A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

684 SABACON. SABBA.
at all; but has received his name, because con- king of Egypt, with whom Hosea, king of Israeli
formed to the usage of his monastery. His sup- made an alliance about B. c. 722 (2 Kings, xvii. 4),
position that the Typicon was a forgery of Marcus, was in all probability the same as the second king
surnamed Hamartolus (Peccator, the Sinner), is of the dynasty, Sebichus*; and the Tirhakah,
improbable [MARcus, No. 16]. The title of the king of the Ethiopians, who was preparing to make
work in Greek, as given in a Vienna MS. cited by war against Sennacherib, in B. c. 711 (Is. xxxvii.
Oudin, TvurKiTv'r' s EKKtlCX71a'TrKS ciTs dKoAouvlas 9), is evidently the same as the Taracus of MaTr'r 4v'IepovoXo'oLs dyZ casW Aaepas'roO dolov Kal netho, as has been already remarked. Herodotus
eoepdpouv racrpCs,trc, ld~Gea, Typicon, s. Ordo speaks of Sethon as king of Egypt at the time of
OJcici Fcclesiastici Monasterii Hieroslymitani Sancti Sennacherib's invasion [SETHON]; but it is evident
Patris nostri Sabae, indicates, not that the work was that the Ethiopian dynasty must have ruled at least
written by S. Saba, but only that it is conformed to over Upper Egypt at this time, for we can hardly
the practice of his monastery. (Cyrillus Scythopol. refer the statement of Isaiah to an Ethiopian king
S. Sabae Vita, apud Coteler. Eccles. Graec. Monu- at Meroe.
menta, vol. iii.; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 484, vol. i. The name of Sabacon is not found on monup. 457, and vol. ii. Dissert. Secunda, p. 38, &c., ed. ments, as L.epsius has shown, though the contrary
Oxon. 1740-1743; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. x. p. is stated by most modern writers. We find, how319; Oudin, Commenttr. de Scriptorib. Eccles. vol. ever, on monuments, the name of Shebek and Tehi. col. 1394; Tillemont, Mirn. vol. xvi.) rak. Shebek is the Sebichus of Manetho, and
There were some other persons of the name of Bunsen has conjectured, with some probability,
Saba (Phot. Biblioth. cod. 52; Fabric. 1. c.), but that the two first kings of the dynasty both bore
they do not require notice. [J. C. C.M.] this name, and that Manetho only gave the name
SABACES (aatdnKcs), a Persian, was satrap of of Sabacon to the first, as it was so well known
Egypt under TDareius III., and was slain at the through the history of Herodotus. Sabacon and
battle of Issus, in B. C. 333 (Arr. Anab. ii. 11; Sebichus, however, bear so great a resemblance to
Curt. iii. 8, iv. 1). The name is otherwise written one another, that they are probably merely different
Sataces and Sathaces, and it occurs as Tasiaces in forms of the same name. (Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle
Diod. xvii. 34, according to the common reading. in der Weltgeschichte, vol. iii. pp. 137, 138.)
(Wess. ad loc.; Freinsh. ad Curt. 11. cc.) [E. E.j SABA'ZIUS (:aec'&mos), a Phrygian divinity,
SABACON (2aeaK(iv), a king of Ethiopia, who commonly described as a son of Rhea or Cybele;
invaded Egypt in the reign of the blind king Any- but in later times he was identified with the
sis, whom he dethroned and drove into the marshes. mystic Dionysus, who hence is sometimes called
The Ethiopian conqueror then reigned over Egypt Dionysus Sabazius. (Aristoph. Av. 873; Hesych.
for 50 years, but at length quitted the country in s. v.) For the same reason Sabazius is called a son
consequence of a dream, whereupon Anysis regained of Zeus by Persephone, and is said to have been
his kingdom. This is the account which Herodotus reared by a nymph Nyssa; though others, by philoreceived from the priests (ii. 137-140; comp. sophical speculations, were led to consider him a son
Diod. i. 65); but it appears from Manetho, that of Cabeirus, Dionysus, or Cronos. He was torn
there were three Ethiopian kings who reigned over by the Titans into seven pieces. (Joan. Lydus, De
Egypt, named Sabacon, Sebichus, and Taracus, and ifens. p. 82; Orph. Fragum. viii. 46, p. 469, ed.
who form the twenty-fifth dynasty of that writer. Herm., Ilyzmn. 47; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23.)
According to his account Sabacon reigned eight The connection of Sabazius with the Phrygian
years, Sebichus fourteen, and Taracus eighteen; or, mother of the gods accounts for the fact that he
according to the conjecture of Bunsen, twenty- was identified, to a certain extent, with Zeus himeight; their collective reigns being thus 40 or 50 self, who is mentioned as Zeus Sabazius, both
years. The account of Manetho, which is in itself Zeus and Dionysus having been brought up by
more probable than that of Herodotus, is also con- Cybele or Rhea. (Val. Max. i. 3. ~ 4.) His worfirmed by the fact that Taracus is mentioned by ship and festivals (Sabazia) were also introduced
Isaiah (xxxvii. 9), under the name of Tirhakah. into Greece; but, at least in the time of DemosThe time at which this dynasty of Ethiopian kings thenes, it was not thought reputable to take part
governed Egypt has occasioned some dispute, in in them, for they were celebrated at night by both
consequence of the statement of Herodotus (ii. sexes with purifications, initiations, and immora140), that it was more than 700 years from the lities. (Diod. iv. 4; Demosth. de Coron. p. 313;
time of Anysis to that of Amyrtaeus. Now as Strab. x. p. 471; Aristoph. Vesp. 9, Lysistr.
Amyrtaeus reigned over Egypt about B. C. 455, it 389.) Serpents, which were sacred to him, acted
would follow from this account that the invasion of a prominent part at the Sabazia and in the prothe Ethiopians took place about B. C. 1150. But cessions (Clemens Alex. Protrept. p. 6; Theothis high date is not only in opposition to the state- phrast. Char. 16): the god himself was reprements of all other writers, but is at variance with sented with horns, because, it is said, he was the
the narrative of Herodotus himself, who says that first that yoked oxen to the plough for agriculture.
Psammitichus fled into Syria when his father (Diod. iv. 4.] [L. S.]
Necho was put to death by Sabacon (ii. 152), and SABBA (Yc@~n), a daughter of Berosus and
who represents Sabacon as followed in close suc- Erymanthe, is mentioned among the Sibyls; but
cession by Sethon, Sethon by the Dodecarchia and it is uncertain as to whether she was the BabyPsammitichus, the latter of whom began to reign lonian, Egyptian, Chaldaean, or Jewish Sibyl.
about B. c. 671. There is, therefore, probably some
corruption in the numbers in the passage of Herodotus. There can be little doubt that the Ethiopian * So is in Hebrew NDD, which may have been
dynasty reigned over Egypt in the latter half of pronounced originally Sova or Seva, and which
the eighth century before the Christian era. They would then bear a still stronger resemblance to
are mentioned in the Jewish records. The So, Sebicilus.