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city of the OLCADES in Spain, not far from Carthago Nova. Its capture was Hannibal's first exploit in Spain. (Polyb. iii. 13; Steph. Byz. s. v.) Its position is unknown. Livy calls it Carteia (xxi. 5). [P.S.] ALTI'NUM ("AλTivov : Altino), a city of Venetia situated on the border of the lagunes, and on the right bank of the little river Silis (Sele) near its mouth. We learn from the Itineraries that it was distant 32 Roman miles from Patavium, and 31 from Concordia. (Itin. Ant. pp. 128, 281.) Strabo describes it as situated in a marsh or lagune, like Ravenna, and we learn that travellers were in the habit of proceeding by water along the lagunes from Ravenna to Altinum. Tacitus also speaks of it as open to attack by sea; but at the present day it is distant about 2 miles from the lagunes. (Strab. p. 214; Vitruv. i. 4. § 11; Itin. Ant. p. 126; Tac. Hist. iii. 6.) The first historical mention of Altinum is found in Velleius Paterculus (ii. 76) during the wars of the Second Triumvirate, and it appears to have been then, as it continued under the Roman Empire, one of the most considerable places in this part of Italy. Pliny assigns it only the rank of a municipium; but we learn from inscriptions that it subsequently became a colony, probably in the time of Trajan. (Plin. iii. 18. s. 22; Orell. Inscr. 4082; Zumpt de Colon. p. 402.) Besides its municipal importance, the shores of the adjoining lagunes became a favourite residence of the wealthy Romans, and were gradually lined with villas which are described by Martial (iv. 25) as rivalling those of Baiae. The adjoining

ALSIETI'NUS LACUS, a small lake in Etruria, about 2 miles distant from the Lacus Sabatinus, between it and the basin or crater of Baccano, now called the Lago di Martignano. Its ancient name is preserved to us only by Frontinus, from whom we learn that Augustus conveyed the water from thence to Rome by an aqueduct, named the Aqua Alsietina, more than 22 miles in length. The water was, however, of inferior quality, and served only to supply a Naumachia, and for purposes of irrigation. It was joined at CAREIAE, a station on the Via Claudia, 15 miles from Rome, by another branch bringing water from the Lacus Sabatinus. (Frontin. de Aquaed. §§ 11, 71.) The channel of the aqueduct is still in good preservation, where it issues from the lake, and may be traced for many miles of its course. (Nibby, Dintorni, vol. i. pp. 133 -137.) [E. H. B.] AʼLSIUM CAλσov: Eth. Alsiensis: Palo), a city on the coast of Etruria, between Pyrgi and Fregenae, at the distance of 18 miles from the Portus Augusti (Porto) at the mouth of the Tiber. (Itin. Ant. p.301.) Its name is mentioned by Dionysius (i. 20) among the cities which were founded by the Pelasgians in connection with the aborigines, and afterwards wrested from them by the Tyrrhenians (Etruscans). But no mention of it occurs in history as an Etruscan city, or during the wars of that people with Rome. In B. C. 245 a Roman colony was established there, which was placed on the same footing with the other "coloniae maritimae;" and in common with these claimed exemption from all military service, a claim which was, however, over-plains were celebrated for the excellence of their ruled during the exigencies of the Second Punic War. (Vell. Pat. i. 14; Liv. xxvii. 38.) No subsequent notice of it occurs in history, but its name is mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, and we learn from an inscription of the time of Caracalla that it still retained its colonial rank, and corresponding municipal organisation. (Strab. pp. 225, 226; Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Ptol. iii. 1. § 4; Gruter, Inscr. p. 271. 3.) It appears to have early become a favourite resort with the wealthy Romans as a place of retirement and pleasure ("maritimus et voluptarius locus:" Fronto, Ep. p. 207, ed. Rom.); thus we find that Pompey the Great had a villa there, and Caesar also, where he landed on his return from ALTIS. [OLYMPIA.] Africa, and at which all the nobles of Rome hastened ALU'NTIUM or HALU'NTIUM ('AλÓTION, to greet him. (Cic. pro Milon. 20, ad Fam. ix. 6, Ptol.; 'AXoúvτiov, Dion. Hal.: Eth. 'Aλortivos, Haad Att. xiii. 50.) Another is mentioned as belong-luntinus), a city on the N. coast of Sicily, between ing to Verginius Rufus, the guardian of Pliny, and we learn from Fronto that the emperor M. Aurelius had a villa there, to which several of his epistles are addressed. (Plin. Ep. vi. 10; Fronto, Ep. p. 205215.) At a later period the town itself had fallen into utter decay, but the site was still occupied by villas, as well as that of the neighbouring Pyrgi. (Rutil. Itin. i. 223.)

