Sura
- a river of Germany, now the Saur, Aus. Mos. 355.
- a Roman surname, Plin. 7, 12, 10, § 55.
SURA(τὰ Σοῦρα: Eth. Σουρηνός), a city of Syria, situated on the Euphrates, in the district of Palmyrene, long. 72° 40′, lat. 35° 40′ of Ptolemy, who places it between Alalis and Alamata (5.15.25); apparently the Sure of the Peutinger Table, according to which it was 105 M.P. distant from Palmyra. It is called in the Notitiae Imperil ( § 24) Flavia Turina Sura (ap. Mannert, p. 408). It is probably identical with the Ura of Pliny, where, according to him, the Euphrates turns to the east from the deserts of Palmyra (5.24. s. 87). lie, however, mentions Sura (26. s. 89) as the nearest town to Philiscum, a town of the Parthians on the Euphrates. It was 126 stadia distant from Heliopolis, which was situated in what was called Barbaricus campus.It was a Roman garrison of some importance in the Persian campaigns of Belisarius; and a full account is given of the circumstances under which it was taken and burned by Chosroes I. (A.D. 532), who, having marched three long days' journey from Circesium to Zenobia, along the course of the Euphrates, thence proceeded an equal distance up the river to Sura. Incidental mention of the bishop proves that it was then an episcopal see. (Procop. Bell. Pers. 1.18, 2.5.) Its walls were so weak that it did not hold out more than half an hour; but it was afterwards more substantially fortified, by order of the emperor Justinian. (Id. de Aedificiis Justiniani, 2.9.) About 36 miles below Balls (the Alalis of Ptolemy), following the course of the river, are the ruins of Sura;and about 6 miles lower is the ford of El-Hammám, which Col. Chesney identifies with the Zeugma of Thapsacus, where, according to local tradition, the army of Alexander crossed the Euphrates ( Expedition for Survey, &c. vol. 1. p. 416). In the Chart (iii.) it is called Sooreah, and marked as brick ruins,and it is probable that the extensive brick ruins a little below this site, between it and Phunsa(Thapsacus), may be the remains of Alamata, mentioned in connection with Sura by Ptolemy. Ainsworth is certainly wrong in identifying the modern Suriyehwith the ancient Thapsacus (p. 72).
[G.W]SURAa branch of the Mosella in Gallia. Ausonius (Mosella, 5.354):-- Namque et Pronacae Nemesaeque adjuta meatuSura tuas properat non degener ire sub undas.
The Sura ( Souror Sure), comes from Luxembourg, and after receiving the Pronaea ( Prum) and Nemesa ( Nims), joins the Our, which falls into the Moselleon the left bank above Augusta Trevirorum.
[G.L](Σοῦρα). (1) Now Surie; a town of Syria, in the district Chalybonitis, on the Euphrates, a little west of Thapsacus.
(2) Now Sour; a branch of the Mosella, above Treves (Auson. Mosell. 354).
See Lentulus (1).
An intimate friend of Trajan, and three times consul, in A.D. 98, 102, and 107. On the death of Sura, Trajan honoured him with a public funeral, and erected baths to perpetuate his memory. Two of Pliny 's letters are addressed to him (Dio Cass. lxviii. 9, 15; Pliny , Epist. iv. 30; vii. 27).
Town in Lycia, ca. 4 km W of Myra (Kale, formerly Demre) and still known by its ancient name. Sura was not an independent city, but a dependency of Myra; as such it naturally struck no coins. It is in fact virtually unknown apart from its celebrated fish oracle.
The village extends around a low hill which on the E rises only some 12 m above a small level plain, but on the W descends steeply over 100 m to sea level at the head of a marshy inlet. The buildings on the hill seem all to be tombs; several are rock tombs of Lycian type, and two carry inscriptions in the Lycian language. On the S side of the hill is a row of stelai with inscriptions listing the names of Prostatae of Apollo Surius; there seem to be 21 names in each case. Scattered about the plain to the E are a dozen Lycian sarcophagi with Greek inscriptions.
The Temple of Apollo still stands up to 8 m high at the W foot of the hill close to the marshy inlet. On its interior walls are a number of inscriptions recording the devotions paid by suppliants—not, however, to Apollo Surius but to Sozon and in one case to the Rhodian deity Zeus Atabyrios. The site of the fish oracle is clearly recognizable from the ancient accounts (Ath. 8.333-34; Plin. HN 32.17; Steph. Byz. s.v. Sura; Plut. De sollertia animalium 23). It appears that a whirlpool arose on the shore of the harbor; into this consultants threw spits bearing pieces of meat, whereupon the pool swelled up and a variety of fishes appeared, from whose species and behavior an oracle was drawn. Pliny also mentions a fountain of Apollo whom they call Curius (or Surius). These features are still identifiable. The harbor is the marshy inlet, which was certainly sea in antiquity; the fountain, with an abundant head of water, issues from the ground a few paces from the temple and forms a stream which flows through the marsh to the sea, 1-2 km away. In this stream, just in front of the temple, a number of springs well up, creating a swirling effect which resembles a whirlpool; this answers exactly to the account given by the local inhabitants in Athenaeus (l.c.). The swelling of the pool was presumably managed by the priest's controlling the flow of water from the large spring. No actual oracles obtained at Sura are recorded.
BIBLIOGRAPHYT.A.B. Spratt & E. Forbes, Travels in Lycia (1847) 135-37; E. Petersen & F. von Luschan, Reisen in Lykien II (1889) 43-46; G. E. Bean, AnzWien (1962:2) 6-8.
G. E. BEAN