Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SYNOIKIA. SYNTHESIS. 1087'
particular form of words was necessary to nlake the therefore could not purchase houses of their own.
instrument valid in point of law, the sole object (Demosth. p'o P/hormz. 946.) As they, with their
being to furnish good evidence of the parties' in- families, formed a population of about 45,000, the
tention. The agreement itself was valid without number of evvoudcaL must have been considerable.
any writing; and would form the ground of an ac- Pasion, the banker, had a lodging-house valued at
tion against the party who broke it, if it could be 100 minas. Xenophon recommended that the
sufficiently proved. Hence it was the practice to IErotoLK should be encouraged to invest their
have witnesses to a parol agreement. The law de- money in houses, and that leave should be granted
clared ecvpias evat' Tas 7rpbs &XNXAovus 6xoNoyias, to the most respectable to build and become house&s &a E'avT'oL uLapvpwv 7rot~cowvorai. (Demosth. c. proprietors (osCcosotou7eauEiroLs YKetKfc7-oOat, de
Phaenipp. 1042, c. Euerg. et Mnes. 1162, c. Dionys. Vectig. ii. 6.) The i0r-O eEEs laboured under no
1283, c. Onetor. 869.) It seems that for the main- such disability; for Lysias and his brother Poletenance of an iEsropucci Wmcq1 it was necessary to have marchus, who belonged to that class,. were the
a written contract. (Demosth. c. Zenoteh. 882.) owners of three houses. The value of houses must
Bankers were persons of extensive credit, and have varied according to the size, the build, the
had peculiar confidence reposed in them. They situation, and other circumstances. Those in the
were often chosen as the depositaries of agree- city were more valuable than those in the Peiraeeus
ments and other documents. Money was put into or the country, caeteris paritbus. Two countingtheir hands without any acknowledgment, and houses are mentioned by Isaeus (cle Hrein. hers.
often without witnesses. They entered these and 88, ed. Steph.) as yielding a return of rather more
also the loans made by themselves to others in than 81 per cent. interest on the purchase-money.
their books, makling memoranda (67roev/'tqara) of But this probably was much below the average.
any important particulars. Such entries were re- The summer season was the most profitable for
garded as strong evidence in courts of justice. the letting of houses, when merchants and other
Sureties were usually required by them on making visitors flocked to Athens. The rent was cornloans. (Isocr. Trapez. 369, ed. Steph.; Demosth. monly paid by the month. Lodging-houses were
c. Apat. 894, p1'o P'horim. 950, 958, c. Tiinote. frequently taken on speculation by persons called
1185, c. Paorm.. 908;1 B1bckh, Publ. Econ. of,avrcKX7pot or r-raOxuovxot, who made a profit by
Athens, p. 128, 2d ed.) underletting them, and sometimes for not very
v-yypacpj denotes an instrument signed by both reputable purposes. (Isaeus, dle Philoct. hier 58,
or all the contracting parties. Xelpotypasov, is a ed. Steph.) Hesychius explains the word vaeVicXlmere acknowledgment by one party. vyy-ypdiaOaOai pos, 6 svvouofcas 7rpoeorcTs: see also Earpocration,
rvsyypawpc) or ovvOd/icn, is to draw up the contract, s. v. Some derive the word from,aho: but it is
or-7tzvaaerO to seal it, avanpev to cancel, a&vee'-OaeLn more probable that it was given as a sort of nickto take it up from the person with whom it was name to the class, when they first sprang up. (See
deposited, for the purpose of cancelling, when it Stephan. T/hesaur. 6608; Reiske, IIndexe in Or.
was no longer of any use.'Travoi'yen, to break Att. s. v. 2ovocia: Bbckh, Publ. Econ. of Atlens,
the seal clandestinely for some fraudulent purpose, pp. 65, 141, 2d ed.) [C. R. K.]
as to alter the terms of the instrument, or erase or SYNTAGMA (ro6sraya). [EXERCITUS, P.
destroy some material part, or even the whole, 488, a.]
thereof (lervaypd(eE1 or 6acpeEIpeI,). [SAnIBO- SYNTAXEIS (ovTrd'ie1s). [SYNNEDRI.]
LAEON.] [C. R. K.] SYNTELEIA (O-rvrieAEma). [TRIERARCHIA.]
SYNOI'KIA (uvvonucla or orvvorKiera), a fes- SYNTHE'CE (uvvO/Oiti). [SY-IBOLAEON.]
tlral celebrated every year at Athens on the 1 6th SY'NTHESIS, a garment frequently worn at
of Ilecatombaeon in honour of Athena. It was dinner, and sometimes also on other occasions. As
believed to have been instituted by Theseus to it was inconvenient to wear the toga at table on
commemorate the concentration of the government account of its-many folds, it was customary to have
of the various towns of Attica and Athens. dresses especially appropriated to this purpose,
(Thucyd. iii. 15; Steph. Byz. s. v.'AOctua.) called testes coenatoriae, or coenato2-ica (Mart. x. 87.
According to the Scholiast on Aristophanes (Pax, 12, xiv. 135; Petr. 21), accubitoria (Petr. 30), or
962) an unbloody sacrifice was on this day offered Syntheses. The Synthesis is commonly explained
to the goddess of peace (Edp/uqJ). This festival, to be a loose kind of robe, like the Pallium; but
which Plutarch (Thes. 24) calls Iueroitma, is men- Becker (Gallus, vol. i. p. 37) supposes from a comtioned both by him and by Thucydides as still held parison of a passage of Dion Cassius (lxiii. 13)
in their days. (Compare Meyer, le Beon. damnat. with one of Suetonius(Ner. 51) describing the dress
p. 120.) [L. S.] of Nero, that it must have been a kind of tunic, an
SYNOI'IKIA (o-vvotdcia) differs from oi:cia in indumentumz rather than an aunictus. [AMIuCTUS.]
this: that the latter is a dwelling-house for- a That it was, however, an easy and comfortable kind
single family: the former adapted to hold several of dress, as we should say. seems to be evident
families, a lodging-house, insula, as the Romans from its use at table above mentioned, and also
would say. The distinction is thus expressed by from its being worn by all classes at the SATURAeschines (c. Timgarch. 17, ed. Steph.): 06yrou ltE' NALIA, a season of universal relaxation and enjoy-,yap mroxAol 1uotwodJlcfElvo sIca, otes cllcrjtrv eAo'perVot ment. (Mart. xiv. 1, 141, vi. 24.) More than
EXoveoi, oa Louiae, scxoisu',l, 0 7rov 8''s aotCe?, this respecting its form we cannot say: it was
soler. usually dyed with some colour (Mart. ii. 46, x.
There was a great deal of speculation in the 29), and was not white like the toga.
building and letting of houses at Athens. (Xe- The word Synthesis is also applied to a set of
noph. Occon. iii. 1.) The lodging-houses were let wearing apparel or a complete wardrobe. (Dig. 34.
mostly to foreigners who came to Athens on busi- tit. 3. s. 38.) This use of the word agrees better
ness, and especially to the IETuorcotL whom the law with its etymology (osYOeocls, evrsT17O-tu) than the
did not allow to acquire real property, and who one mentioned above. (Becker, I. a.)