Syene
SYENE
A city on the southern frontiers of Egypt, towards Ethiopia, between Thebes and the cataracts of the Nile, and now called Assouan. Pliny says it stands in a peninsula on the eastern shore of the Nile; that is was mile in circumference, and had a Rome garrison. “From Migdol,” the tower, “unto Syene,” denotes the whole length of Egypt from north to south, Eze 29:10 ; 30:6. Few remains of the ancient city are now extant. In its vicinity are quarries of the Egyptian granite called Syenite, which furnished the material for numerous obelisks and colossal statues.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Syene
A titular see in Thebian Secunda, suffragan of Ptolemais. Syene (Egyptian, Souanou, Coptic, Souan) was originally the marketplace of the island of Elephantine (in Egyptian, Abou). Under the Pharaohs, Abou was the capital of a principality, then the chief town of the nome. It is not known at what epoch its suburb across the Nile commenced to grow at its cost; for a long time the two cities were treated at one, Souanou being the port and city of work. Its quarries, with those of Rohannou, were the principal ones of Egypt; they supplied a certain kind of red granite called syenite, out of which were cut the obelisks, monolithic temples, the colossus, etc. From the time of the ancient empire royal Egyptian envoys went there to look for the stone destined for the sarcophagus of the king. These quarries where in full activity during the Roman epoch, and syenite was exported throughout the empire. Another celebrated place in Syene was a pit, which was incorrectly thought to have been placed exactly under the equator. For this reason it was chosen by Eratosthenes as the starting point for his measure of the surface of the earth (230 B.C.). The Syene of the Romans to the southwest of the present city, suffered much from the incursions of the Blemmyes, and from the pest; its inhabitants abandoned it to live in the higher parts built by the Saracens. This new city which was at first very prosperous suffered also form the troubles that followed the extinction of the Fatimite dynasty. Taken and retaken by the Qemous or Barbara of Lower Nubia, and by the Haouarâh of Upper Egypt it was nearly ruined and did not regain its importance until the Sultan Selim established a Turkish garrison there (1517). The Arabian name of the city is Assouan. there the French fought the Mamelukes on 16 May, 1799. This city of about 100,000 inhabitants, and which may be reached by a railroad, as it is situated to the south of the first cataract of the Nile, is very interesting on account of its picturesque aspect and the strange character of its population composed of Arabs, Barbarins, negroes, Bisharis, and Ababdèh, curious bazaars and quays; remains of Roman quays, inscriptions on rocks, little temple of Isis, Arabian ruins, and cemetery. The places of interest in the neighbourhood are the old quarries, the Island of Elephantine (to-day Geziret Assouan), an old necropolis, the beautiful Coptic convent of St. Simeon, and the famous Island of Philæ. Syene is mentioned by the prophet Ezechiel, who threatened Egypt with devastation “from the tower of Syene even to the borders of Ethiopia” (Ezekiel 30:10). See St. Jerome and the modern commentators on this passage, where the Vulgate differs from the Hebrew and the Greek text. La Quien (Oriens christ., II, 613) mentions two bishops of Syene: St. Ammonius, martyr of Antinoe, where he had a church, and Befam, a Jacobite (1086). The Synaxarion of the Coptic church tells us that the city had a bishop from the time of the Patriarch Timothy, one of the successors of St. Athanasius.
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AMÉLINEAU, Le géographie de L’Egypte à l’époch Copts (Paris, 1893), 467; SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman geogr., s. v.; MÜLLER, Notes of Ptolemy, ed. DIDOT, I, 725; BUTCHER, The Story of the Church of Egypt (London, 1897), passim.
