Sion

See Zion. Sion (sê-ôn'), G. Sitten (zit'ten). The capital of the canton of Valais, Switzerland, situated on the Sionne, near the Rhone, in lat. 46° 14′ N., long. 7° 22′ E.: the Roman Sedunum. Population (1890), 5,513. Sion College. A London college, founded in 1623 by the Rev. Dr. White as a college and almshouse. In 1884 the almshouse was abolished. In 1886 a new building was formally opened. It is situated toward the east end of the Victoria Embankment. It contains the most valuable theological library in London, numbering 60,000 volumes. The original buildings were on the foundation of an old priory near the London Wall. Sioot. See Siut . Siouan (sö'an). [See Sioux .] A linguistic stock of North American Indians: so called from the Sioux or Dakota, its principal division. The former habitat of this family included parts of Brit ish North America and of each of the following States and Territories: Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Mi ouri, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Mi i ippi, the Carol in as, the Virginias, and Kentucky. The Dakota tribes have been the most warlike of this stock. They have been hostile not only to white settlers and to Indians of other stocks (especially the Ojibwa and Pawnee), but even to tribes of their own stock, such as the Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, and Omaha. The principal Siouan divisions are: (1) The Dakota division, including the Dakota tribes and the A iniboin. (2) The Dhegiha division, including the Ponka, Omaha, Kwapa, Osage, and Kansa tribes. (3) The Tciwere division, to which belong the Iowa, Mi ouri, and Oto tribes. (4) The Winnebago. (5) The Mandan. (6) The Hidatsa division, including the Hidatsa and Ab saroka tribes. (7) The Tutelo and cognate tribes. (8) The Biloxi. (9) The Kataba group, including several Carolina tribes. In addition to these, there was a Vir ginia division to which belonged many tribes whose names were recorded by Captain John Smith. The present number of the Siouan stock is about 43,400, of whom about 2,204 are in British North America, the rest being in the United States. Sioux (sö). [A French corruption of the Algonkin word nadowe - iwag , the snake-like ones or enemies.] See Dakota . Sioux (sö) City. A city, capital of Woodbury County, Iowa, situated on the Mi ouri River 88 miles north by west of Omaha. It is an important railway, manufacturing, and trading center. Population (1900), 33,111. South Dakota, situated at the falls of the Big Sioux River, 59 miles northeast of Yankton. It has important granite-quarries. Population (1900). 10,266. Sipand (si-pend'). In the Shahnamah, the fortre in the siege of which Nariman, father of Sam, lost his life, and which was taken and burned by Rustam, his great-grandson, to avenge him. The mountain is described as steep on all sides, with only one road and gate leading to its summit. It has been identified with Qala-i-safaid, near Shiraz. See Rustam . Sipan Dagh (sē-pän' däg'). A mountain in Armenia, Turkey, north of Lake Van. Height, about 12,000 feet. Siphnos (sif'nos). [Gr. Σίφνος .] An island of the Cyclades, Greece, situated in the Ægean Sea about lat. 37° N., long. 24° 44′ E.: the modern Sifanto, Siphanto, or Sipheno. It was formerly noted for its mines of gold and silver. Length, 10 miles. Population, about 4,000. Sipibos (se-pe'bos). An Indian tribe of Peru, on the Ucayale River between lats. 6o and 8° S. They belong to the Pano stock, were gathered into mi ions during the 18th century, but relapsed into barbarism, and are now nearly extinct. See Conibos and Setibos . Sippar, Sippara. See Sepharvaim. Sipylus (sip'i-lus). [Gr. Σίπυλος.] In ancient geography, a mountain of Lydia, Asia Minor, near Smyrna. Not far from Kara be lan other monument of Hittite art has been discovered. Hard by the town of Magnesia, on the lofty cliffs of Sipylos, a strange figure has been carved out of the rock. It represents a woman, with long locks of hair streaming down her shoulders, and a jewel like a lotus flower upon the head, who sits on a throne in a deep artificial niche. Lydian historians narrate that it was the image of the daughter of A aon, who had sought death by casting herself down from a precipice; but Greek legend preferred to see in it the figure of "weeping Niobê" turned to stone. Already Homer told how Niobe, when her twelve children had been slain by the gods, "now changed to stone, broods over the woes the gods had brought there, among the rocks, in lonely mountains, even in Sipylos, where they say are the couches of the nymphs who on the banks the Akheloios." But it was only after the settlement of the Greeks in Lydia that the old monument on Mount Sipylos was held to be the image of Niobe. The limestone rock out of which it was carved dripped with moisture after rain; and as the water flowed over the face of the figure, disintegrating and disfiguring the stone as it ran, the pious Greek beheld in it the Niobe of his own mythology. The figure was originally that of the great godde of Asia Minor, known sometimes as At erg at is or Derketo, sometimes as Kybelê, sometimes by other names.