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AMI

best work is "De Officus," intended to explain the
The most accurate
duties of Christian ministers
edition of his works is that of the Benedictines, Paris,
(Gorton's Biogr. Dict, vol. 1, p.
2 vols. fol, 1682-90.

67.)

stones, have caused it to be termed by the Turks
Kara-Amid (“ black Amid"), although it is more com-
monly denominated Diar-Bekir, from the name of its
district. (Ammian. Marcell., 18, 22.-Procop., de Bell
Pers, 1, 8-Salmas., Exercit. Plin., p. 488.)
AMILCAR. Vid Hamilcar.

AMBRYSSUS, a city of Phocis, said to have been AMINEI, a people of Campania, mentioned by Mafounded by the hero Ambryssus, situate between two The Aminchains of mountains, west of Lebedas, and north-crobius (Sat., 2, 16) as having occupied the spot It was destroyed by the Amphic- where was afterward the Falernus Ager west of Anticyra tyons, but rebuilt and fortified by the Thebans before ean wine is thought to have derived its name from The more correct the battle of Charonea. (Pausan., 10, 3, and 36.) them. (Consult, however, the remarks of Heyne, ad Its ruins were first discovered by Chandler, near the Virg., Georg., 2, 97, Var. Lect.) village of Dystomo. (Cramer's Ancient Greece, vol 2, opinion appears to be, that the Aminean wine was so called, because made from a grape transplanted into Macrobius, p. 159.) Italy from Aminæum, a place in Thessaly. however, asserts, that the Falernian wine was more anciently called Aminean. (Compare Heyne, ad Virg., Georg, 2, 97.)

AMBUBALE, female minstrels, of Syrian origin, who exercised their vocation at Rome, and were also of dissolute lives. (Acron, ad Horat., Serm., 1, 2, 1. Nork, Etymol. Handwörterbuch, vol. 1, p. 45. seq.) The name is supposed to be derived from the Syriac abub or anbub, "a flute."

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AMBULI, a surname of Castor and Pollux, in Sparta, and also of Jupiter and Minerva. They were named, it is said, from duboký, delay, because it was thought that they could delay the approach of death. Some, on the other hand, consider the term in question to be of Latin origin, and derived from ambulare. (Compare the remarks of Vollmer, Wörterb. der Mythol., s. v.)

AMĒLES, a river of the lower world, according to Plato, whose waters no vessel could contain: Tov Αμέλητα ποταμὸν, οὐ τὸ ὕδωρ ἀγγεῖον οὐδὲν στέγειν. (De Rep., 10, vol. 7, p. 229, ed. Bekk.)

AMENANUS, a river of Sicily, near Catania. It is now the Judicello. (Strabo, 360. Ovid, Met., 15, 279.)

AMISENUS SINUS, a gulf of the Euxine, east of the mouth of the Halys, on the coast of Pontus, so called from the town of Amisus.

AMISIA, now the Ems, a river of Germany, falling into the German Ocean. Strabo (201) calls it Amasia ('Aμacía), and Pliny (4, 14) Amasis.

AMISUS, a city of Pontus, on the coast of the EuxIt was ine, northwest from the mouth of the Iris. founded by a colony of Milesians, was the largest city in Pontus next to Sinope, and was made by Pharnaces the metropolis of his kingdom. It is now called Sam(Strabo, 547.-Polyb., Exc. de legat., 55.Soun. Mannert, 6, pt. 2, p. 448, seqq.)

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AMITERNUM, a city in the territory of the Sabines, the birthplace of Sallust the historian. It was situate a short distance below the southern boundary of the Prætutii, and its ruins are to be seen near S. Vittorino, AMERIA, one of the most considerable and ancient a few miles to the north of Aquila. From Livy (10, cities of Umbria. It lay south of Tuder, and in the 39) we learn, that this town, having fallen into the Under the Romans it According to Cato, who is hands of the Samnites, was recovered by the consul vicinity of the Tiber. quoted by Pliny (3, 14), Ameria could boast of an Sp. Carvilius (A.U.C. 459). origin greatly anterior to that of Rome, having been became successively a præfectura and a colony, as wo founded, it is said, 964 years before the war with are informed by Frontinus and several inscriptions. Ci- (Romanelli, vol. 3, p. 330.) In Ptolemy's time, AmPerseus, or 1045 years before the Christian era. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 1, p. cero, in his defence of the celebrated Roscius, who iternum seems to have been included among the cities was a native of Ameria, has frequent occasion to speak of the Vestini. of this town. From him we learn its municipal rank, and from Frontinus, that it became a colony under Festus, s v Augustus. (Compare Strabo, 228. Ameria) The small episcopal town of Amelia now represents this ancient city. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 273.)