S. PÉTRIDÈS Transcribed by M. Donahue
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Syene
(Heb. Seveneh, ; Sept. ; Vulg. Syene), a town of Egypt on the frontier of Cush, or Ethiopia. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of the desolation of Egypt from Migdol to Seveneh, even unto the border of Cush (29, 10), and of its people being slain from Migdol to Seveneh (30, 6). Migdol was oh the eastern-border, SEE MIGNOL, and Seveneb is thus rightly identified with the town of Syene, wihichi was always the last town of Egypt on the south, though at one time included in the name Nubia. Its ancient Egyptian name is Sun (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschrifit. 1, 155, tab. 1, No. 55), preserved in the Coptic Sonan, Senon, and the Arabic Aswdn. The modern town is slightly to the north of the old site, which is marked by an interesting early Arab burial-ground, covered with remarkable tombstones having inscriptions in the Cufic character. Champollion suggests the Coptic derivation sa causative, and buen or ouen, to open as if it signified the opening or key of Egypt (L’Egypte, 1, 161-166), and this is the meaning of the hieroglyphic name. It is the natural boundary of Egypt at the south (Pttolem, 9:5; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 5, 10; 12:8 Strabo, p. 787, 815), being situated at the foot of the first cataract on the Nile (Murray, Handbook for Egypt, p. 463). See Jour. Sac. Lit, Oct. 1851, p. 158. SEE EGYPT.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Syene (2)
is represented by the present Aswam or Essudn, which exhibits few remains of the ancient city, except some granite columns of a comparatively late date and the shrine of a small temple. This building has been supposed by late travelers to have contained the famous well of Strabo (Geog. 17 p. 817), into which the rays of a vertical sun were reported to fall at the summer solstice a circumstance, says the geographer, that proves the place to lie under the tropic, the gnomon at midday casting no shadow. But although excavations have been carried on considerably below the pavement, which has been turned up in search of the well it was thought to cover, no other results have been obtained than that this shrine was a very improbable site for such an observatory, even if it ever existed; and that Strabo was strangely misinformed, since the Egyptians themselves could never in his time have imagined this city to lie under the tropic; for they were by no means ignorant of astronomy, and Syene was, even in the age of Hipparchus (B.C. 140, when the obliquity of the ecliptic was about 23 51′ 20), very far north of that line. The belief that Syene was in the tropic was, however, very general in the time of the Romans, and is noticed by Seneca, Lucan, Pliny, and others. But, as, Sir J. G. Wilkinson remarks, a well would have been a bad kind of observatory if the sun had been really vertical; and if Strabo saw the meridian sun in a well, he might be sure he was not in the tropic(Mod. Egypt and Thebes, 2, 286). The same writer adds, Unfortunately, the observations of the ancient Greek writers on the obliquity of the ecliptic are not so satisfactory as might be wished; nor are we enabled, especially as La Grange’s theory of the annual change of obliquity being variable is allowed to be correct, to ascertain the time when Aswan might have been within the tropic, a calculation or traditional fact in which, perhaps, originated-the erroneous assertion of Strabo. The latitude of Aswan is fixed by Wilkinson at 240 5′ 30, and the longitude is usually given as 32 55′.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Syene
opening (Ezek. 29:10; 30:6), a town of Egypt, on the borders of Ethiopia, now called Assouan, on the right bank of the Nile, notable for its quarries of beautiful red granite called “syenite.” It was the frontier town of Egypt in the south, as Migdol was in the north-east.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Syene
Properly Seveneh or Sebennytus in the eastern delta (the Heracleopolis of Manetho, called from Hercules the “local god”), meaning “a key or opening”, a Syene Egyptian town. “From Migdol to Syene,” i.e. from the fortress near Pelusium on the N. of Suez to Syene in the far S. toward Ethiopia (Eze 29:10; Eze 30:6); not as KJV “from the tower of Syene.” The shepherd kings had Syene for their chief city, from whence they are called Sebennyte Pharaohs.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Syene
SYENE.See Seveneh.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Syene
s-ene. See SEVENEH.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Syene
Syene, a city of Egypt, situated in the Thebas, on the southern extremity of the land towards Ethiopia. Ezekiel, describing the desolation to be brought upon Egypt through its whole extent, says, ‘Thus saith the Lord, I will make the Land of Egypt utterly desolate, from the tower of Syene even to the border of Cush (Arabia),’ or, as some read, ‘from Migdol to Syene,’ implying, according to either version of the passage, the whole length of the country from north to south. Syene is represented by the present Assouan, which exhibits few remains of the ancient city, except some granite columns of a comparatively late date, and the sekos of a small temple.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Syene
[Sye’ne]
Town in the south of Egypt, bordering on Ethiopia. Eze 29:10; Eze 30:6. The expression, ‘from the tower of Syene,’ is better translated ‘from Migdol to Syene,’ even unto the border of Ethiopia, as it is in the margin. The word is really SEVENEH, as in the R.V. It is now called Assuan, about 24 N, 33 E.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Syene
H5482
A city in Egypt.
Eze 29:10; Eze 30:6
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Syene
Sye’ne Properly, Seventh, a town of Egypt, on the frontier of Cush, or Ethiopia, Eze 29:10; Eze 30:6, represented by the present Aruan or Es-Suan.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Syene
a city of Egypt, now called Assouan, situated at its southern extremity. Eze 29:10, describing the desolation to be brought upon Egypt, says, Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, from the tower of Syene even to the border of Cush, or Arabia or, as some read it, from Migdol to Syene, implying, according to either version of the passage, the whole length of the country from north to south. The latitude of Syene, according to Bruce is 24 0′
45′; that of Alexandria, 31 11′ 33; difference 7 10′ 48, equal to four hundred and thirty geographical miles on the meridian, or about five hundred British miles; but the real length of the valley of Egypt, as it follows the windings of the Nile, is full six hundred miles.