According to Herodotus she lived about 750 years b.c., but Ctesias, who is followed by Diodorus and Justin, reckons an interval of 1306 years from Semiramis to Sardanapalus, which placing the fall of the latter 876 b.c., would fix the date of Semiramis at 2182 b.c. There can be little doubt, however, that this last computation allows too ancient a period for her reign. She is said to have been married to Ninus, the supposed founder of Nineveh, to have put him to death, and to have afterwards built Babylon. To her also were ascribed the magnificent hanging-gardens, and the remarkable canals and other gigantic works on the Euphrates. She is represented as licentious and cruel, and it is probable that she was in some way identified with Astarte, or Ashtaroth, the Assyrian Venus. Great foreign conquests are ascribed to her, and she is even said to have subdued the Ethiopians, Sacæ, Sogdians, and Arabians. In her expeditions against India alone was she unsuccessful, her war chariots and camels being no match for the hostile elephants. A remarkable inscription bearing her name is still on record. In it she boasted that no Assyrian before her had ever beheld the sea; that she had subdued the Sacæ, Sogdians, Indians, and Arabians; that she had brought rivers to flow over sterile ground; that she had built impregnable cities, and carried roads over trackless deserts and impassable mountains; and that four seas had submitted to her imperial dominion.—G.
SEMLER, John Salmon, a celebrated theologian of the eighteenth century, was born on the 18th December, 1725, at Saalfeld. In early years he was brought up under pietistic influences, which prevailed at that time in the court of the last duke of Saalfeld. In 1742 he went to Halle, where his pietistic tendencies gave way under the influence of S. J. Baumgarten. In 1749 he repaired to Koburg, where he received the title of professor, and undertook the editorial superintendence of the Koburg Zeitung, a gazette. In 1751 he became a theological professor at Halle, where he taught with great success for many years, and exercised an important and enduring influence on the treatment of theological subjects. The last years of his life (1788-91) were embittered by unjust attacks on his character. He died March 14, 1791. Semler is usually considered as the father of modern rationalism. If that title may be applied to any one man, he probably deserves it best. His method of interpretation is the historico-critical, which he pursued with firmness and freedom. By that means he showed the changeableness and temporary character of many dogmas. But he went too far in that direction. His great merit lies in the spirit he initiated within the domain of religion—a spirit of free inquiry, toleration, and courage. Here he set a noble example, which excited others to pursue the same path. His writings are very numerous (one hundred and seventy-one); and though many of them had a considerable reputation in their day, they are almost forgotten. He spread himself over too many subjects, and wrote too hastily. He does not evince any philosophical ability or talent for criticism. His style, too, is neither good nor pleasing. His books often consist of important notices and remarks, nothing more. He was unquestionably a man of talent, perseverance, and industry, but not of genius, though he had an originality of his own. The pietists he combated, as well as the naturalism of the Wolfenbüttel fragments. Among other treatises, he is the author of "Apparatus ad liberalem Veteris Testamenti interpretationem," 1773; "Abhandlung von der Untersuchung des Kanon's," 4 vols. 1771-75; "De Dæmoniacis," 1760; "Versuch einer Biblischen Dæmonologie," 1776; "Selecta capita Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ," 3 vols., 1767-69; "Commentationes Historicæ de antiquo Christianorum statu," 2 vols., 1771-72; "Versuch Christlicher Jahhrbücher, u.s.w.," 2 vols., 1783-86; "Observationes Novæ quibus Historia Christianorum usque ad Constantinum Magnum illustratur," 1784, &c. He also edited Cramer's translation of Simon's critical history of the New Testament; Wetstein's Prolegomena et libelli ad crisin N. T.; Whitby on Original Sin; Townson on the Gospels; Farmer on Demoniacs, &c.—(See Semler's Lebensbeschreibung, an autobiography, 2 vols.; and Tholuck's Vermischte Schriften, Zweiter Theil, where, however, Semler is judged too severely.)—S. D.
SEMPRONIUS. See Gracchus.
