SMYRNA (2dut;pva), a celebrated commercial city of Ionia (Ptolem. v. 2), situated near the bot tom of that gulf of the ./Egean Sea which received its name from it (Mela, 17. 3), at the mouth of the small river Meles, and 32o stades north of Ephesus (Strabo, xv. p. 632). It is in N. lat. 38° 26', E. long. 27° 7'. Sinyrna was a very ancient city, but having been destroyed by the Lydians it lay waste 400 years, to the time of Alexander the Great (Plin. v. 29 ; Pausan. vii. 5) ; or, according to Strabo, to that of Antigonus. It was rebuilt at the distance of twenty stades from the ancient city (Strabo, xiv. p. 646), and we soon find it:flourish ing grea.tly ; and in the time of the first Roman emperors it was one of the finest cities of Asia (Strabo, iv. 9). It was at this period that it be came the seat of a Christian church, which is noticed in the Apocalypse, as one of the seven churches of Asia' (Rev. i. ; 8-1r). It was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 177 ; but the emperor Marcus Aurelius cansed it to be rebuilt with even more than its former splendour. It afterwards, however, suffered greatly from earthquakes and conflagrations, and must be regarded as having de clined much from its ancient importance, although from the convenience of its situation it has still maintained its rank as a great city and the central emporium of the Levantine trade ; and seeing the terrible decay which has fallen upon the numerous great and beautiful cities of Asia Minor, its relative rank among the existing cities of that region is probably greater than that which it anciently bore. The Turks call it Izmir. It is a better built town than Constantinople, and in proportion to its size there are few places in the Turkish dominions which have so large a population. It is computed at 130,00o, of which the Franks compose a far greater portion than in any other town of Turkey ; and they are generally in good circumstances. Next to the Turks the Greeks form the most nu merous class of inhabitants, and they have a bishop and two churches. The unusually large proportion of Christians in the town renders it peculiarly un clean in the eyes of strict Moslems, whence it has acquired among them the name of Giaour Izmir or Infidel Smyrna. There are in it 20,000 Greeks, 8000 Armenians, moo Europeans, and 9000 Jews : the rest are Moslems.
The prosperity of Smyrna is now rather on the increase than the decline ; houses of painted wood are giving way in all directions to mansions of stone ; and probably not many years will elapse before the modern town may not unworthily repre sent that city which the ancients delighted to call the lovely—the crown of Ionia—the ornament of Asia.' Smyrna stands at the foot of a range of moun tains, which enclose it on three sides. The only ancient ruins are upon the mountains behind the town, and to the south. Upon the highest summit stands an old dilapidated castle, which is supposed by some to mark the previous (but not the most ancient) site of the city ; frequent earthquakes hav ing dictated the necessity of removing it to the plain below, and to the lower declivities of the moun tains. Mr. Arundell says : Few of the Ionian
cities have furnished more relics of antiquity than Smyrna ; but the convenience of transporting them, with the number of investigators, has exhausted the mine ; it is therefore not at all wonderful that of the stoas and temples the very ruins have van ished ; and it is now extremely difficult to deter mine the sites of any of the ancient buildings, with the exception of the stadium, the theatre, and the temple of Jupiter Acrxus, which was within the Acropolis' (Discoveries in Asia Minor, 407)• Of the stadium here mentioned the ground-plot only remains, it being stripped of its seats and marble decorations. It is supposed to be the place where Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, and pro bably the angel of the church of Smyrna' (John ii. 8), to whom the Apocalyptic message was ad dressed, suffered martyrdom. The Christians of Smyrna hold the memory of this venerable person in high honour, and go arnivally in procession to his supposed tomb, which is at a short distance from the place of martyrdom (Rosenmiiller, Alter thumsk. i. 2. 224, seq. ; Turner, Travels, iii. r38 i4r ; 285-291 ; Arundel], u. s. ; Richter, p. 495 ; Schubert, i. 272-283 ; Narrat, of Scottish Mission, pp. 328-336 ; Einhen, ch. v.)—J. K.
SO (N".b ; Sept Mlyythp), a king of Egypt, whom Hoshea, the last king of Israel, called to his help against the Assyrians under Shalmaneser (2 Kings xvii. 4). It has been questioned whether this So was the same with Sabaco (Shebek), the first king of the Ethiopian dynasty in Upper Egypt, or his son and successor Sevechus (Shebetek), the second Icing of the same dynasty, and the immediate predecessor of Tirhakah. Winer hesitates between them, and Gesenius concludes for the latter. Sevechus reigned twelve years, according to Manetho, fourteen ac cording to Syncellus. This name, in Egyptian Sevech, is also that of the god Saturn (Champol lion, Paull& .Egypt. Nos. 21, 22 ; Winer, Real WOrterb. s. v. ; Gesenius, Comment. in Yes. i. 696).—J. K.
SOCOH 051,v). r. (Sept. Zacoxi6 ; Alex. Mcoxit:). A town in the Shephelah classed with Jarmuth, Adullam, and Azekah (Josh. xv. 35). It has been identified with the ruins of Esh-Shu weikeh, in the Wady Sumt, about three miles and a half to the S.W. of Jerusalem (Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 343 ; Von Raumer, Palast. p. 2r8 ; Porter, Handbook, p. 249).
2, (Sept. Ecoxci ; Alex. Zwx6). A town be longing also to Judah, but in the hill region (Josh. xv. 43). Robinson found in the Wady el-Khalil a place bearing the name esh-Shuweikeh, like the pre ceding, which he identifies with this Socoh (ii. 195).
Shuzveikeh J..,2;,) is the diminution of Shaukeh (41).
In Kings iv. ro Socoh (A. V. Sochoh) is men tioned as one of the places whence provisions were drawn for Solomon's household ; this was probably the town in the Shephelah. The Socoh (A.. V. Socho) of r Chron. iv. 18 was probably also one of the above, but which remains uncertain.—W. L. A.