sen. (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 MovviKimiov Tŵv 'Aλovτívwv. (Castell. Inser. Sicil. p. 55; Böckh, C. I. No. 5608.) Notwithstanding these arguments, Cluverius, following Fazello, placed Aluntium at a spot near S. 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.]

06

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).

This

Thronium. From hence the original name of Aman.
tia 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. (Ly-
cophr. 1043.) It is placed by Leake at Nivitza,
where there are the remains of Hellenic walls.
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 Aman-
tia 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 men-
tioned 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.)

AMANUS (δ 'Αμανός, τὸ ̓Αμανόν), 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 where 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 Ci

Strabo's description of the Amanides (p. 676) is this: "after Mallus is Aegacae, 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 certainly 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: " ad-licia and the Syrian sea to the west from Cataonia jacent 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 ('Aμavría: Eth. 'Apavтieús, Steph. B. e. v.; 'Auavтivós, Ptol. ii. 16. § 3; Amantinus, Plin. iv. 10. s. 17. § 35; Amantianus, Caes. B. C. iii. 12; Apartes, 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

and to the south; and by such a division (diαotáoei) 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 German version (vol. ii. p. 448) translates diaoráσe 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-Khanzir and the

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 Seleuceia, 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.

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 froin Castabalum to Issus. Castabalum, then, may be represented by Demir Kapu, undoubtedly the remains of a town, and Issus is somewhere east of it. The Peutinger Table places Issus next to Castabalum, and then comes Alexandreia (ad Issum). Consequently we should look for Issus somewhere on the road between Demir Kapu and Iskenderun. Now Issus, or Issi, as Xenophon calls it, was on or near the coast (Xen. Anab. i. 4; Strab. p. 676); and Darius marched from Issus to the Pinarus to meet Alexander; and Alexander returned from Myriandrus, through the Pylae, to meet Darius. It seems that as the plain about the Pinarus corresponds to Arrian's description, this river must have been that where the two armies met, and that we must look for Issus a little north of the Pinarus, and near the head of the bay of Issus. Those who have examined this district do not, however, seem to have exhausted the subject; nor has it been treated by the latest writers with sufficient exactness.

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 passage also (ad Fam. xv. 4) shows that his Amanus is the range which has its termination in Ras-elKhanzir. Cicero carried on a campaign against the mountaineers of this range during his government of Cilicia (B. C. 51), and took and destroyed several of their hill forts. He enumerates among them Erana (as the name stands in our present texts), which was the chief town of the Amanus, Sepyra, and Commores. He also took Pindenissus, a town of the Eleutherocilices, which was on a high point, and a place of great strength. The passes in the Amanus have been already enumerated. On the bay, between Iskenderun and Bayas, the Baiae of Strabo and the Itineraries, is the small river Merkez, supposed to be the Karsus or Kersus of Xenophon (Anab. i. 4). On the south side of this small stream is a stone wall, which crosses the narrow plain be 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 nountain 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 Cur- | tius. Niebuhr (Reisen durch Syrien, &c., 1837, AMARDUS, or MARDUS ('Αμάρδος, Μάνδος, Anhang, p. 151), who followed the road from Is- Dionys. Perieg. v. 734), a river of Media, mentioned kenderun along the east coast of the bay of Issus on by Ammianus Marcellinus in his confused descriphis road to Constantinople, observes that Xenophon tion of the Persian provinces (xxiii. 6). Ptolemy makes the march of Cyrus 15 parasangs from the (vi. 2. § 2) places it in Media, and if we take his Pyramus to Issus; and he observes that it is 15 hours numbers as correct, its source is in the Zagrus. The by the road from Bayas to the Pyramus. Cyrus river flows north, and enters the southern coast of

AMARDI, or ΜARDI ('Αμαρδοί, Μαρδοί), α warlike Asiatic tribe. Stephanus (s. v. 'Aμapdoí), 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.]

the Caspian. It appears to be the Sefid-rud, or
Kizil Ozien as it is otherwise called. As Ptolemy
places the Amardi round the south coast of the
Caspian and extending into the interior, we may
suppose that they were once at least situated on and
about this river.
[G. L.]