The site of Alsium is clearly fixed by the distance from Porto, at the modern village of Palo, a poor place with a fort and mole of the 17th century, in the construction of which many ancient materials have been used. Besides these, the whole shore to the E. of the village, for the space of more than a mile, is occupied by the remains of buildings which appear to have belonged to a Roman villa of imperial date, and of the most magnificent scale and style of construction. These ruins are described in detail by Nibby (Dintorni di Roma, vol. iii. pp. 527, 528). [E. H. B.] ALTHAEA (Aλ@aía: Eth. 'AX0aîos), the chief

It

wool, while the lagunes abounded in fish of all
kinds, especially shell-fish. (Mart. xiv. 155; Plin.
xxxii. 11. s. 53; Cassiod. Ep. Varr. xii. 22.)
was here that the emperor L. Verus died of аро-
plexy in A. D. 169. (Eutrop. viii. 10; Jul. Capit.
Ver. 9; Vict. de Caes. 15.) The modern village
of Altino is a very poor place; the period of the
decay or destruction of the ancient city is unknown,
but its inhabitants are supposed to have fled for
refuge from the invasions of the barbarians to Tor-
cello, an island in the lagunes about 4 miles distant,
to which the episcopal see was transferred in A. D.
635.
[E. H. B.]

Tyndaris and Calacta. Its foundation was ascribed by some authors to a portion of the companions of Aeneas, who remained behind in Sicily under a leader named Patron (Dionys. i. 51); but it probably was, in reality, a Sicelian town. No mention of it is found in Diodorus, nor is it noticed in history prior to the Roman conquest of Sicily. But in the time of Cicero it appears to have been a place of some importance. He mentions it as having suffered severely from the exactions of Verres, who, not content with ruinous extortions of corn, compelled the inhabitants to give up all their ornamental plate. (Cic. Verr. iii. 43, iv. 23.) We learn from inscriptions that it retained the rank of a municipium, and was a flourishing town at least as late as the reign of Augustus.

Its site has been a matter of much dispute, but there are very strong arguments to prove that it occupied the same situation as the modern town of San Marco, which rises on a lofty hill of steep and difficult ascent, about 3 miles from the Tyrrhenian

sea. (Smyth's Sicily, p. 97.) This position exactly | accords with that described by Cicero, who tells us that Verres would not take the trouble to visit the town himself "quod erat difficili ascensu atque arduo," but remained on the beach below while he sent Archagathus to execute his behests (iv. 23). Various inscriptions also are preserved at S. Marco, or have been discovered there, one of which begins with the words TO MOUVIKITIov Tv 'AλovTivwv. (Castell. Inser. Sicil. p. 55; Böckh, C. I. No. 5608.) Notwithstanding these arguments, Cluverius, following Fazello, placed Aluntium at a spot near 8. Filadelfo, where the ruins of an ancient city were then visible, and regarded S. Marco as the site of Agathyrna. It must be admitted that this arrangement avoids some difficulties [AGATHYRNA]; but the above proofs in favour of the contrary hypothesis seem almost conclusive. (Cluver. Sicil. p.294; Fazell. de Reb. Sic. ix. 4. p. 384.) [E.H.B.]

COIN OF ALUNTIUM.

ALYDDA (Audda), a town of Phrygia mentioned in the Peutinger Table. Arundell (Discoveries ia Asia Minor, i. p. 105) gives his reasons for supposing that it may have been at or near Ushak, on the road between Sart and Afiam Karahissar, and that it was afterwards called Flaviopolis. He found several Greek inscriptions there, but none that contained the name of the place. [G. L.]

