adjective 7-')'"^. 'K^l.' ' t'""'' 'J^'^?"','"'' *'"'''''=" sizisthe fact that the character of the man was well expressed by his name (cf. the use of Unesimus in Philem >')■ The meaning would thus be : 1 beseech thee, Synzygus, truly so named, a fellow- helper in very deed.' We m.ay also compare Abigail's use of her husbands name 'Nabal, to .lescTibe his character : 'ISal.al [fool] is his name, and folly is with him' (1 S 25«). It is to be as- sumed that Synzygus had done much for the pro- gress of the gosi.cl in Phihppi, ami he Apostle applies to himself ami his friend the common biblical comparison of the pair of oxen ploughing or threshing together under the same yoke, as this was naturally suggested by his name (cf. 1 Co 9 , 1 Ti ")") The other view, that the word means 'yoke-
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SYRIA
fellow,' as in classical Greek, is far less probable and at once raises the question as to which of the Apostle's companions is to be understood by the term. Lightfoot {Philippinns, p. 158) thinks it most probable that Ki)a]ilin)ditus, the bearer of the letter, is intended, as in this ease there would be no danger of making the reference unintelligible by the suppression of the name. Others have sug- gested that IJarnabas, Silas, Timothy, or Luke is to be thought of as the ' true yokefellow.' Ramsay {St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, p. 358) says definitely : ' Luke is either the " true yokefellow " addressed in Phil. iv. 3, or was actuallj' the bearer of the letter to Philippi.' If the name is not a proper name, the person addressed was one present with the Apostle when he wrote to Philip])i — either Epaphroditus or some other.
The suggestion of some early commentators that the Apostle was addressing his wife is impos- sible, both historically, in the light of 1 Co 7*, and grammatically, as the adjective is masculine. It is also improbable that the husband of one or other of the women is referred to, while the suggestion of Renan (St. Paul, Paris, 1869, p. 148) that the allusion is to Lydia, who, he assumes, had become the wife of the Apostle, is hardly to be taken seriously.
Literature. — H. A. W. Meyer, Eom. iiber die Briefe an die Philipper . . .3, Gottingen, 1S65 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Philip- pians*, London, 1878 ; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, do., 1S95 ; J. C. M. Laurent, ' Cber Synzygus,' in Zeitschrift fiir die luther. Theol. und Kirche, xxvi. [Leipzig, 1865] 1 S.,NeutestamentlicheStudi£n, Gotha, 1866; H. A. A. Kennedy, b'GT, • Philippians,' London, 1903, p. 465 ; J. Gibb, art. 'Synzygus,' in HDB; W. C. v. Manen, art. 'Synzygus,' in EBi; Grimm-Thayer, s.u.
W. F. Boyd.
SYRACUSE CZvpaKovaai, now Siragosa). — Syra- cuse was situated on the east coast of Sicily, about midway between the modern Catania and Cape Passaro, and was the wealthiest and most power- ful of the Greek cities in the island. ' So great riches,' says Strabo (VI. ii. 4), 'have accrued to the Syracusans that their name is embodied in the proverb applied to those who have too great wealth, viz. that they have not yet attained to a tithe of the wealth of the Syracusans.' In the 4th cent. B.C. Syracuse defied Athens, when the latter was at the height of her power, and came off victori- ous. And Syracuse coveted a higher fame than that of warlike prowess. At the Court of her kings were to be found such men of letters as Pindar and ^schylus, while the splendid site which Natui'e had given her was adorned with some of the linest buildings in the world. There was that in Syra- cuse which led her admirers to exaggerate. Cicero {in Vcrr. II. iv. 52) calls her ' the greatest of Greek cities and the most beautiful of all cities.' But in the year of Cicero's death (43 B.C.) Syracuse, and indeed the whole of Sicily, suffered terribly at the hands of Sextus Pompeius ; and, though Strabo {loc. eit.) praises Augustus for sending thither a colony and to a great extent restoring the city to its former importance, the geographer's other words scarcely bear out this flattering statement.
In the Greater or the Lesser Port of this city, under the citadel of Ortygia and close to the fountain of Arethusa, the Alexandrian corn-ship in which St. Paul was sailing from Melita to Puteoli had to tarry three days for a favourable wind. How the Apostle spent those days can only be conjectured. Conybeare and Howson not only suggest that Julius was probably courteous enough to let him go ashore, but have no difficulty in giving credit to the local tradition which makes St. Paul the first founder of the Sicilian Church {The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 1877, ii. 4'29f.). W. M. Ramsay, on the other hand, holds that, as the ship was simply waiting a suitable wind, no prisoner
was likely to be allowed leave of absence {HDB iv. 645'"). Between these theories of a fruitful activ- ity and an enforced idleness there may be room for a via media. If St. Paul was permitted to go into the city, with a charge to note the wind and return the moment it veered to the right direction, he would probably lind th»t there were many Jews and proselytes in that great centre of commerce, though no ancient writer seems to allude to a Jewish colony. And that he would redeem the time is certain. But as to the actual introduction of Christianity into Sicily, whether then or at a hater date, history is silent, though the extensive catacombs in the Achradina quarter tell their own tale.