sarcophagi, which are now in the Imperial Museum at Constantinople, were found, and the sarcophagi of the two Sidonian kings Eshmunazar (Louvre) and Tabnith (Imperial Museum, Constantinople) , both of them with important Phoenician inscriptions.
The ancient history of Sidon is discussed in the article Phoenicia. In A.D. 325 a bishop of Sidon attended the Council of Nicaea. In 637–638 the town was taken by the Arabs. During the Crusades it was alternately in the possession of the Franks and the Mahommedans, but finally fell into the hands of the latter in 1291. As the residence of the Druse Amir Fakhr ud-Din, it rose to some prosperity about the beginning of the 17th century, but towards the close of the 18th its commerce again passed away and has never returned. The biblical references to Sidon are Gen. x. 15 (the people), xlix. 13; Is. xxiii. 1-14; Ezek. xxvii. 8 ; Acts xxvii. 3. Sidon is nearly always mentioned along with Tyre—Jer. xxvii. 3, xlvii. 4; Ezra iii. 7; Joel iii. 4; Mark iii. 8 and Luke vi. 17; Mark vii. 24, 31, and Matt. xv. 21; Matt. xi. 21 and Luke x. 13 f.; Acts xii. 20. In the Old Testament, as frequently in Greek literature, " Sidonians " is used not in a local but in an ethnic sense, and means " Phoenicians," hence the name of Sidon was familiar to the Greeks earlier than that of Tyre, though the latter was the more important city (ed. Meyer, Encycl. Bibl. col. 4505).
See Robinson, Bibl. Res. ii. 478 ff.; Prutz, Aus Phönicien (1876), 98 ff. ; Pietschmann, Gesch. d. Phönizier (1889), 53–58; Hamdy Bey and T. Reinach, Nécropole royale à Sidon (1892–1896) ; A. Socin in Baedeker, Pal. u. Syrien. (G. A. C.*)
SIEBENGEBIRGE (“The Seven Hills”), a cluster of hills in
Germany, on the Rhine, 6 m. above Bonn. They are of volcanic
origin, and form the north-western spurs of the Westerwald.
In no part of the Rhine valley is the scenery more attractive;
crag and forest, deep dells and gentle vine-clad slopes, ruined
castles and extensive views over the broad Rhine and the plain
beyond combine to render the Siebengebirge the most favourite
tourist resort on the whole Rhine. The hills are as follows:
the steep Drachenfels (1067 ft.), abutting on the Rhine and
surmounted by the ruins of an old castle; immediately behind it,
and connected by a narrow ridge, the Wolkenburg (1076 ft.);
lying apart, and to the N. of these, the Petersberg (1096 ft.),
with a pilgrimage chapel of St Peter; then, to the S. of these
three, a chain of four — viz. the Ölberg (1522 ft.), the highest of
the range; the Löwenburg (1506 ft.); the Lohrberg (1444 ft.),
and, farthest away, the Nonnenstromberg (1107 ft.). At the
foot of the Drachenfels, on the north side, lies the little town
of Königswinter, whence a mountain railway ascends to the
summit, and a similar railway runs up the Petersberg. The
ruins which crown almost every hill are those of strongholds of
the archbishops of Cologne and mostly date from the 12th century.
See von Dechen, Geognostischer Führer in das Siebengebirge (Bonn, 1861); von Stürtz, Führer durch das Siebengebirge (Bonn, 1893); Laspeyres, Das Siebengebirge am Rhein (Bonn, 1901).
SIEBOLD, CARL THEODOR ERNST VON (1804-1883),
German physiologist and zoologist, the son of a physician and a descendant of what Lorenz Oken called the “Asclepiad family of Siebolds,” was born at Würzburg on the 16th of February 1804. Educated in medicine and science chiefly at the university of Berlin, he became successively professor of zoology, physiology and comparative anatomy in Königsberg, Erlangen, Freiburg, Breslau and Munich. In conjunction with F. H. Stannius he published (1845-1848) a Manual of Comparative Anatomy, and along with R. A. Kölliker he founded in 1848 a journal which soon took a leading place in biological literature, Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie. He was also a laborious and successful helminthologist and entomologist, in both capacities contributing many valuable papers to his journal, which he continued to edit until his death at Munich on the 7th of April 1885. In these ways, without being a man of marked genius, but rather an industrious and critical observer, he came to fill a peculiarly distinguished position in science, and was long reckoned, what his biographer justly calls him, the Nestor of German zoology.
