Selimnus, a shepherd of Achaia, who for some time enjoyed the favours of the nymph Argyra without interruption. Argyra was at last disgusted with her lover, and the shepherd died through melancholy, and was changed into a river of the same name. Argyra was also changed into a river of the same name. Argyra was also changed into a fountain, and was fond of mingling her waters with those of the Selimnus. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 23.
Selīnuns, or Selīnus (untis), a town on the southern parts of Sicily, founded A.U.C. 127, by a colony from Megara. It received its name from σελινον, parsley, which grew there in abundance. The marks of its ancient consequence are visible in the venerable ruins now found in its neighbourhood. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 705.—Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 19.——A river of Elis in Peloponnesus, which watered the town of Scillus. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 6.——Another in Achaia.——Another in Sicily.——A river and town of Cilicia, where Trajan died. Livy, bk. 33, ch. 20.—Strabo, bk. 14.——Two small rivers near Diana’s temple at Ephesus. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.——A lake at the entrance of the Cayster. Strabo, bk. 14.
Sellasia, a town of Laconia, where Cleomenes was defeated by the Achæans, B.C. 222. Scarce 200 of a body of 5000 Lacedæmonians survived the battle. Plutarch.
Sellēis, a river of Peloponnesus falling into the Ionian sea. Homer, Iliad.
Selletæ, a people of Thrace near mount Hæmus. Livy, bk. 38, ch. 40.
Selli, an ancient nation of Epirus near Dodona. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 180.—Strabo, bk. 7.
Selymbria, a town of Thrace on the Propontis. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 39.
Sĕmĕle, a daughter of Cadmus by Hermione the daughter of Mars and Venus. She was tenderly beloved by Jupiter; but Juno, who was always jealous of her husband’s amours, and who hated the house of Cadmus because they were related to the goddess of beauty, determined to punish this successful rival. She borrowed the girdle of Ate, which contained every wickedness, deceit, and perfidy, and in the form of Beroe, Semele’s nurse, she visited the house of Jupiter’s mistress. Semele listened with attention to the artful admonitions of the false Beroe, and was at last persuaded to entreat her lover to come to her arms with the same majesty as he approached Juno. This rash request was heard with horror by Jupiter; but as he had sworn by the Styx to grant Semele whatever she required, he came to her bed attended by the clouds, the lightning, and thunderbolts. The mortal nature of Semele could not endure so much majesty, and she was instantly consumed with fire. The child, however, of which she was pregnant, was saved from the flames by Mercury, or, according to others, by Dirce, one of the nymphs of the Achelous, and Jupiter placed him in his thigh the rest of the time which he ought to have been in his mother’s womb. This child was called Bacchus, or Dionysius. Semele immediately after death was honoured with immortality under the name of Thyone. Some, however, suppose that she remained in the infernal regions till Bacchus her son was permitted to bring her back. There were in the temple of Diana, at Trœzene, two altars raised to the infernal gods, one of which was over an aperture, through which, as Pausanias reports, Bacchus returned from hell with his mother. Semele was particularly worshipped at Brasiæ in Laconia, where, according to a certain tradition, she had been driven by the winds with her son, after Cadmus had exposed her on the sea on account of her incontinent amour with Jupiter. The mother of Bacchus, though she received divine honours, had no temples; she had a statue in a temple of Ceres, at Thebes, in Bœotia. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 24; bk. 9, ch. 5.—Hesiod, Theogony.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 14, li. 323.—Orpheus, Hymns.—Euripides, Bacchæ.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 4.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, li. 254; Fasti, bk. 3, li. 715.—Diodorus, bks. 3 & 4.
Semigermāni, a name given to the Helvetii, a people of Germany. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 38.
Semiguntus, a general of the Cherusci, taken prisoner by Germanicus, &c. Strabo, bk. 7.