Sebaste

SEBASTE(Σεβαστή).

1. A town in a small island off the coast of Cilicia, built by Archelaus king of Cappadocia, to whom the Romans had given Cilicia Aspera. (Strab. 14. p. 671.) It seems to have received its name Sebaste in honour of Augustus; for, until his time, both the island and the town were called Eleusa, Elaeusa, or Elaeussa (J. AJ, Bell. 1.23.4; comp. Ptol. 5.8.4; Hierocl. p. 704; Stadiasm. Mar. Magn. § 172, where it is called Ἐλεοῦς;Steph. B. s. vv.Σεβαστήand Ἐλαιοῦσσα), a name which Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.22) still applies to the town, though he erroneously places it in the interior of Caria. Stephanus, in one of the passages above referred to, calls Sebaste or Elaeussa an island, and in the other a peninsula, which may be accounted for by the fact that the narrow channel between the island and the mainland was at an early period filled up with sand, as it is at the present,—for the place no longer exists as an island. Sebaste was situated between Corycus and the mouth of the river Lamus, from which it was only a few miles distant. Some interesting remains of the town of Sebaste still exist on the peninsula near Ayash, consisting of a temple of the composite order, which appears to have been overthrown by an earthquake, a theatre, and three aqueducts, one of which conveyed water into the town from a considerable distance. (Comp. Beaufort, Karamania, p. 250, foll.; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 213.)


2. A town in Phrygia Pacatiana, between Alydda and Eumenia, is noticed only by Hierocles, (p. 667) and in the Acts of the Council of Constantinople (3. p. 674); but its site has been identified with that of the modern Segikler, where inscriptions and coins of the town have been found. The ancient name of the place is still preserved in that of the neighbouring stream, Sebasli Su. (Comp. Hamilton's Researches, 1. p. 121, &c. Arundell, Discoveries, 1. p. 136, who erroneously takes the remains at Seyiklerfor those of the ancient Eucarpia.)


3. [CABIRAV ol. 1. p. 462.] [L.S]