Hiera Sycaminus

HIERA SYCAMINUS(Ιερὰ Συκάμινος, Ptol. 4.5.74; Συκάμινος, Philostrat. Vit. Apoll. 6.2; Plin. Nat. 6.29. s. 32; It. Anton. p. 162), the southern frontier town of the Regio Dodecaschoenus. [AETHIOPIA] The island Tachompso had been the original boundary; but the Romans extended it southward to Hierasycaminos. Here Apollonius of Tyana (Philostrat. l. c.) found one of those African markets in which wares,—gold, linen, ivory, and gums,—are exposed for sale, while the buyers and sellers kept apart from each other until each party had deposited a satisfactory equivalent. Hiera Sycaminos is now probably represented by Wady Maharrakah, where the ruins of a temple are still visible. The distance between Syene, the N. boundary of this district, and Wady Maharrakah(720 stades == 12 schoeni == 90 miles), favours this supposition. Lat. 22° N.
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