celain is called by the general name of china. The island is sometimes stated to have been famous for its wines, but, in fact, the wine of Samos was in ill repute. Strabo says expressly that the island was ovk tvoivoc. It now, however, ranks high for its Levantine wine, which is largely exported, as are also grapes and raisins. Samos, which is still called Samo, contained, some years ago, about 60,000 people, inhabiting eighteen large vil- lages and about twenty small ones. Vathi is the chief town of the island in every respect, except that it is not the residence of the governor, who lives at Colonna, which takes its name from a solitary column (about fifty feet high and six in diameter), a remnant of the ancient Temple of Juno, of which some insignificant remains are l3-ing near. Various travellers (Clarke, Tournefort, Po- cocke, Dallawa)', Ross) have described this island. See also Georgirenes, Description of Samos, etc. (Lond. 1 678) : Panofka, Ees /Samio7-iim^(BeTVm, 1822); and especially GuC'nt\jDesci'ipiio7i de Vile de Patmos ei de I' He de Samos (Paris, 1856).
Coin of Samos.
Samos is briefly referred to in two places in Scripture. The Romans wrote to the governor in favor of the Jew.*, in the time of Simon Maccabieus (1 Mace, xv, 23), and Paul touched there when going to Jerusalem, on his re- turn from his third missionary journey (Acts xx, 15). He had been at Chios, and was about to proceed to Mi- letus, having passed by Ephesus without touching there. The topographical notices given incidentally bj' Luke are most exact. The night was spent at the anchorage of Trogyllium, in the narrow strait between Samos and the extremity of the mainland ridge of Mj'cale. This spot is famous both for the great battle of the old Greeks against the Persians in B.C. 479, and also for a gallant action of the modern (ireeks against the Turks in 1824. Here, however, it is more natural (especiallj- since we know, as above from 1 Mace, xv, 23, that Jews "resided
Port Tigaui, the Ancient Harbor of Samos.
SAMOSATENES
311
SAMPSON
here) to alliule to the meeting of Herod the Great with Marcus Agrippa in Samos, whence resuUed many privi- leges to the Jews (Josephus, Ant. xvi, 2, 2, 4). At that time and when Paul was there it was politicalh' a " free city" in the province of Asia (q. v.). See Conybeare and Howson, iSt. Paul, ii, 18; Lewin, .S7. Paul, ii, »7 sq. See Paui-.
Samosatenes, or Samosatenians, the follow- ers of Paul of Samosata (q. v.).
Samostrigolschtschiiia, a sect of Kussian dis- senters, whose name signilies " self-ordainers," and ex- presses the peculiarity by which they are distinguished from other Kaskolniks. — Blunt, Diet, of Sects, s. v.
Samothra'cia, or Samothrace CSa^ioBpo ktj), a famous island in the north-eastern part of the ^Egean Sea, above the Hellespont, with a city of the same name. It was anciently called iktrdana, Leucaniu, and also Samos; and, to distinguish it from the other Samos (q. v.), the name of Thrace was added, from its vicinity to that country'. Hence, Samos of Thraee, 'S.a^oQ OpciKijQ, and by contraction 'Sai^o^pciKi], Samothrace. Samothrace is about twenty miles in circumference, and about twenty miles from the coast of Thrace. The island was celebrated for the mysteries of Ceres and Proserpine, and was a sacred asylum (Diod. Sic. iii, 55; V, 47; Ptolemy, Geoff, v, 11; Plin}', Hist. Naf. iv, 23). In ancient times it was the resort of numerous pil- grims, who regarded it as invested with peculiar sanc- tity. It was the seat of the worshijj and mysteries of the Cabiri — mysteries in which persons of tlie highest rank and consideration deemed it an especial honor to be initiated, and which have been a favorite subject for investigation among modern students. Samothrace is mountainous, and the central peak is the highest point in the northern part of the /Egean, and inferior only to Mount Athos on the mainland. Homer places upon it the throne of Neptune ; it towers liigh over Imbros, and the plains of Troy are distinctly visible from its summit. Homer describes Jupiter as watching from hence the progress of the Trojan war. The traditions of Samothrace extend to the remotest antiquity ; they refer to a period wlien the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosphorus were but a series of inland lakes, and the Euxine was entirely shut away from the /Egean. It is the opinion of Niebuhr (Ancient Ethnoyraphy and Geoyraphy, i, 182) that Samothrace was the centre of the Pelasgic religion. Perseus took refuge here after his defeat by the Romans at Pydna. In later times Samothrace had, according to Pliny, the privileges of a small free state, though it was doubtless considered a dependency of the province of Jlacedonia. The island is now called Samothraki, frecpiently corrupted into Samandrichi {Iq to jxavCpiKi). It is but thinly peopled, principally by fishermen, and in many parts is covered with forests. It contains only a single village. The mountain is described in the Missionary Herald for 183G, p.246; comp.Richter, lFu///«/jr/, p. 438 sq.; Smith,
Diet, of Class. Geoy. s. v. ; Conze, Reise avf d. Inseln d. Thrukischeu Meers (Berl. 185'J).
C.Afcro'
Map of the Island of Samothrace.
Coin of Samothrace.
The mention of this island in the account of Paul's first voyage to Europe (Acts xvi, 11) is, for two rea- sons, worthy of careful notice. In the first place, being a very lofty and conspicuous island, it is an ex- cellent landmark for sailors, and must have been full in view, if the weather was clear, throughout that voyage from Troas to Neapolis. From the sh(jre at Troas, Samothrace is seen towering over Imbros (Homer, //. xiii, 12, 13 ; Kinglake, Eothen, p. 64), and it is similarly a marked object in the view from the hills between Ne- apolis and Philippi (Clarke, Travels, ch. xiii). These allusions tend to give vividness to one of the most im- portant voyages that ever took place. Secondly, this voyage was made with a fair wind. Not only are we told that it occupied only parts of two days, whereas on a subsequent return voyage (Acts xx, 6) the time spent jit sea was five; but the technical word here used (si/^v- hponi)(Taf^Liv) implies that they ran before the wind. Now the position of Samothrace is exactly such as to correspond with these notices, and thus incidentally to confirm the accuracy of a most artless narrative. Paul and his companions anchored for the night off Samothrace. The ancient city, and therefore probably the usual anchorage, was on the north side, which would be suflSciently sheltered from a south-east wind. It may be added, as a further practical consideration not to be overlooked, that such a wind would be favorable for overcoming the opposing current, which sets south- erly after leaving the Dardanelles, and easterly between Samothrace and the mainland. See Conybeare and Howson, Life and Ep. of St. Paul, i, 282 sq. , Lewin, St. Paul, i, 200.