Stheuias, a surname of the Grecian Mhm-va at Tni'/.cne.
Sthenius, a surname of Zcm.«, inider which he had an altar in a rock near Hermioiie, and inider which i-Egeus concealed the sword by which he intended to recognise his son Theseus (Pausan. ii, 32, 7; 34, 6).
Stheno, one of the Phorcides or Gorgons in Grecian myibolii;.'y, a sister to Jledusa.
Sthenobcea, also called Antea, a personage in (Jrcciaii inytbology represented as the wife of the Ar- rive king Pratus, and the daughter of the Lycian king lobates. She fell in love with Hellerophon, who re- jected her a<lvaiu'es, u])on which slie accused him to licr hiisbniid of having made attempts upon her virtue, and caus<'d him lo be sent to lobates, where he achievetl the cclc-brnted victories in which the legend associates him with the winged-horse Pegasus. Hearing of his «ucceK.s, Sthcnolxea hanged herself (Apollod. iii, 3, 1 sq. ; Pindar, lulhm. vii, 63 «[. ; Homer, 11. vi, 144 sq., etc.). See Anthon, Claiiii. Dirt. s. v. " Sihenob(i-a" and " Belle- rophr»n;" Vollmer, Wurlerh. d. Mi/thol.s. v.
Sticharion (IVi^/z^xoi'), a (Ireek term denoting a «urpli<<' or while garment used in divine service, which corr<s|»indH to the luuiru alba (or alba simply) of the Western Church. See Ai.ii.
StichiuB, a leader of the Athenians in the war acain-'i Troy, who was blain by Hector (Homer, //. xiii, 6'.t; XV, 329>
Stichologein (SnxoXoytlv), a Greek term sig- nifying " to chaut the psalms verse by verse." See Chant.
Stichometry {measurement bi/ arixot, or lines}, a practice early resorted to in MSS. of the New Test, in order to remedy the inconvenience of the continuous method of writing then employed in the absence of in- terpunction. About the year 4i)2, Eiithalius, a deacon at Alexandria, divided the text of the I'auline epistles into stichoi containing as many words as were to be read un- interrii|vte<lly. We know that the (iospels, too, were so separated, but we are unable to discover whether Eutha- lius himself arranged them in that manner. This mode of writing has survived in several ISISS., such as the Codices Cantabrigiensis, Claromontanus, etc. This mode of division, however, was not a regular, universal system, but was adopted in some MSS., perhaps the ma- jority, in different places. The following is a specimen from the Codex Coislinianus (H) at Titus ii, 3;
nPESBYTASNH^AAIOYSEINAI 2I:MN0Y2
2fi*l'0.\AS VriAINONTASTHniSTEI
THAPAnH
nPEIBYTlAAinSAYTOS
ENKATA2TH.M vnii.l'onPEriEIS
MHAIAK()A()Y2
MHOINnnOAAiiAEAOYAnMENAS
KAAOAIAA2KAAOY2.
The entire number of stichoi is usually given at the end of each book ; but it docs not necessarily follow that every MS. having an enumeration of stichoi at the end was actually divided in that manner when first wTitten. They were sometimes very short, as in the Codex Lau- densis (E), where each line generally contains but one word. The pl]/.iaTa, which are also enumerated at the end of MSS. or books, may be the same as the (Tricot. Hug states (Einleitunrj, i, 219, 4th ed.) that, so far as known, the piifiara are found only in ]MSS. containing the Gospels. If, therefore, a different person from Eiitha- lius divided the Gospels, he may readily have given the divisions a different name from that applied to the Acts and Epistles. In order to save the space necessarily lost in stichometry, a point was afterwards put for the end of each stichos, and the text was written continu- ously as at first. This is observable in Codex Cyprius (K), according to Hug, yet the points in this MS. may be its interpunction-marks without any reference to the stichoi, especially as thej' are similar to the interpnnc- tion of the Codex Boernerianus (Hupfeld, in the Stud, u. Krit. 1837, p. 859); or a large letter was placed at the beginning of a stichos, as in the Codex Boernerianus, where, however, there is also a corrupt and absurd in- terpunction. — Davidson, IJib. Crit. ii, 14 sq. See Man-
VSCKIl'TS.
Stichthron (^rlx^por), a Greek term for a short hymn or verse.
Stick (y", cts, a piece of wood, for fuel. Numb, xv, 32; 1 Kings xvii, 10; 2 Kings vi, 6; Lam. iv, 8; (ppvya- I'ov, a tirif/, Acts xxviii, 3). The use of billets or staves of wood for writing upon, as illustrated in Ezek. xxxvii, 16-20, is a fre(|uent practice with primitive nations. This, indeed, is not the first instance of the practice in Scripture; for, so early as the time of Moses, we find a parallel example of writing upon rods (Numb, xvii, 6). The custom existed among the early (ireeks; as we are informed that the laws of Solon, preserved at Athens, were inscribed on billets of wood called axones. The custom has also existed in various applications in Eng- land and other Nortiiern coinitries. The ancient Britons used to cut their alphabet with a knife upon a stick, wliich, thus inscribed, was called Coelbreii y Beirdd, "the billet of signs of the bards," or the Bardic aljiha- bet. And not only were the alphabets such, but com- positions and memorials were registered in the same manner. These sticks were commonly squared, but sometimes were three-sided, and consequently a single
STIEFEL
1023
STIEFEL
stick would contain either three or four lines. The squares were used fur general subjects and for stanzas of four lines in poetry ; the trilateral ones being adapt- ed to triads and to a peculiar kind of ancient metre called Triban, or triplet, and Kw/lyn- Mlltri)r, or the warrior's verse. Several sticks with writing upon them were united together in a kind of frame or ta- ble, in the manner of a book. This was called Ptithy- nen, or Elucidator, and was so constructed that each stick miglit be turned for the facility of reading, the end of each running out alternatel}' on both sides. A continuation, or different application, of the same prac- tice was offered by the Runic lioy (a corruption of log)