AMESTRATUS, a town of Sicily, near the Halesus. The Romans besieged it for seven months when in the hands of the Carthaginians, but without success. It was taken, however, after a third siege, and razed to the ground, the surviving inhabitants being sold as slaves. Steph. Byz. calls the place Amestratus; Diodorus Siculus, Mystratum; and Polybius, Myttistratum. (Diod. Sic., 23, ecl. 9.-Polyb., 1, 24.) It is now Mistretta, in the Val de Demona.

AMESTRIS, queen of Persia, and wife to Xerxes. Having discovered an intrigue between her husband and Artaynta, and imputing all the blame solely to the mother of the latter, she requested her from the king at a royal festival; and, when she had her in her power, cut off her breasts, nose, ears, lips, and tongue, and sent her home in this shocking condition. She also, on another occasion, sacrificed fourteen Persian children of noble birth, "to propitiate," says Herodotus, the deity who is said to dwell beneath the earth." (Herodot., 9, 110, seqq.-Id., 7, 114.)

AMIDA, a city of Mesopotamia, taken and destroyed by Sapor, king of Persia. It was repeopled by the inhabitants of Nisibis, after Jovian's treaty with the Persians, and by a new colony which was sent to it. It was called also Constantia, from the Emperor Constantius. Its ancient walls, constructed with black

319.)

AMMIANUS. Vid. Marcellinus.

AMMOCHOSTUS, a promontory of Cyprus, whence by corruption comes the modern name Famagosta, or, more properly, Amoste: now the principal place in the island (Ptol.-Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 2, p. 381.)

AMMON, OF HAMMON, a name given to Jupiter, as worshipped in Libya. When Bacchus was conquering Africa, he is said to have come with his army to a spot called, from the vast quantity of sand lying around, by appearance"). the name of Hammōdes ('Auúdnç, i. e., sandy, from üupos, "sand," and ɛidoç, “aspeet” or “ Here his forces were in great danger of perishing from want of water, when a ram on a sudden appeared, and guided them to a verdant spot, or oasis, in the midst When they reached this place, the ram of the desert. Bacchus, therefore, out of gratitude, erectdisappeared, and they found an abundant supply of water. ed on the spot a temple to Jupiter giving him, at the same time, the surname of Ammon or Hammon, from the Greek nuoç or auoç, "sand," in allusion to the circumstances connected with his appearance; and the According to anstatue of the deity had the head and horns of a ram. (Hygin., Poct. Astron., 2, 20.) other version of the fable, Bacchus, in his extremity, prayed to Jupiter for aid, and the god, appearing under the form of a ram, indicated the place of the fountain with his foot, the water, before unseen, immediately bubbling up through the sand.--The spot to which the fable points is the Oasis of Ammon (vid. Oasis), and the fountain is the famous Fons Solis, or fountain of the Sun, which, according to Herodotus (4. 181), was

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tepid at dawn, cool as the day advanced, very cool at noon, diminishing in coolness as the day declined, warm at sunset, and boiling hot at midnight Here also was the celebrated oracle of Ammon, which Alexander the Great visited, in order to obtain an answer respecting the divinity of his origin. An account of the expedition is given by Plutarch (Vit. Alex., c. 26), and, as may well be expected, the answer of the oracle was altogether acceptable to the royal visitant, though the credit previously attached to its answers was seriously impaired by the gross flattery which it had on this occasion displayed. The temple of Ammon, like that of Delphi, was famed for its treasures, the varied offerings of the pious, and these, in the time of the Persian invasion of Egypt, excited so far the cupidity of Cambyses as to induce him to send a large body of forces across the desert to seize upon the place. The expedition, however, proved a signal failure; no accounts of it were ever received, and it is probable, therefore, that the Persian troops were purposely misled on their route by the Egyptian guides, and that all perished in the desert. (Vid. Cambyses.)-Herodotus (2, 54, seqq.) gives us two accounts respecting the origin of the temple of Ammon. One, which he heard from the priests of Jupiter in Thebes, stated, that two priestesses had been carried off by some Phoenicians from Thebes, and that one of them had been conveyed to Libya and there sold as a slave, and the other to Greece. These two females, according to them, had founded oracles in each of these countries. According to the other story, which he heard from the priestesses at Dodona, two black pigeons had flown from Thebes in Egypt; one of these had passed into Libya, the other had come to Dodona in Greece, and both had spoken with a human voice, and directed the establishment of oracles in each of these places. Thus much for the ordinary narrative. Ammon, says Plutarch (de Is. et Os., p. 354), is the Egyptian name for Jupiter. This god was particularly worshipped at Thebes, called in the sacred books Hammon