See Ehlers, Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. (1885).
SIEBOLD, PHILIPP FRANZ VON (1796-1866), scientific
explorer of Japan, elder brother of the physiologist, was born at Wurzburg, Germany, on the 17th of February r7o6. He
studied medicine and natural science at Wurzburg, and obtained
his doctor's diploma in 1820. In 1822 he entered the service
of the king of the Netherlands as medical officer to the East
Indian Army. On his arrival at Batavia he was attached to a
new mission to Japan, sent by the Dutch with a view to improve
their trading relations with that country. Siebold was well
equipped with scientific apparatus, and he remained in Japan
for six years, with headquarters at the Dutch settlement on the
little island of Deshima. His medical qualifications enabled him
to find favour with the Japanese, and he gathered a vast amount
of information concerning a country then very little known,
especially concerning its natural history and ethnography. He
had comparatively free access to the interior, and his reputation
spreading far and wide brought him visitors from all parts of
the country. His valuable stores of information were enriched
by trained natives whom he sent to collect for him in the interior.
In 1824 he published De historiae naturalis in Japonia statu
and in 1832 his splendid Fauna Japonica. His knowledge of the
language enabled him also in 1826 to issue from Batavia his
Epitome linguae Japonicae. In Deshima he also laid the founda-
tion of his Catalogus librorum Japonicorum and Isagoge in
hibliothecam Japonicam, published after his return to Europe,
as was his Bibliotheca Japonica, which, with the co-operation of
J. Hoffmann, appeared at Leiden in 1833. During the visit
which he was permitted to make to Yedo (Tokio), Siebold made
the best of the rare opportunity; his zeal, indeed, outran his
discretion, since, for obtaining a native map of the country, he
was thrown into prison and compelled to quit Japan on the 1st of
January 1830. On his return to Holland he was raised to the
rank of major, and in 1842 to that of colonel. After his arrival
in Europe he began to give to the world the fruits of his researches
and observations in Japan. His Nippon; Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Neben- und Schutz-Liindern was issued
in five quarto volumes of text, with six folio volumes of atlas and
engravings. He also issued many fragmentary papers on various
aspects of Japan. In 1854 he published at Leiden Urkundliche
Darstellung der Bestrebungen Niederlands und Russlands zur
Eroffnung Japans. In 1859 Siebold undertook a -second journey
to Japan, and was invited by the emperor to his court. In 1861
he obtained permission from the Dutch government to enter the
Japanese service as negotiator between Japan and the powers of
Europe, and in the same year his eldest son was made interpreter
to the English embassy at Yedo. Siebold was, however, soon
obliged by various intrigues to retire from his post, and ultimately
from Japan. Returning by Java to Europe in 1862, he set up his
ethnographical collections, which were ultimately secured by
the government of Bavaria and removed to Munich. He con-
tinued to publish papers on various Japanese subjects, and
received honours from many of the learned societies of Europe.
He died at Munich on the 18th of October 1866.
See biography by Moritz Wagner, in Allgemeine Zeitung, 13th to 1 6th of November 1866.
SIEDLCE (Russian Syedlets), a government of Russian Poland, between the Vistula and the Bug, having the governments of Warsaw on the W., Lomza on the N., Grodno and Volhynia on the E., Lublin on the S., and Radom on the S.W. Its area is 5533 sq. m. The surface is mostly flat, only a few hilly tracts appearing in the middle, around Biala, and in the east on the banks of the Bug. Extensive marshes occur in the north and in the south-east. Cretaceous, Jurassic and Tertiary strata cover the surface, and are overlain by widely spread Glacial deposits. The valley of the Vistula is mostly wide, with several terraces covered with sand-dunes or peat-bogs. Siedlce is drained by the Vistula, which borders it for 50 m. on the west; by the Bug, which is navigable from Opalin in Volhynia and flows for 170 m. on the east and north-east borders; by the Wieprz, a tributary of the Vistula, which is also navigable, and flows for 25 m. along the southern boundary; and by the Liwiec, a tributary of the Bug, which is navigable for some 30 m. below Wegrow. Of the total area only 5-2% is unproductive; 48-1% is under crops and 17-2 under meadows and pasture land. The estimated
