Sirnanie. See Surname.
Sii'5na, in Roman my thologj', is a name designating a goddess mentioned in several inscriptions in connection with Apollo Grannus. Some writers regard the name . as a local appellative of Diana, while others think that it designates a Gallic divinity. The most recent inscrip- tion was discovered by the side of a mineral spring at Nierstein, on the Rhine, which is accordingly known as the Sirona spring. Another inscription in stone, having the names of both Apollo and Sirona, and dating from A.D. 201, was dug up at Grossbottwar, in Wiirteraberg. — Vollmer, Wurterh. d. Mythol. s, v.
Sirpad. See Buier.
Sis. See Crane.
Sis'amai [most Sisam'a'i, some Sisama'il (Heb. Sisinay', ^^DD, of uncertain etymology, perhaps distin- f/uished; Sept. Y.onofidi), son of Eleasah, and father of Shallum, descendants of Sheshan, of the line of Jerah- meel, the grandson of Judah (1 Chron. i, 40). B.C. apparently not long ante 1618.
Siscidenses, a sect of the Waldenses which is men- tioned by Reinerius as agreeing with them in everything except that they received the sacrament of the eucha- rist (Reiner. Contr. Waldens. in Bibl. Jfar. fjir/d. xxv, 266 sq.). Gieseler {Keel. Hist, iii, 446, n. 6, Clark's ed.) thinks that their name is properly spelled Sifridenses, and that tliey took it from some local leader named Sifred.
Sis'era (Heb. Sisera', N"lp''p, battle-array [(Jese- nius], or lieutenant [Ftirst] ; Sept. ^laiipa v. r. [in Ezra and Neh.] "EiaapiSr, etc.; Josephus, 6 'S.i(japi]Q [.•^«^ v, 5, 4]), the name of two men.
1. Captain (lb) of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. He himself resided in Haro- sheth of the (Jentiles. As this is the only instance in those early times of armies being commanded by other than kings in person, the circumstance, taken in con- nection with others, intimates that Sisera was a general eminent for his abilities and success. All that we really know of him is stated in the Biblical account of the bat- tle under the conduct of Barak and Deborah (Judg. v). B.C. 1409. See Jabin. The army was mustered at the Kishon, on the plain at the foot of the slopes of Lej jnn. Partly owing to the furious attack of Barak, partly to
the impassable condition of the plain, and partly to the unwieldy nature of the host itself, wliicb, among other impediments, contained 900 iron chariots — a horrible confusion and rout took place. Sisera deserted his troops and fled on foot. He took a north-east direction, pos- sibly through Nazareth and Safcd, or, if that direct road was closed to him, stole along by more circuitous routes till he found himself before the tents of Heber the Kenite, near Kedesh, on the high ground overlooking the upper Ijasin of the .lordan valley. Here he met his death from the hands of Jael, Heber's wife, who, although "at peace" with him, was unitcr a much more stringent relation with the house of Israel (Judg. iv, 2-22; v, 20 26, 28, 30). His name long survived as a word of fear and of exultation in the mouths of prophets and psalm- ists (I Sam. xii, 9; Psa. Ixxxiii, 9). See Jael. The number of Jabin's standing army is given by Josephus {Ant.x, 5, 1) as 300,000 f.lotmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 3000 cliariots. These numbers are large, but thev are nothing to those of the Jewish legends. Sisera "had 40,000 generals, every one of whom had 100.000 men under him. He was thirty years old, and had con- quered the whole world ; and there was not a place the walls of which did not fall down at his voice. When he shouted, the very beasts of the field were riveted to their places. Nine hundred horses went in his chariot" (Jalkiit, ad loc). "Thirty-one kings (comp. Josh, xii, 24) went with Sisera and were killed with him. Thev thirsted after the waters of the land of Israel, and they asketl and prayed Sisera to take them with him without further reward" (Ber. Rab. c. 23; comp. Judg. v, 19). See Stanley, Hist, of the Jewish Church, lect. xiv.
It is remarkable that from this enemy of the Jews should have sprung one of their most eminent charac- ters. The great rabbi Akiba, whose father was a Syrian proselyte of justice, was descended from Sisera of Haro- sheth (Bartolocci, iv, 272). The part which he took in the Jewish war of independence, when he was standard- bearer to Bar-cocheba (Otho, Hist. Doct. Misn. 134, note), shows that the warlike force still remained in tlie blood of Sisera.
2. After a long interval the name reappears in the lists of the Nethinim as the head of one of the families who returned from the captivity with Zernbbabel (Ezra ii, 53 ; Neh. vii, 55). B.C. ante 536. Sisera is another example of the foreign names occurring in these lists, and doubtless tells of Canaanitish captives devoted to the lowest offices of the Temple, even though the Sisera from whom the family derive<l its name were not actual- ly the same person as the defeated general of Jabin. It is curious that it should occur in close companionship with the name Harsha (Ezra ii, 52), which irresistibly recalls Harosheth. — Smith.
Sisin'nes (Sicr/j'i'j/c), the form in which the name of Tatnai (q. v.) of the Heb. text (Ezra v,3, 6; vi, 6, 13) appears in the Apocrypha (1 Esdr. vi, 3, 7; vii, 1) and Josephus (.4 nt. xi, 4, 5, 7), being that of the governor of Syria and Phoenicia under Darius, and a contemporary of Zerubbabel, who attempted to stop the rebuilding of the Temple, but was ordered bj' Darius, after consult- ing the archives of Cj'rus's reign, to adopt the opposite course, and to forward the plans of Zerubbabel.