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es of Dodona; whereas the priests of Thebes ascribed the origin of the oracles at Dodona and in the Oasis of Ammon to the two Egyptian females connected with the service of the temple at Thebes, and who had been carried away and sold into slavery by certain Phænicians. Herodotus, with no little plausibility, seeks to reconcile these two statements, by conjecturing that the Dodoneans gave the name of doves or pigeons to the females carried off, because they used a foreign tongue, and their speech resembled the chattering of birds; and the remark of the same Dodoneans, that the pigeons were of a black colour, he explains by the circumstance of these females being, like the other Egyptians, of a dark complexion. It is very evident that we have here some allusion to Egyptian colonies, and to the influence which prophetic influence would exercise in such colonies recently established. The only difficulty, however, is how to connect the Pelasgic shrine of Dodona with anything of an Egyptian character. (Consult the remarks of Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 4. p. 151, and of Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 486.). Browne, an English traveller, discovered in 1792 the site of the temple of Ammon, in a fertile spot called the Oasis of Siwah, situated in the midst of deserts, five degrees nearly west of Cairo. In 1798, Horneman discovered the Fons Solis. In 1816 Belzoni visited the spot, and found the fountain situated in the midst of a beautiful grove of palms. He visited the fountain at noon, evening, midnight, and morning. He had unfortunately no thermometer with him. But, judging from his feelings at these several pericds, it might be 100° at midnight, 80° in the moining early, and at noon about 40°. The truth appears to le, that no change takes place in the temperature of the water, but in that of the surrounding atmosphere; for the well is deeply shaded, and about 60 feet deep. The account of Herodotus, who was never on the spot, is evidently incorrect. He must have misunderstood his informer. (Compare Rennell's Geogr. of Hered., p. 593, seqq.)

AMMONII, a people of Africa, occupying what is now the possession of Hammon," and in the Septua- the Oasis of Sarah. According to Herodotus (2, 42), gint version (Ezek., c. 20) the city of Ammon. Jablon- the Ammonians were a colony of Egyptians and Æthiski derives the word Ammon from Am-oein," shining."opians, speaking a language composed of words taken According, however, to Champollion the younger, the from both those nations.-The arable territory of the term in question (Amon or Amen) denoted, in the Oasis of Siwah is about six miles long and four broad. Egyptian language, "secret," "concealed," or "he The chief plantation consists of date-trees; there are who reveals his secret powers." It is sometimes also, also pomegranates, fig-trees, olives, apricots, and baas the same writer informs us, united with the word nanas. A considerable quantity of a reddish-grained Kneph, another appellation of the Supreme Being, and rice is cultivated here, being a different variety ficm from this results the compound Amenebis (Amen-Neb) that which is grown in the Egyptian Delta. It also which is found on a Greek inscription in the greater produces wheat for the consumption of the inhabitants. Oasis. (Letronne, Rech. sur l'Egyp., p. 237, seqq.) Abundance of water, both fresh and salt, is found. The Greek etymology of the name Ammon, from duuoc The fresh-water springs are mostly waim, and are acor púuuoç, "sand," is fanciful and visionary, and only cused of giving rise to dangerous fevers when used by affords another proof of the constant habit in which that strangers. The population of Sawah is capable of furnation indulged, of referring so many things to them- nishing about 1500 armed men. (Malte-Brun, Geogr., selves, with which they had not, in truth, the slightest vol. 4, p. 173, Am. ed.) For remarks on the celebraconnexion. From all that has been said by the ancient ted Fons Solis, consult preceding article towards its writers, it would appear very clearly, that the allusion close. in the legend of Ammon is an astronomical one. This AMMONIUS, I. the preceptor of Plutarch. He taught is very apparent from the story told by Herodotus (2, philosophy and mathematics at Delphi, and lived du42), and which he received from the priests of Thebes. ring the first century of the Christian era, in the reign According to this narrative, Hercules was very desi- of Nero, to whom he acted as interpreter when that rous of seeing Jupiter, whereas the god was unwilling monarch visited the temple at Delphi. Plutarch makes to be seen; until, at last, Jupiter, yielding to his im- frequent mention of him in his writings, and particu portunity, contrived the following artifice. Having larly in his treatise on the inscription of the Delphic separated the head from the body of a ram, and flayed temple.-II. Saccas, or Saccophorus (so called because the whole carcass, he put on the skin with the wool, in early life he had been a sack-bearer), a celebrated and in that form showed himself to Hercules. Now, philosopher, who flourished about the beginning of the if Hercules denote the sun, and aries the first sign of third century. He was born at Alexandrea, of Christhe zodiac, the whole may be an allegory illustrative tian parents, and was early instructed in the catechetof the opening of the year. As regards the establish- ical schools established in that city. Here, under the ment of the oracle of Ammon, it may be observed, that Christian preceptors, Athenagoras, Pantoenus, and the account respecting the two doves or pigeons, which Clemens Alexandrinus, he acquired a strong propenis given by Herodotus, and has already been alluded to, sity towards philosophical studies, and became excame, as that historian informs us, from the priestess-ceedingly desirous of reconciling the different opinions

