the Alps. At this time he painted the “Ave Maria,” which took a gold medal at the Amsterdam Exhibition (1883), “Mothers,” “After a Storm in the Alps,” “A Kiss,” and “Moonlight Effect.” Deeply impressed by Millet, the artist nevertheless quickly strove to reassert his individuality, as may be seen in “The Drinking-place,” which gained a gold medal in Paris (1889), “In the Sheep-fold,” “By the Spinning-wheel,” and “ Ploughing in the Engadine,” for which he was awarded a gold medal at the Turin Exhibition (1892). Besides those works in which he studied simple effects of light and Alpine scenery, such as “Midday on the Alps” and “Winter at Savognino,” he also painted symbolical subjects: “The Punishment of Luxury,” and the “Unnatural Mothers” (in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). Segantini died at Maloja in October 1899. An exhibition of his works was held in London, and afterwards at Brussels in 1899, and at Milan in 1900.
Authorities.—H. Zimmern, Magazine of Art (London, 1897); W. Ritter, Gazette des beaux-arts (Paris, 1898); Robert de la Sizeranne, Revue de l’art (Paris, 1899); and Revue des deux mondes (Paris, 1900).
SEGESTA (Gr.Ἔγεστα), an ancient city of Sicily, 8 m. W.S.W. of the modern Alcamo and about 15 m. E.S.E. of Eryx. It was a city of the Elymi, but, though the Elymi were regarded as barbari, Segesta, in its relations with its neighbours, was almost like a Greek city. Disputes with Selinus over questions of boundary seem to have been frequent from 580 B.C. onwards. In 454 B.C. we hear of dealings—possibly even an alliance—with Athens (the authority is a fragmentary inscription, see E. A. Freeman, History of Sicily, ii. 554), and in 426 an alliance was concluded by Laches. One of the ostensible objects of the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 was to aid Segesta against Selinus in a dispute, not only as to questions of boundary, but as to rights of marriage. After the Athenian débâcle, the Segestans turned to Carthage; but when Hannibal in 409 B.C. firmly established the Carthaginian power in western Sicily, Segesta sank to the position of a dependent ally, and was indeed besieged by Dionysius in 397, being at last relieved by Himilco. In 307 Agathocles marched on the city, massacred 10,000 men, sold the rest of the inhabitants into slavery and changed its name to Dicaeopolis; but it soon recovered its old name and returned to the Carthaginians. Early in the First Punic War, however, the inhabitants, having massacred the Carthaginian garrison and allied themselves with Rome, had to stand a severe siege from the Carthaginians. Segesta was treated with favour by the Romans, retaining its freedom and immunity from tithe; indeed it seems probable that the municipal constitution of Eryx was suppressed and its territory assigned to Segesta. It received Latin rights before Caesar's concession of them to the rest of Sicily.
The site is now absolutely deserted. The town lay upon the Monte Varvaro (1345 ft.); considerable remains of its external walls, of houses and of a temple of Demeter are to be seen. The theatre is well preserved: its diameter is 205 ft. It is partly hewn in the rock, the rest (especially the back wall of the stage) being of very roughly hewn, long, thin blocks of hard limestone, approximately rectangular, with smaller pieces filling up the interstices. To the W.N.W., 350 ft. below the theatre, is a temple, 20012 ft. long and 8614 wide, including the steps: it is a hexastyle peripteros, and has 36 columns, 29 ft. in height, 612 ft. in lower diameter. The building was, however, not completed; the cella was never built, and the columns, not having been fluted, have a heavy appearance. It is, however, extremely well preserved. Its style p aces the date of its construction between 430 and 420, so that the interruption of the work must be due to the events of 416 or of 409 B.C. The Thermae Segestanae were situated about 5 m. to the north on the road to Castellammare: the hot springs are still in use. (T. As.)
SEGESVÁR (Ger. Schässburg), a town of Hungary, in Transylvania, the capital of the county of Nagy-Küküllö, 126 m. S.E. of Koloszvár by rail. Pop. (1900) 10,857. Amongst the principal buildings are a Gothic church of the 15th century, the town and county hall, a German gymnasium with a good collection of antiquities, and the municipal museum. In front of the county hall is a bronze statue of the Hungarian poet Alexander Petöfi (1823–1849), erected in 1897. Segesvár has a good woollen and linen trade, as well as exports of wine and fruit.
