purpose, intent, from Gr.
σκοπός, mark to shoot at, aim, σκοπεῖν, to see, whence the
termination in telescope, microscope, &c.), properly that which
is aimed at, purpose, intention; hence outlook, view, range of
observation or action; more generally, the sphere or field
over which an activity extends, room or opportunity for play or
action.
SCORDISCI, in ancient geography, a Celtic tribe inhabiting
the southern part of lower Pannonia between the Savus, Dravus
and Danuvius. Some Roman authorities consider them a
Thracian stock, because of their admixture with an older Thraco-Illyrian
population. As early as 175 B.C. they came into collision
with the Romans by assisting Perseus, king of Macedonia; and
after Macedonia became a Roman province they were for many
years engaged in hostilities with them. In 135 they were
defeated by M. Cosconius in Thrace (Livy, epit. 56); in 118,
according to a memorial stone discovered near Thessalonica
(W. Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum, i. No. 247,
1883 edition), Sextus Pompeius, probably the grandfather of the
triumvir, was slain fighting against them near Stobi. In 114
they surprised and destroyed the army of Gaius Porcius Cato in
the Servian mountains, but were defeated by Q. Minucius Rufus
in 107. Nevertheless, they still from time to time gave trouble
to the Roman governors of Macedonia, whose territory they
invaded in combination with the Maedi and Dardani. They
even advanced as far as Delphi and plundered the temple; but
Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus finally overcame them in 88
and drove them across the Danube. In Strabo's time they had
been expelled from the valley of the Danube by the Dacians
(Strabo vii. pp. 293, 313).
See Mommsen, Hist. of Rome (Eng. trans.), bk. iv. ch. 5, who puts the final conquest of the Scordisci by the Romans not later than 91. Also H. Pomtow, “ Die drei Brände des Tempels zu Delphi " in Rheinisches Museum, li. p. 369 (1896); A. Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz, ii. (1904).