of very inferior merit. The best edition is that of Valckenaer, Lugd. Bat., 1739, 4to. An abridgment of this edition was published at Erlang, in 1787, 8vo, under the care of Ammon. Valckenaer's edition has also been reprinted entire, but in a more portable form, at Leipzig, 1822. 8vo, under the care of Schaffer, who has added the inedited notes of Kulencamp, and the critical letter of Segaar, addressed to Valckenaei and published at Utrecht in 1776, 8vo. We have also a treatise of Ammonius, Пepì ákvроhoуíaç, “On the improper use of words," which has never been printed VI. A physician of Alexandrea, surnamed the Li thotomist, from his skill in cutting for the stone; an op eration which, according to some, he first introduced. He invented an instrument for crushing the larger cal culi while in the bladder. He was accustomed also to make use of caustic applications, especially red arsenic in hemorrhages. (Sprengel, Hist. Med., vol. 1, p 465.)

AMNISUS, a port of Gnossus in Crete, southeast from Gnossus, with a small river of the same name in its vicinity. (Hom., Od., 19, 188.-Apoll. Rhod., 3, 877.) AMOR, the son of Venus, was the god of love. (Vid. Cupido.)

AMORGOS, now Amorgo, one of the Cyclades, and situate to the east of Nicasia. According to Seylax (Peripl., p. 22) and Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. "Apopyor), it contained three towns, Arcesine, Egialus, and Minoa. The former yet preserves its name, and stands on the northern extremity of the island. Ægialus is perhaps Porto S. Anna. Minoa was the birthplace of Simonides, an iambic poet, mentioned by Strabo (487) and others. Amorgus gave its name to a peculiar linen dress manufactured in the island. (Steph. Byz., s. v. "Apopyos. Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 416.)

