SYRUS
126
TABEEL
xvii, 834; Ptolemy, iv, 3 ; Pliny, v, 4; Solin. 27; ]\[ela, i, 7, 4; Sallust, Jiif/. 78). jNIodeni exijhirations liiid both of them to be highly dangerous bays, where the treacherous sandy shore is barely covered with wa- ter, and where terrific clouds of sand are suddenly raised b\- the wind, obscuring the sight and overwhelm- ing men and even ships. The Greater Syrtis is now called the Gulf of Sidra, between Tripoli and Barea ; and the Lesser the Gulf of Cahes. The former is spe- cially intended in the account of Paul's shipwreck (q. v.).
See Smith, Diet, of Class. Geo(j. s. v. See QncK-
SAND.
Syrus, in (Jreek mythology, was a son of Apollo and Sinope, wlio is said to have given name to the Syrians.
Systaticae (Siirrrori/cni) were letters of license granted by a bishop fur a clergyman to remove from his diocese to another, called by the old canons JJlsmis- sori/ Letters.
Syzygus. See Yoke-fkllow.
T.
\ Ta'anach (Heb. Taannk', "S^ri, snmhj [Gesenins],
ox fortified [Flirst] ; twice [Judg. xxi, 25 ; 1 Chron. vii, 29] more briefly Tanak', ~J"ri, A. V. "Tanach;" Sept. 6«j'(7j^ or Saai'^x v. r. Tavcix, Sai'a/c, etc.), an ancient Canaanitish city, whose king is enumerated among the thirty-one conquered by Joshua (Josh, xii, 21). It came into the hands of tlie half-tribe of Manasseh (xvii, 11 ; xxi, 25; 1 Chron. vii, 29), though it would appear to have lain within the original allotment of Issachar (Josh, xvii, 11). It was bestowed on the Kohathite Levites (xxi, 25). Taanach was one of the places in which, either from some strength of position, or from the ground near it being favorable for their mode of fighting, the aborigines succeeded in making a stand (xvii, 12 ; Judg. i, 27) ; and in the great struggle of the Canaanites under Sisera against Deborah and Barak it appears to have formed the headquarters of their army (Judg. v, 19). After this defeat the Canaanites of Taa- nach were probably made, like the rest, to pay a tribute (Josh, xvii, 13 ; Judg. i, 28), but in the town they ap- pear to have remained to the last. Taanach is almost alwavs named in compan}' with Megiddo, and they were evidently the chief towns of that fine, rich district which forms the western portion of the great plain of Esdraelon (1 Kings iv, 12). It was known to Eusebius, who mentions it twice in the Onomasticon {iiaavci)^ and Qarai) ) as a " very large village" standing between three and four Roman miles from Legio — the ancient Megiddo. It was known to hap-Parchi, the Jewish mediasval traveller, and it still stands about four miles south-east of Lejjun, retaining its old name with hardly the change of a letter. Schubert, followed by Kobin- son, found it in the modern TcCunnuh, now a mean ham- let on the south-east side of a small hill, with a summit of table-land (Schubert, Moi-genland, iii, 164; Robinson, Bihl. Res. iii, 156 ; Bibl. Sacra, 1843, p. 76 ; Schwarz, Palest, p. 149). The ancient town was planted on a large mound at the termination of a long spur or prom- ontory, which runs out northward from the hills of Ma- nasseh into the plain, and leaves a recess or bay, subor- dinate to the main plain on its north side, and between it and Lejjun (Van de Velde, i, 358). Ruins of some extent, but possessing no interest, encompass it (Porter, Handbook, p. 371). The houses of the present village are mud huts, with one or two stone buildings (Ridga- way. The Lord's Land, p. 688).
Taanah. See TAANATH-SiiiLon,
Ta'anath-Shi'loh (Heb. TannatV Shiloh', n_2}J;ri n'Pir, Taanah [Gesenius, approach; Flirst, ciixle] of Shiloh, so called prob. from its vicinity to that place ; Sept. Ti]vud 2j;\a» v. r. Otjvarra Kai 2«XXj;c), a place mentioned (Josh, xvi, 6) as situated near the northern border of Ephraim at its eastern end between the Jor- dan and Janohah. See Tribe. With this agrees the statement of Eusebius (Onomast. s. v.), who places Jano- hah twelve and Thenath ten Roman miles east of Ne- apolis. It is probably the Thena (Gj^i'o) mentioned by Ptolemy (^Georj. v, 16, 5), one of the chief cities of Sama- ria, in connection with Neapolis. In the Talmud (Je- rusalem Mef/illah, i), Taanath-Shiloh is said to be iden-
tical with Shiloh, a statement which Kurtz {Gesch. des Alt. Bundes, ii, 70) understands as meaning that Taa- iiath was the ancient Canaanitish name of the place, and Shiloh the Hebrew name, conferred on it in token of the " rest" which allowed the tabernacle to be estab- lished there after the conquest of the country had been completed. But this is evidently conjecture arising from the probable proximity of the two places. Taa- nah-of-Shiloh is probably the Ain Tana seen by Rob- inson north-east of Mejdel {Later Res. iii, 295), and by Van de Velde {Memoir, p. 121, although erroneously marked JiferaJ ed-Din on his Map), about a mile from the road between Acrabi and Mejdel, consisting of " a small tell with a ruin, on the first lower plateau into which the Ghor descends."
Taanith. See Talmud,
Tab'aoth (T«/3n(.j.& v. r. TajSw^j), a less correct form (1 Esdr. V, 29) of the name Tabbaoth (q. v.) of the Heb. lists (Ezra ii, 43 ; Neh. vii, 46).