Segesvár was founded by Saxon colonists at the end of the 12th century; its Latin name was Castrum Sex. Here, on the 31st of July 1849, the Hungarian army under Bem was defeated by the overwhelming numbers of the Russian General Lüders. Petöfi is generally believed to have met his end in this battle.
SEGOVIA, a province of central Spain, formerly part of Old
Castile, bounded on the N. and N.E. by the provinces of Burgos
and Soria, S.E. by Guadalajara and Madrid, S.W. by Avila, and
N.W. by Valladolid. Pop. (1900) 159,243; area, 2635 sq. m.
The greater portion of the country consists of an arable tableland,
some 2500 ft. above the sea, monotonous enough in appearance,
and burnt to a dull brown during summer, but yet producing
some of the finest corn in the Peninsula. Along the whole south-eastern
boundary the Sierra de Guadarrama rises up suddenly,
like a huge barrier, separating Old from New Castile and the basin
of the Duero from that of the Tagus. The province is well
watered by the streams which rise in the Guadarrama range
and How northwards to the Duero, and by careful irrigation.
The Eresma, Cega, Duraton and Riaza are the principal watercourses.
Except the capital, Segovia, there is no town of more
than 5000 inhabitants; but Sepulveda and other small towns
contain monuments of some historical and ecclesiastical interest.
At the foot of the Navacerrada pass lies the royal demesne and
summer residence of La Granja (q.v.). After the completion
(1883) of the railway from Medina del Campo to the city of
Segovia, and its subsequent extensions to Madrid and Aranda de
Duero, the towns adjoining these lines showed signs of increased
prosperity and animation. There are manufactures on a small
scale of coarse pottery, dyes, paper, alcohol, rosin, hats, pins
and needles, flour, oil and beer. Such prosperity, however, as
Segovia retains is dependent upon its agricultural produce—wheat,
rye, barley, peas, hemp, flax, &c.—together with the
rearing of sheep, cattle, mules and pigs. There are extensive
forests in the sierras, which yield excellent granite, marble and
limestone; but the difficulty of transport has prevented any
systematic development of these resources.
SEGOVIA, the capital of the Spanish province of Segovia;
on the railway from Madrid to Valladolid and Zamora. Pop.
(1900) 14,547. Segovia is built upon a narrow ridge of rock
which rises in the valley of the Eresma, where this river is
joined by its turbulent tributary the Clamores. It is an episcopal
see in the archbishopric of Valladolid. Founded originally as a
Roman pleasure resort, it became in the middle ages a great
religious centre and seat of the Castilian court; it was surrounded
by Alphonso VI. with the walls and towers which still give to it,
even in their dilapidation, the air of a military stronghold.
The streets are steep, irregular and narrow, and are lined with
quaint old-fashioned houses, built for the most part of granite
from the neighbouring Sierra Guadarrama. The place teems
with records and monuments of the many vicissitudes of fortune
and art through which it has passed, foremost among the latter
being the ancient alcazar or citadel, the cathedral, the aqueduct
of Trajan, and a notable array of churches and other ecclesiastical
edifices.
The alcázar is perched upon the western tip of the long tongue of rock upon which the city is built. Of the original medieval fortress but little remains save the noble facade—the building having been wantonly fired in 1862 by the students of the artillery school then domiciled within its walls, and all but destroyed. The work is Gotho-Moorish, with an admixture of Renaissance in the decoration. The 16th-century cathedral (1521–1577), the work of Juan Gil de Ontañon and his son Rodrigo, occupies the site of a former church of the 11th century, of which the present cloisters, rebuilt in 1524, formed part. It is a well-proportioned and delicate piece of Late Gothic—the latest of its kind in Spain—and contains some very fine stained glass. The most remarkable of the many other churches are those of La Vera Cruz (Knights Templar, Romanesque of the early 13th century), San Millan and San Juan (both Romanesque of second half of 13th century), El Parral (Gothic of early 16th century), and Corpus Christi, an ancient Jewish sanctuary and an interesting specimen of Moorish work. The towers and external cloistering, or corredores, of several of the later churches—especially those of San Estéban and San Martin—are fine. The great aqueduct, however, called El Puente del Diablo, usually ranks as the glory of Segovia, and is remarkable alike for its colossal proportions, its history, its picturesqueness, and the art with which