ALYZIA ('Aλugia, Thuc. vii. 31, et alii; "AXúÇela, Steph. Β. s.v.: Eth. ̓Αλνεύς, Αλυζαῖος, Αλύζειος, ap. Böckh. Corpus Inscript. No. 1793: Kandili), a town on the west coast of Acarnania. According to Strabo it was distant 15 stadia from the sea, on which it possessed a harbour and a sanctuary, both dedicated to Heracles. In this sanctuary were some works of art by Lysippus, representing the labours of Heracles, which a Roman general caused to be removed to Rome on account of the deserted state of the place. The remains of Alyzia are still visible in the valley of Kandili. The distance of the bay of Kandili from the ruins of Leucas corresponds with the 120 stadia which Cicero assigns for the distance between Alyzia and Leucas. (Strab. pp. 450, 459; Cic. ad Fam. xvi. 2; Plin. iv. 2; Ptolem. i. 14.) Alyzia is said to have derived its name from Alyzeus, a son of Icarus. (Strab. p. 452; Steph. Byz. s. v.) It is first mentioned by Thucydides. In B. c. 374, a naval battle was fought in the neighbourhood of Alyzia between the Athenians under Timotheus and the Lacedaemonians under

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COIN OF ALYZIA.

Nicolochus. The Athenians, says Xenophon, erected their trophy at Alyzia, and the Lacedaemonians in the nearest islands. We learn from Scylax that the island immediately opposite Alyzia was called Carnus, the modern Kalamo. (Thuc. vii. 31; Xen. Hell. v. 4. §§ 65, 66; Scylax, p. 13; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 14, seq.)

AMA'DOCI ('Auádoкo), a people of Sarmatia Europaea, mentioned by Hellanicus (Steph. B. s. v.) Their country was called Amadocium. Ptolemy (iii. 5) mentions the Amadoci Montes, E. of the Borysthenes (Dnieper), as an E. prolongation of M. Peuce, and in these mountains the Amadoci, with a city Amodoca and a lake of the same name, the source of a river falling into the Borysthenes. The positions are probably in the S. Russian province of Jekaterinoslav, or in Kherson. [P.S.]

AMALEKITAE ('Auаλnkiтa, Joseph. Ant. iii. 2; in LXX. 'Auaλnk), the descendants of Amalek the grandson of Esau. (Gen. xxxvi. 9-12.) This tribe of Edomite Arabs extended as far south as the peninsula of Mount Sinai, where " they fought with Israel in Rephidim (Exod. xvii. 8, &c.) They occupied the southern borders of the Promised Land, between the Canaanites (Philistines) of the west coast, and the Amorites, whose country lay to the SW. of the Dead Sea. (Compare Gen. xiv. 7 with Numbers xiii. 29, xiv. 25, 43-45.) They dispossessed the Ishmaelite Bedouins, and occupied their country "from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt." (Compare Gen. xxv. 18 and 1 Sam. xv. 7.) They were nearly exterminated by Saul and David (1 Sam. xv., xxvii. 8, 9, xxx.); and the remnant were destroyed by the Simeonites in the days of Hezekiah. (1 Chron. iv. 42, 43.) They are the Edomites whom David smote in the Valley of Salt (2 Sam. viii. 12, 13; title to Psalm lx.), doubtless identical with Wady Malekh, about seven hours south of Hebron (Reland's Palestine, pp. 78-82: Winer's Bib. Real. s. v.; Williams's Holy City, vol. i. appendix i. pp. 463, 464.) [G. W.]

AMA'NIDES PYLAE (Αμανίδες οι Αμανικαὶ Пúλa), or Amanicae Pylae (Curtius, iii. 18), or Portae Amani Montis (Plin. v. 27. s.22). "There are," says Cicero (ad Fam. xv. 4), " two passes from Syria into Cilicia, each of which can be held with a small force owing to their narrowness." These are the passes in the Amanus or mountain range which runs northward from Rás el Khánzir, which promontory is at the southern entrance of the gulf of Iskenderun (gulf of Issus). This range of Amanus runs along the bay of Iskenderun, and joins the great mass of Taurus, forming a wall between Syria and Cilicia. "There is nothing," says Cicero, speaking of this range of Amanus," which is better protected against Syria than Cilicia." Of the two passes meant by Cicero, the southern seems to be the pass of Beilan, by which a man can go from Iskenderun to Antioch; this may be called the lower Amanian pass. The other pass, to which Cicero refers, appears to be NNE. of Issus, in the same range of mountains (Amanus), over which there is still a road from Bayas on the east side of the bay of Issus, to Marash: this northern pass seems to be the Amanides Pylae of Arrian and Curtius. It was by the Amanides Pylae (Arrian. Anab. ii. 7) that Darius crossed the mountains into Cilicia and came upon Issus, which Alexander had left shortly before. Darius was thus in the rear of Alexander, who had advanced as far as Myriandrus, the site of which is near Iskenderun. Alexander turned back and met the Persian king at the river

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Pinarus, between Issus and Myriandrus, where was fought the battle called the battle of Issus. The narrative of Arrian may be compared with the commentary of Polybius (xii. 17, 19).