which at that time subsisted among philosophers. Porphyry (ap. Euseb., Hist. Ecc., 6, 19) relates, that Ammonius passed over to the legal establishment, that is, apostauzed to the pagan religion. Eusebius (I. c., p. 221) and Jerome (De S. E., c. 55, p. 132), on the contrary, assert that Ammonius continued in the Christian faith until the end of his life. But it is probable that those Christian fathers refer to another Ammonius who, in the third century, wrote a Harmony of the Gospels, or to some other person of this name; for they refer to the sacred books of Ammonius: whereas Ammonius Saccas, as his pupil Longinus attests, wrote nothing. (Compare Fabricius, Bibi. Gr., vol. 4 p. 160, 172.) It is not easy, indeed, to account for the particulars related of this philosopher, but upon the supposition of his having renounced the Christian faith. According to Hierocles (De Fato, ap. Phot., Biol., vol. 2, p. 461, ed. Bekker), Ammonius was induced to adopt the plan of a distinct eclectic school, by a desire of putting an end to those contentions which had so long distracted the philosophical world. Ammonius had many eminent followers and hearers, both pagan and Christian, who all, doubtless, promised themselves much illumination from a preceptor that undertook to collect into a focus all the rays of ancient wisdom. | He taught his select disciples certain sublime doctrines and mystical practices, and was called &ɛodidaкToç, "the heaven-taught philosopher." These mysteries were communicated to them under a solemn injunction of secrecy. Porphyry relates, that Plotinus, with the rest of the disciples of Ammonius, promised not to divulge certain dogmas which they learned in his school, but to lodge them safely in their purified minds. This circumstance accounts for the fact mentioned on the authority of Longinus, that he left nothing in writing. Ammonius probably died about the year 243. (Enfield's History of Philosophy, vol. 2, p. 58, seqq. Compare Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 5, p. 119, seqq.) -III. A Christian writer, a native of Alexandrea, who lived about 250 A.D. He wrote a Harmony of the Gospels, which Jerome cites with commendation.-IV. The son of Hermias, so called for distinction' sake from other individuals of the name, was a native of Alexandrea, and a disciple of Proclus. He taught philosophy at Alexandrea about the beginning of the sixth century. His system was an eclectic one, embracing principles both derived from Aristotle and PlaHe cannot be regarded as an original thinker: he was very strong, however, in mathematics, and in the AMPELUS, I. a promontory of Crete, on the eastern study of the exact sciences, which rectified his judg-coast, south of the promontory of Sammonium. It is ment, and preserved him, no doubt, from the extravagances of the New Platonism. Ammonius has left commentaries on the Introduction of Porphyry; on the Categories of Aristotle, together with a life of that philosopher; on his treatise of Interpretation; and scholia on the first seven books of the Metaphysics. Of the commentaries on the Introduction of Porphyry we have the following editions: Venice, 1500, fol., Gr.; Venice, 1546, 8vo, ap. Ald., Gr.; Venice, 1569, fol., Lat. transl. Of the commentary on the Categories, and of that on the treatise of Interpretation, Venice, 1503, fol.; Venice, 1546, ap. Ald., 8vo. Of the commentary on the treatise of Interpretation alone, Venice, 1549, 8vo, Gr. et Lat. The scholia on the metaphysics have never been edited. (Schöll, Hist. Lat. Gr., vol. 7, p. 123, seqq.)-V. A priest of one of the Egyptian temples. He was one of the literary men who fled from Alexandrea to Constantinople after the destruction of the pagan temples. There he became, together with Helladius, one of the masters of Socrates, the ecclesiastical writer: this is a fact which appears firmly established, and the reasons alleged by Valckenaer for placing him in the first or second century have been generally considered insufficient. Ammonius has left us a work on Greek synonymes, &c., under the title Пɛpì óμoiwv kai diapópwv Kéžɛwv. It is a production

to.

AMPELIUS, Lucius, the author of a work that has reached us, entitled Liber Memorialis. The particular period when he lived is unknown. Bähr makes him to have flourished after Trajan, and before Theodosius. His work is divided into fifty small chapters, and is addressed to a certain Macrinus. It contains a brief account of the world, the elements, the earth, history, &c., and appears to be compiled from previous writers. Marks of declining Latinity are visible in it. The best editions are that of Tzschucke, Lips., 1793, 8vo, and that of Beck, Lips., 1826, 8vo. (Bahr, Gesch. Röm. Lit., vol. 1, p. 454, seqq.)

now Cape Sacro. (Ptol., p. 91.) Pliny (4, 12) assigns to Crete a town of this same name; and there are, in fact, some ruins between the mouth of the river Sacro and the promontory. (Cramer's Ancient Greece, vol. 3, p. 372.) — II. A promontory of Macedonia, at the eastern extremity of the peninsula of Sithonia, and forming the lower termination of the Sinus Singiticus. Livy calls it the Toronean promontory (31, 45).

AMPELUSIA, called also Cote and Soloë, a promontory of Africa, on the coast of Mauritania, and forming the point of separation between the Fretum Herculeum (Straits of Gibraltar) and the shore of the Western Ocean. It is now Cape Spartel. The ancient name Ampelusia refers to its abounding in vines, a signification which Cote is said to have had in the Punic or Phoenician tongue. (Compare the remarks of Hamaker, Miscell. Phonic., p. 247, Lugd. Bat., 1824, 4to.)

AMPHIARAÏDES, a patronymic of Alcmæon, as being son of Amphiaraus. (Ovid, Fast., 2, 43.)

AMPHIARAUS, a famous soothsayer and warrior, according to some a son of Oicleus, according to others of Apollo. So, also, one account makes his mother to have been named Clytemnestra; another, Hypermnestra, daughter of the Etolian king Thestius. He appears

