\V. EMi;r.Y liAKNKS.
SMITH.— enij an artificer, a workman, 1 S 13'^ 18 54'*; Sns u-ir\ a smith (lit. a worker in iron). Is 44'-; 13;? (lit. locksmith?) 2 K 24'-'- '^ Jer '24' 29-. The name smith is common to several metal workers: the goldsmith, the silversmith, the copper- smith, and the ironsmith. The most important of tliese in ancient times was the coppersmith. Tliou"h iron seems to have been known at a very eany period, it did not come into common use. Cojiper, being more easily worked, was the universal iiuna! for tools, arms, and all kinds of utensils. Alloyed with tin it became hard, and w.as cap.iUle of taking a sharp edge : thus it was suitable for knives, swords, sjiears, axes, etc. The eopjiersmith is still a very important workman in SjTia, for almost all domestic utensils are made of that metal. Pans, pots, trays, caldrons for boiling the grape juice, are made of copper. The goldsmith and silversmith are next in importance, and their methods of workin" are almost the same as the pictures on tlie tombs in Egyjit show to have been followed by the ancient Eg3'ptians. The silversmith is usually also the tinsmith of a Lebanon village.
Iron ore of the very best quality is abundant in the I.eliaiion range, and has been worked for ages by the smiths. The forests around supplied the fuel, and the iron obtained was similar to what is known as Swedish iron. It was probably from this iron that the smiths of Damascus made their famous steel. Nearly every village in Syria has its smith, whose business it is to make and repair ploughs, pickaxes, hoes, and the tools for the masons and carpenters. He makes shoes also for horses, mules, donkeys, and for the oxen used for ploughing. The fuel of the smith is charcoal, and two very large circular bellows keep up a steady blast. Smiths in ancient as w ell as in niddern times were noted for the strength of their arms, Is 44".
The discovery of the smith's art is ascribed in Gn 4*- (J) to Tubal-cain (which see) the son of Lamech (.see Dillmaiin, ad lor., and Benzinger, Ilcb. Arch. 214). A smith at work is graphically portrayed in Sir 38'". W. CAltsi,A\v.
SMYRNA {luf'pva) was an ancient city in the west of .Vsia Minor, situated at the head of a gulf which runs up about 30 miles into the country. It was at liist a colony of Aeolic Greeks, but was Uiken by an attack from tho Ionian colony of Colophon and truusformcd into an Ionian city.
554
SMYRNA
SMYRNA
The original Aeolic nnd Ionian Smyrna was cap- tured by tlie Lyilians, who broke u\> its constitu- tion as a Greek city about tlie end ot the 7tli cent. H c • and it existeil as a mere (jriental town or series of villages lor more tlian three centuries, till Lysimachus (301-281) refounded it as a Greek city in a new situation alioiit 3 miles soutli- west from the ancient site. It has continued ever since an unbroken history as one of the greatest cities of Asia.
Smyrna was a faithful ally ot Rome, from the time when the ereiil Italian republic hegun to interk-re w, the affairs of the Kisr choosin.' that side before Rome had become all-powerful, a;S i-emS^ned-'true to it even during the Mithridatjc »ars when a Smyrna^an assembly, hearing ot the distressed cond t,o . of Sulla's army, stripped off their own clothes and sent them to clothe the soldiers ; and it was according y '^™iired m the lioman poUcv, though it suffered durmg the Civil W ar aft«r the death ot'Ciesar. That early appreciation of the value o the Koman alliance was undoubtedly due to the position of Smyrna as a great trading oty : the exact circumstences are unknown to us, but Smyrna must have been as earij as B.C. 200 b'ou'°ht int<. s'uch relations with the general Mediterranean trade that its interest lay in supporting «°™« '«^,';f,.^''^"'S and the allied Seleucid kings of Syria, a.nd against R odes (just as the old friendship of Ma-vsilia and Rome was due to their common dread of the competit.un of Carthaginian mer-
"''smvrnawas the port at the end of one of the great roads leadmgtrom the inner country, I'hrygia GalaUa <=tc across Lvdia towards the west. It was also the harbour for "« »ho ^ tride of the fertile Hermus Valley, and was probab y hardly second even to Kphesus as an exporting city. Its great wealth i. attested by its abundant coinage. It was the chief citv of a coiuf,it«», and was one of those cit.es that were .ii.-nifled with the title of mHropolis. It vied with I'ergamus ami Ephesus tor the title of ' First (city) of Asia w^ij, "aLo; and the contests between the three great cities were carried to a great height, as each invented new titles lor itself or appropriated the titles of the other. In one case at least; their jealous rivalry led to an appeal to the imperial
"^^Ta D 23 the cities of Asia obtained permission to found a temple in honour of Tiberius and his mother Juha Augusta, and in 26 several contended for the privilege o having the Umple within their walls. The pleadings of the dilte ent cities which claimed that honour throw considerable ''gl' °" the state of the great Asian cities under the early Roman emperors, though only a very brief report has been preserve<l InTacitus (Annah. iv. 65, 56). The claim of Pergamum was rejected because it alrea<ly had the temple dedicated by the province to Augustus : that of Ephesus because it was suHic ei a j weighted bv the worship and the temple of Artemis that of Laodicea Tralles, etc., because they were not sufficiently gie.it. ILalicarnassus was carefully considered, but at last the choice lay between Sardis and Smyrna. Sardis relied especially on its- past history, and quoted, amidst other evidence on its si.ie, a decree passed in its honour by the twelve ancient EtrMscan cities. But the Smyrnajans could appeal to their laithml friendship and alliance with Rome ; and they mentioned lliat they had dedicated a temple to the goddess Rome in Bc 19.,, before the eastern cities had learned by experience that Ronie was the one supreme iwwer in the worTd The ;;!»"" of Smvma was preferred to that of Sardis, thus niarking the superior dignity of the former in the province. The temple was erected by the provin.Mal council (see AsiARcii) in Smyrna, which henceforward could claim the Imperial ^eokorate, i.f. the title ot temple-wariien (,i..o,=or) ot the emperors. The title wi, not so much prized in the Isl cent. ; and the eariiest proof that SiuN'ma ha<f assumed it is in A.n. 98-102. A second and a third Veokorate were alter\vards granted to Smyrna (.as to Per-amum and Kphesus>-the second by Hadrian (though not menlioned on coins till the reign of his successor Pius) the third by Severus towards the end ot hia reign (along with the same compliment to Ephesus)