Strabo's description of the Amanides (p. 676) is this: "after Mallus is Aegaeae, which has a small fort; then the Amanides Pylae, having an anchorage for ships, at which (pylae) terminate the Amanus mountains, extending down from the Taurus - and after Aegaeae is Issus, a small fort having an anchorage, and the river Pinarus." Strabo therefore places the Amanides Pylae between Aegae and Issus, and near the coast; and the Stadiasmus and Ptolemy give the same position to the Amanides. This pass is represented by a place now called Kara Kapu on the road between Mallus on the Pyramus (Jehan) and Issus. But there was another pass "which" (as Major Rennell observes, and Leake agrees with him) "crossing Mount Amanus from the eastward, descended upon the centre of the head of the gulf, near Issus. By this pass it was that Darius marched from Sochus, and took up his position on the banks of the Pinarus; by which movement Alexander, who had just before marched from Mallus to Myriandrus, through the two maritime pylae, was placed between the Persians and Syria." (Leake, Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 210.) This is the pass which has been assumed to be the Amanides of Arrian and Curtius, about NNE. of Issus. It follows from this that the Amanicae Pylae of Arrian (Anab. ii. 7) are not the Amanides of Strabo. Q. Curtius speaks of a pass which Alexander had to go through in marching from the Pyramus to Issus, and this pass must be Kara Kapu. Kara Kapu is not on the coast, but it is not far from it. If Strabo called this the Amanides Pylae, as he seems to have done, he cortainly gave the name to a different pass from that by which Darius descended on Issus. There is another passage of Strabo (p. 751) in which he says: " adjacent to Gindarus is Pagrae in the territory of Antioch, a strong post lying in the line of the pass over the Amanus, I mean that pass which leads from the Amanides Pylae into Syria." Leake is clearly right in not adopting Major Rennell's supposition that Strabo by this pass means the Amanides. He evidently means another pass, that of Beilan, which leads from Iskenderun to Bakras or Pagras, which is the modern name of Pagrae; and Strabo is so far consistent that he describes this pass of Pagrae as leading from the pass which he has called Amanicae. Leake shows that the Amanides Pylae of Strabo are between Aegaeae and Issus, but he has not sufficiently noticed the difference between Strabo and Arrian, as Cramer observes (Asia Minor, vol. ii. p.359). The map which illustrates Mr. Ainsworth's paper on the Cilician and Syrian Gates (London Geog. Journal, vol. viii. p. 185), and which is copied on the opposite page, enables us to form a more correct judgment of the text of the ancient writers; and we may now consider it certain that the Amanicae Pylae of the historians of Alexander is the pass NNE. of Issus, and that Strabo has given the name Amanides to a different pass. [G. L.]

AMA'NTIA ('Aμavтía: Eth. 'AμavTIEús, Steph. B. 8. v.; 'Aμavriós, Ptol. ii. 16. § 3; Amantinus, Plin. iv. 10. s. 17. § 35; Amantianus, Caes. B. C. iii. 12; Aμavтes, Etym. M. s. v.; Amantes, Plin. iii. 23. s. 26. § 45), a town and district in Greek Illyria. It is said to have been founded by the Abantes of Euboea, who, according to tradition, settled near the Ceraunian mountains, and founded Amantia and

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Thronium. From hence the original name of Amantia is said to have been Abantia, and the surrounding country to have been called Abantis. (Steph. B. 8. υ. 'Αβαντίς, 'Αμαντία; Εtym. Μ. 8. v. Αμαντες; Paus. v. 22. § 3.) Amantia probably stood at some distance from the coast, S. of the river Aous, and on a tributary of the latter, named Polyanthes. (Lycophr. 1043.) It is placed by Leake at Nivitza, where there are the remains of Hellenic walls. This site agrees with the distances afforded by Scylax and the Tabular Itinerary, the former of which places Amantia at 320 stadia, and the latter at 30 Roman miles from Apollonia. Ptolemy speaks of an Amantia on the coast, and another town of the same name inland; whence we may perhaps infer that the latter had a port of the same name, more especially as the language of Caesar (B. C. iii. 40) would imply that Amantia was situated on the coast. Amantia was a place of some importance in the civil wars between Caesar and Pompey; and it continued to be mentioned in the time of the Byzantine emperors. (Caes. B. C. iii. 12, 40; Cic. Phil. xi. 11; Leake, Ancient Greece, vol. i. p. 375, seq.)