to have been a descendant of a distinguished augur family, his grandfather having been Antiphates, and his great-grandfather Melampus. From various scattered accounts respecting him in the ancient writers, the following particulars may be gleaned. He was, in his youth, at the famous hunt of the Calydonian boar; he afterward returned to Argos, his native city, and, with the aid of his brother, drove Adrastus from the throne. A reconciliation, however, taking place, the monarch was restored to his kingdom, and gave Amhiaraus his sister Eriphyle in marriage. The offspring of this union were two sons, Alemæon and Amphilo chus. When Adrastus, at the request of Polynices, resolved to march against Thebes, Amphiaraus was unwilling to accompany him, for he knew that the expedition would prove fatal to himself, and he endeavoured also to dissuade the other chieftains from going. Polynices thereupon presented Eriphyle with the famous necklace of Harmonia, to induce her to overcome her husband's scruples, and she not only, in consequence, made known his place of concealment, but prevailed upon him to accompany the army. Amphiaraus thereupon, previous to his departure, knowing what was about to be fail him, charged his son Alemæon to kill his mother the moment he should hear of his father's death. The Theban war proved fatal to the Argives, and Amphiaraus, while engaged in dangerous conflict with Periclymenes, was swallowed up by the earth, Jupiter having caused the ground to open for the purpose of receiving his favourite prophet, and saving him from the dishonour of being overcome by his antagonist. The news of his death was brought to Alemæon, who immediately executed his father's command, and murdered Eriphyle. Amphiaraus received divine honours after death, and had a celebrated temple and oracle at Oropos in Attica. His statue was made of white marble, and near his temple was a fountain, whose waters were held sacred. They only who had consulted his oracle, or had been delivered from a discase, were permitted to bathe in it, after which they threw pieces of gold and silver into the stream. Those who consulted the oracle of Amphiaraus, sacrificed a ram to the prophet, and spread the skin upon the ground, upon which they slept, in expectation of receiving in a dream the answer of which they were in quest. (Apollod., 3, 6, 2.-Hom., Od., 15, 243, &c.— Æsch., Sept. c. Theb. - Hygın., Fab., 70, 73, &c. -Pausan., 1, 34.)

AMPHICRATES, I. a biographer, who, according to Diogenes Laertius (Vit. Aristip.), was condemned to die by poison. (Compare Athenæus, 13, 5.)-II. An Athenian orator, who, being banished from his country, retired to Seleucia on the Tigris, and took up his residence there under the protection of Cleopatra, daughter of Mithradates. He starved himself to death, because suspected by this princess of treason. Jonsius (de Script. Hist. Phil., 2, 15) thinks that this is the same with the preceding-III. An artist, mentioned by Pliny (34, 8), according to a new reading proposed by Sillig (Dict. Art., s. v.).

AMPHICTYON, a mythic personage, son of Deucalion, who is said to have reigned in Attica after driving out Cranaus, his father-in-law, and to have been himself expeiled by Erichthonius. (Apollod., 3, 14, 6.) The establishment of the Amphictyonic council is ascribed to him by some. (Compare Heyne, ad loc.)

supply two names to fill up the vacant place: the Dolopes and the Delphians. It seems not improbable, that the former were finally supplanted by the Delphians, who appear to have been a distinct race from the Phocians. After the return of the Heraclidæ, the number of the Amphictyonic tribes, then perhaps already hallowed by time, continued the same; but the geographical compass of the league was increased by all that part of the Peloponnesus which was occupied by the new Doric states. It would be wrong to regard this council as a kind of national confederation. The causes which prevented it from acquiring this character will be evident, when we consider the mode in which the council was constituted, and the nature of its ordinary functions. The constitution of the Amphictyonic Council rested on the supposition, once, perhaps, not very inconsistent with the fact, of a perfect equality among the tribes represented by it. Each tribe, however feeble, had two votes in the deliberation of the congress: none, however powerful, had more. The order in which the right of sending representatives to the council was exercised by the various states included in one Amphictyonic tribe was, perhaps, regulated by private agreement; but, unless one state usurped the whole right of its tribe, it is manifest that a petty tribe, which formed but one community, had greatly the advantage over Sparta or Argos, which could only be represented in their turn, the more rarely in proportion to the magnitude of the tribe to which they belonged.—With regard to other details less affecting the general character of the institution, it will be sufficient here to observe, that the council was composed of two classes of representatives, called Pylagoræ and Hieromnemones, whose functions are not accurately distinguished. It seems, however, that the former were intrusted with the power of voting, while the office of the latter consisted in preparing and directing their deliberations, and carrying their decrees into effect. At Athens, three Pylagora were annually elected, while one Hieromnemon was appointed by lot: wo do not know the practice in other states. One peculiar feature of the Amphictyonic Council was, that its meetings were held at two different places. There were two regularly convened every year; one in the spring, at Delphi, the other in the autumn, near the litthe town of Anthela, within the pass of Thermopyle, at a temple of Ceres. It has been supposed, in attempting to account for this, that there were originally two distinct confederations; one formed of inland, the other of maritime tribes; and that when these were united by the growing influence of Delphi, the ancient places of meeting were retained, as a necessary concession to the dignity of each sanctuary. A constitution such as the Amphictyonic Council appears to have possessed, could not have been suffered to last if any important political interests had depended on the decision of this assembly. The truth is, the ordinary functions of the Amphictyonic Congress were chiefly. if not altogether, connected with religion, and it was only by accident that it was ever made subservient to political ends. The original objects, or, at least, the essential character, of this institution, seem to be faithfully expressed in the terms of the oath preserved by Eschines, which bound the members of the league to refrain from utterly destroying any Amphictyonic city, and from cutting off its supply of water, even in war, and to defend the sanctuary and the treasures of the Delphic god from sacrilege. In this ancient and halfsymbolical form we perceive two main functions as