SENAC, Jean Baptiste, anatomist and physician, was born in 1693 in the diocese of Lombez in Gascony. He graduated in medicine at Rheims, and in 1752 was appointed first physician to Louis XV. He died on the 20th December, 1770. He was the author of a monograph on the structure, action, and diseases of the heart, which was a remarkable contribution to the physiological and pathological science of the eighteenth century, and is even now frequently consulted and quoted. This work was first published in 1749; it was afterwards re-edited by Portal, and has been translated into various languages. He was the author of several other treatises, amongst which are one on the plague, and one on fevers.—F. C. W.
SENAN, a Sabian physician of the tenth century, was born at Harran in Mesopotamia. He was the son of Thabet, a celebrated physician; and his brother and son were also practitioners of medicine. By Moctader, the eighteenth Abasside khalif of Bagdad, he was made archiater, or chief of the physicians, and public examiner in medicine. The next khalif. Cáher, constrained him to embrace Islamism, and Senan fled to Khorassan in consequence of his harsh treatment. He afterwards returned to Bagdad, where he died in 942. He wrote several works, principally on astronomy and geometry, the titles of which only are preserved.—F. C. W.
SENANCOUR, Etienne Pivert de, the son of a controller of the taxes, was born at Paris in 1770, and studied at the college de la Marche. From his infancy he showed a tendency to melancholy, which, as he grew into manhood, increased rather than diminished. At the death of his parents and the loss of his wife he retired from the world, and gave himself up to philosophical meditation. The results of his reflections were published from time to time with varied success. During the Revolution Senancour remained in his retreat; but on the fall of Napoleon he entered the political arena with the publication of a pamphlet entitled "Simples Observations soumises au Congrès de Vienne par un Habitant des Vosges," &c. Compelled by want, Senancour at the period of the Restoration visited Paris, where he obtained employment in editing several journals. In 1827 he published "Traditions Morales et Religieuses chez tous les Peuples," which involved him in a criminal process instituted by the government, who accused him of teaching irreligious doctrines. M. Thiers, on his accession to the ministry, endowed Senancour, now old and a victim to gout, with a pension. He died in January, 1846, at St. Cloud, leaving a son and a daughter. The metaphysical opinions of this writer are best read in his earlier works, viz., "Reveries sur la Nature primitive de l'homme" and "Obermann," and its sequel, "De l'amour selon les trois Primordiales," &c., published in 1805, which attained four editions. While engaged at Paris in journalism, he wrote his "Vocabulaire de simple verité," and "Resumé de l'histoire de la Chine." Senancour was also the author of a romance entitled "Isabelle," which achieved but mediocre success.—W. J. P.
SENECA, Lucius Annæus, the stoic philosopher, was born at Corduba in Spain about six years b.c. He was the son of Marcus Annæus Seneca the rhetorician. He was brought to Rome in early life by his maternal aunt, whose kindness in nursing him through a tedious illness he gratefully commemorates. He was through life a valetudinarian—so much so, that to get rid of his troubles he frequently resolved to commit suicide, and was only restrained by reflecting what a grievous affliction his death would be to his old and indulgent father (Epist. 78). In spite of his bad health he applied himself diligently to the study of law, literature, and philosophy. In the reign of Caligula (a.d. 37), he had risen to considerable distinction as a pleader; and it is probable that about this time he composed his earliest work, the treatise "De Ira." When Claudius came to the throne (a.d. 41), Seneca was accused by the Empress Messalina of being too intimate with Julia, the niece of the emperor. The infamous character of Messalina makes it probable that there was no foundation for the scandal. Nevertheless the philosopher was banished to the island of Corsica, where he remained for eight years. Here he wrote his "Consolatio ad Helviam" (his mother), and his "Consolatio ad Polybium" (a favourite freedman of the emperor). In this treatise, with a view to his recall, he flatters Claudius in a strain of fulsome adulation very much at variance with the lofty independence and high-strung stoicism which in his other works he professes. In the year 49, Seneca was allowed to return to Rome, his sentence having been remitted through the interposition of Agrippina, the sister of Julia, and now the wife of the emperor. Through the same influence he obtained a prætorship, and was appointed tutor, along with Burrus, præfect of the prætorian guard, to Nero, the son of Agrippina by her former husband, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. Agrippina had prevailed on Claudius to adopt