AMA'NUS (¿ 'Aμavós, Tò 'Aμavóv), is described by Strabo as a detached part (anóσnaoua) of Taurus, and as forming the southern boundary of the plain of Cataonia. He supposes this range to branch off from the Taurus in Cilicia, at the same place whers the Antitaurus branches off and takes a more northerly direction, forming the northern boundary of Cataonia. (Strab. p. 535.) He considers the Amanus to extend eastward to the Euphrates and Melitene, where Commagene borders on Cappadocia. Here the range is interrupted by the Euphrates, but it recommences on the east side of the river, in a larger mass, more elevated, and more irregular in form. (Strab. p. 521.) He further adds: "the mountain range of Amanus extends (p. 535) to Cilicia and the Syrian sea to the west from Cataonia and to the south; and by such a division (diaσtáσet) it includes the whole gulf of Issus and the intermediate Cilician valleys towards the Taurus." This seems to be the meaning of the description of the Amanus in Strabo. Groskurd, in his Gerinan version (vol. ii. p. 448) translates diaστáσe simply by “extent" (ausdehnung); but by attending to Strabo's words and the order of them, we seem to deduce the meaning that the double direction of the mountain includes the gulf of Issus. And this agrees with what Strabo says elsewhere, when he makes the Amanus descend to the gulf of Issus between Aegae and Issus. [AMANIDES PYLAE.]

The term Amanus in Strabo then appears to be applied to the high ground which descends from the mass of Taurus to the gulf of Issus, and bounds the east side of it, and also to the highland which extends in the direction already indicated to the Euphrates, which it strikes north of Samosata (Someisát). The Jawur Dagh appears to be the modern name of at least a part of the north-eastern course of the Amanus. The branch of the Amanus which descends to the Mediterranean on the east side of the gulf of Issus is said to attain an average elevation of 5000 feet, and it terminates abruptly in Jebel Kheserik and Rás-el-Khánzir. This cape seems to be Rhosus, or the Rhosicus Scopulus of Ptolemy. There was near it a town Rhosus, which Stephanus (s. v. 'Pŵoos) places in Cilicia. Rhosus is now Arsus. There is another short range which is connected with Amanus, and advances right to the borders of the sea, between Rás-el-Khánzir and the

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MAP OF THE GULF OF ISSUS, AND OF THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY.

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mouth of the Orontes: this appears to be the Pieria of Strabo (p. 751). On the south-west base of this range, called Pieria, was Selenceia, which Strabo (p. 676) considers to be the first city in Syria after leaving Cilicia. Accordingly, he considers the mountain range of Amanus, which terminates on the east side of the gulf of Issus, to mark the boundary between Cilicia and Syria; and this is a correct view of the physical geography of the country.

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marched 5 parasangs from Issus to the Cilician and Syrian gates; and Iskenderun is 5 hours from Bayas. But still he thinks that Myriandrus is at Iskenderun, and that the Cilician and Syrian pass is at Merkez; but he adds, we must then remove Issus to Demir Kapu; and this makes a new difficulty, for it is certainly not 15 parasangs from Demir Kapu to the Pyramus. Besides, the position of Issus at Demir Kapu will not agree with the march of Alexander as described by Curtius; for Alexander made two days' march from Mallus, that is, from the Pyramus, to Castabalum; and one day's march from Castabalum to Issus. Castabalum, then, may be represented by Demir Kapu, undoubtedly the re

Stephanus (s. v. Iooos) says that Issus was called Nicopolis in consequence of Alexander's victory. Strabo makes Nicopolis a different place; but his description of the spots on the bay of Issus is confused. Cicero, in the description of his Cilician campaign, says that he encamped at the Arae Alexandri, near the base of the mountains. He gives no other indication of the site; but we may be sure that it was north of the Cilician Pylae, and probably it was near Issus. [G. L.]