AMPHICTYONES, the deputies of the cities and people of Greece, who represented their respective nations in a general assembly called the Amphictyonic Council. The most authentic list of the communities thus rep-signed to the council; to guard the temple, and to reresented is as follows: Thessalians, Boeotians, Dorians, Ionians, Perrhæbians, Magnetes, Locrians, Etæans or Ænianians, Phthiotes or Achæans of Phthia, Melians or Malians, and Phocians. The orator Eschines, who furnishes this list, shows, by mentioning the number twelve, that one name is wanting. The other lists

strain the violence of hostility among Amphictyonic states. There is no intimation of any confederacy against foreign enemies, except for the protection of the temple; nor of any right of interposing between members of the league, unless where one threatens the existence of another. A review, then, of the history

AMP

of this council shows that it was almost powerless for good, except, perhaps, as a passive instrument, and that it was only active for purposes that were either unimportant or pernicious. Its most legitimate sphere of action lay in cases where the honour and safety of the Delphic sanctuary were concerned, and in these it might safely reckon on general co-operation from all the Greeks. A remarkable instance is afforded by the (Vid. Crissa and Phocis.) Sacred or Crissæan war. The origin of the Amphictyonic Council is altogether uncertain. Acrisius is said to have founded the one at Deiphi, Amphictyon the other at Thermopyla, a tradition in favour of the opinion above advanced, that the great council was a union of two. Independently, however, of these two, it is probable that many Amphictyonics (so to call them) once existed in Greece, all trace of which has been lost. (Thirlwall's History of Greece, vol. 1, p. 374, seqq.)-The name of this confederation, if we give credit to Androtion, as cited by Pausanias (10, 8), was originally Amphictiones ('AupixTiovec), and referred to its being composed of the An alteration took tribes that dwelt round about. place when Amphictyon, the son of Deucalion, founded a temple of Ceres at Thermopyla, one of the places of assembling. From this time, we are informed, the confederation took the name of Amphictyones ('Auφικτύονες).

AMPHIDROMIA, a festival observed by private families at Athens, the fifth day after the birth of every child. It was customary to run round the fire with a child in their arms; thereby, as it were, making it a member of the family, and putting it under the protection of the household deities, to whom the hearth served as an altar. Hence the name of the festival, from duoidpaμeiv," to run around." (Potter, Gr. Ant., 4, 14.) AMPHIGENTA, a town of Messenia, near the river Hypsoeis. According to Homer (Il., 2, 593), it belonged to Nestor. Some critics assigned it to Triphylia.

(Strabo, 349.) AMPHILOCHUS, I. son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. After the Trojan war he left Argos, his native country, retired to Acarnania, and there built Argos Amphilochium. This is the account of Thucydides (2, 68); but vid. Argos IV. II. An Athenian philosopher who wrote upon agriculture. (Varro, de R. R., 1.) AMPHINOMUS and ANAPUS, two brothers, who, when Catana and the neighbouring cities were in flames by an eruption from Mount Vesuvius, saved their parents The fire, as it is said, spared upon their shoulders. them while it consumed others by their side; and Pluto, to reward their uncommon piety, placed the after death in the island of Leuce. They received divine honours in Sicily. (Val. Max., 5, 4.-Sil. Ital., 14, 197.-Claud., Idyll., 7, 41.)