Cicero (ad Fam. ii. 10), who was governor of Cilicia, describes the Amanus as common to him and Bibulus, who was governor of Syria; and he calls it the water-shed of the streams, by which description he means the range which bounds the east side of the gulf of Issus. His description in another pas-mains of a town, and Issus is somewhere east of sage also (ad Fam. xv. 4) shows that his Amanus it. The Peutinger Table places Issus next to Casis the range which has its termination in Ras-el- tabalum, and then comes Alexandreia (ad Issum). Khanzir. Cicero carried on a campaign against Consequently we should look for Issus somewhere the mountaineers of this range during his govern- on the road between Demir Kapu and Iskenderun. ment of Cilicia (B. C. 51), and took and destroyed Now Issus, or Issi, as Xenophon calls it, was on or several of their hill forts. He enumerates among near the coast (Xen. Anab. i. 4; Strab. p. 676); them Erana (as the name stands in our present and Darius marched from Issus to the Pinarus to texts), which was the chief town of the Amanus, meet Alexander; and Alexander returned from MyriSepyra, and Commores. He also took Pindenissus, andrus, through the Pylae, to meet Darius. It seems a town of the Eleutherocilices, which was on a high that as the plain about the Pinarus corresponds to point, and a place of great strength. The passes in Arrian's description, this river must have been that the Amanus have been already enumerated. On the where the two armies met, and that we must look bay, between Iskenderun and Bayas, the Baiae of for Issus a little north of the Pinarus, and near the Strabo and the Itineraries, is the small river Merkez, head of the bay of Issus. Those who have exsupposed to be the Karsus or Kersus of Xenophon amined this district do not, however, seem to have (Anab. i. 4). On the south side of this small stream exhausted the subject; nor has it been treated by is a stone wall, which crosses the narrow plain be- the latest writers with sufficient exactness. tween the Amanus and the sea, and terminates on the coast in a tower. There are also ruins on the north side of the Kersus; and nearer to the mountain there are traces of "a double wall between which the river flowed." (Ainsworth, London Geog. Journal, vol. viii.) At the head of the river Kersus is the steep pass of Boghras Beli, one of the passes of the Amanus. This description seems to agree with that of the Cilician and Syrian gates of Xenophon. The Cilician pass was a gateway in a wall which descended from the mountains to the sea north of the Kersus; and the Syrian pass was a gateway in the wall which extended in the same direction to the south of the river. Cyrus marched from the Syrian pass five parasangs to Myriandrus, which may be near the site of Iskenderun. We need not suppose that the present walls near the Merkez are as old as the time of Cyrus (B. C. 401); but it seems probable that this spot, having once been chosen as a strong frontier position, would be maintained as such. If the Kersus is properly identified with the Merkez, we must also consider it as the gates through which Alexander marched from Mallus to Myriandrus, and through which he returned from Myriandrus to give battle to Darius, who had descended upon Issus, and thus put himself in the rear of the Greeks. (Arrian. Anab. ii. 6, 8.) From these gates Alexander retraced his march to the river Pinarus (Deli Chai), near which was fought the battle of Issus (B. C. 333). If the exact position of Issus were ascertained, we might feel more certain as to the interpretations of Arrian and Curtius. Niebuhr (Reisen durch Syrien, &c., 1837, Anhang, p. 151), who followed the road from Iskenderun along the east coast of the bay of Issus on his road to Constantinople, observes that Xenophon makes the march of Cyrus 15 parasangs from the Pyramus to Issus; and he observes that it is 15 hours by the road from Bayas to the Pyramus. Cyrus

AMARDI, or MARDI ('Αμαρδοί, Μαρδοί), warlike Asiatic tribe. Stephanus (s. v. 'Auapdoí), following Strabo, places the Amardi near the Hyrcani; and adds "there are also Persian Mardi without the a." Strabo (p. 514) says, “in a circle round the Caspian sea after the Hyrcani are the Amardi, &c." Under Mardi, Stephanus (quoting Apollodorus) speaks of them as an Hyrcanian tribe, who were robbers and archers. Curtius (vi. 5) describes them as bordering on Hyrcania, and inhabiting mountains which were covered with forests. They occupied therefore part of the mountain tract which forms the southern boundary of the basin of the Caspian.

The name Mardi or Amardi, which we may assume to be the same, was widely spread, for we find Mardi mentioned as being in Hyrcania, and Margiana, also as a nomadic Persian tribe (Herod. i. 125; Strab. p. 524), and as being in Armenia (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 23), and in other places. This wide distribution of the name may be partly attributed to the ignorance of the Greek and Roman writers of the geography of Asia, but not entirely. [G. L.]

AMARDUS, or MARDUS ('Αμάρδος, Μάρδος, Dionys. Perieg. v. 734), a river of Media, mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus in his confused description of the Persian provinces (xxiii. 6). Ptolemy (vi. 2. § 2) places it in Media, and if we take his numbers as correct, its source is in the Zagrus. The river flows north, and enters the southern coast of

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