AMPHION, I. a Theban prince, son of Antiope and Jupiter, or, rather, of Epopeus, king of Sicyon. Antiope, the niece of Lycus, king of Thebes, having become the mother of twins, Amphion and Zethus, exposed them on Mount Citharon, where they were found and brought up by shepherds. Having learned, on reaching manhood, the cruelties inflicted upon their mother by Lycus and Dirce (vid. Antiope), the twin brothers avenged her wrongs by the death of both the offending parties (vid. Lycus and Dirce), and made themselves masters of Thebes, where they reigned conjointly. Under their rule the kingdom of Thebes acquired new splendour, and the arts of peace flourished. Amphion cultivated music with the greatest success, having received lessons in this art from Mercury himself, who gave him a lyre of gold, with which, it is said, he built the wall of Thebes, causing the stones to take their respective places in obedience to the tones of his instrument. The meaning of this legend is supposed to be, that Amphion, by his mild and persuasive manners, prevailed upon his rude subjects to build walls around Thebes. Müller, however, sees in it an allu

sion to the old Dorian and Eolian custom of erecting
the walls of cities to the sound of musical instruments.
Amphion, after this, married Niobe, daughter of Tan-
talus, and became by her the father of seven sons and
seven daughters, who were all slain by Apollo and Di.
(Vid. Niobe.) According to one account, he
ana.
destroyed himself after this cruel loss, while another
version of the story makes him to have fallen in a se、
dition. (Hom., Od., 11, 262, seqq.-Apollod., 3, 5, 4,
seqq.-Muller, Gesch. Hellen. Stamme, &c., vol. 1.
p. 267.)-II. A painter, contemporary with Apelles, by,
whom he was highly respected as an artist, and who
yielded to him in the grouping of his pictures. (Plin.,
35, 10.)-III. A statuary of Cnossus, and pupil of
Ptolichus. (Pausan., 10, 15.) He flourished about
Olymp. 88.

AMPHIPOLIS, a city of Thrace, near the mouth of the
Strymon. It was founded by the Athenians in the
immediate vicinity of what was termed 'Ervéa 'Odoí,
or the "Nine Ways," a spot so called from the num-
The occupation of the Nine
ber of roads which met here from different parts of
Thrace and Macedon.
Ways seems to have excited the jealousy of the Thra-
cians, which led to frequent rencounters between them
and the Athenian colonists, in one of which the latter
sustained a severe defeat. (Thucyd., 1, 100.) After
a lapse of twenty-nine years, a fresh colony was sent
out under the command of Agnon, son of Nicias, which
succeeded in subduing the Edoni. Agnon gave the
name of Amphipolis to the new city, from its being
surrounded by the waters of the Strymon. (Thucyd.,
4, 102.-Seylax, p. 27.) Amphipolis soon became one
of the most flourishing cities of Thrace; and at the
time of the expedition of Brasidas into that country, it
was already a large and populous place. Its surrender
to that general was a severe blow to the prosperity and
good fortune of the Athenians; and we may estimate
the importance they attached to its possession, from
their displeasure against Thucydides, who arrived too
late to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy
(Thucyd., 4, 106); and also from the exertions they
afterward made, under Cleon, to repair the loss. The
attempt proved unsuccessful, through the ignorance and
rashness of the Athenian general, who was slain in an
engagement. Brasidas fell in the same battle, and the
Amphipolitans paid the highest honors to his memory,
resolving thenceforth to revere him as the true founder
of their city; and with this view they threw down the
statues of Agnon, and erected those of Brasidas in their
Athens never regained possession of this im-
stead.
portant city; for though it was agreed, by the terms of
the peace soon after concluded with Sparta, that this
colony should be estored, that stipulation was never
fulfilled, the Amphipolitans themselves refusing to ac-
cede to it, and the Spartans expressing their inability
to compel them. The Athenians, in the twelfth year
of the war, sent an expedition under Euetion to at-
tempt the reconquest of the place, but without success.
(Thucyd., 7, 9.) Mitford, in his history of Greece,
affirms, that Amphipolis was restored to the Athenians;
but there is no proof of this fact. Amphipolis, at a.
later period, fell into the hands of Philip of Macedon,
after a siege of some duration. It became from that
time a Macedonian town, and, on the subjugation of
this country by the Romans, it was constituted the
chief town of the first region of the conquered territory.
(Dexipp. ap. Syncell., Chron., p. 268.-Liv., 45, 29.)
During the continuance of the Byzantine empire, it
seems to have exchanged its name for that of Chrysop-
olis, if we may believe an anonymous geographer, in
Hudson's Geogr. Min., vol. 4, p. 42. The spot on
The position of Amphip.
which the ruins of Amphipolis are still to be traced,
bears the name of Jenikevi.
olis, observes Col. Leake (Walpole's Collection, p
510), is one of the most important in Greece.
127
stands in a pass which traverses the mountains border

It

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