AMA'RI LACUS (ai winpaí Xíμvai, Strab. xvii.
p. 804; Plin. vi. 29. s. 33), were a cluster of salt-
Lagoons east of the Delta, between the city of He-
ropolis and the desert of Etham- the modern Scheib.
The Bitter Lakes had a slight inclination from N. to
E., and their general outline resembled the leaf of
the sycamore. Until the reign of Ptolemy Phila-
delphus (B. C. 285-247), they were the termination
of the royal canal, by which the native monarchs
and the Persian kings attempted, but ineffectually,
to join the Pelusiac branch of the Nile with the
Red Sea. Philadelphus carried the canal through
these lagoons to the city of Arsinoë. The mineral
qualities of these lakes were nearly destroyed by the
introduction of the Nile-water. A temple of Se-
rapis stood on the northern extremity of the Bitter
Lakes.
[W. B. D.]

AMARYNTHUS ('Aμápvv0os : Eth. 'Aμapivoios, 'Aμaçúrios), a town upon the coast of Euboea, only 7 stadia from Eretria, to which it belonged. It possessed a celebrated temple of Artemis, who was hence called Amarynthia or Amarysia, and in whose honour there was a festival of this name celebrated, both in Euboea and Attica. (Strab. p. 448; Paus. i. 31. § 5; Liv. xxxv. 38; Steph. B. s. v.; Dict. of Ant. art. Amarynthia.)

(kopupal) are two, naturally connected with one another, very strongly fortified by towers; and within this enclosure are the palace and the tombs of the kings; but the heights have a very narrow neck, the ascent to which is an altitude of 5 or 6 stadia on each side as one goes up from the bank of the river and the suburbs; and from the neck to the heights there remains another ascent of a stadium, steep and capable of resisting any attack; the rock also contains (exe, not exeî) within it water-cisterns (opeîa) which an enemy cannot get possession of (avapaipera, the true reading, not avapéperaI), there being two galleries cut, one leading to the river, and the other to the neck; there are bridges over the river, one from the city to the suburb, and another from the suburb to the neighbouring country, for at the point where this bridge is the mountain terminates, which lies above the rock." This extract presents several difficulties. Groskurd, in his German version, mistakes the sense of two passages (ii. p. 499).

Amasia has been often visited by Europeans, but the best description is by Hamilton (Researches in Asia Minor, fc. vol. i. p. 366), who gives a view of the place. He explains the remark of Strabo about the 5 or 6 stadia to mean "the length of the road by which alone the summit can be reached," for owing to the steepness of the Acropolis it is necessary to ascend by a circuitous route. And this is clearly the meaning of Strabo, if we keep closely to his text. Hamilton erroneously follows Cramer (Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 302) in giving the version, "the summits have on each side a very narrow neck of land;" for the words" on each side" refer to the ascent to the "neck," as Groskurd correctly understands it. Hamilton found two "Hellenic towers of beautiful con

the Kopupai of Strabo. But the greater part of the walls now standing are Byzantine or Turkish. Indeed we learn from Procopius (de Aedif. iii. 7), that Justinian repaired this place. Hamilton observes: "the kорupai were not, as I at first imagined, two distinct points connected by a narrow intermediate ridge, but one only, from which two narrow ridges extend, one to the north, and the other to the east, which last terminates abruptly close to the river.” But Strabo clearly means two κορυφαί, and he adds that they are naturally united (ovμoveis). It is true that he does not say that the neck unites them. This neck is evidently a narrow ridge of steep ascent along which a man must pass to reach the kopupal.

AMASE'NUS, a small river of Latium, still called the Amaseno, which rises in the Volscian mountains above Privernum, and descends from thence to the Pontine marshes, through which it finds its way to the sea, between Tarracina and the Circeian pro-struction" on the heights, which he considers to be montory. Before its course was artificially regulated it was, together with its confluent the Ufens, one of the chief agents in the formation of those marshes. Its name is not found in Pliny or Strabo, but is repeatedly mentioned by Virgil (Aen. vii. 684, xi. 547). Servius, in his note on the former passage, erroneously places it near Anagnia, evidently misled by the expressions of Virgil. Vibius Sequester (p. 3) correctly says "Amasenus Privernatium." [E. H. B.] AMASIA (Αμάσεια, Αμασία : Eth. Αμασεύς: Amasia, Amasiah, or Amásiyah), a town of Pontus, on the river Iris, or Yeshil Ermak. The origin of the city is unknown. It was at one time the residence of the princes of Pontus, and afterwards appears to have been a free city under the Romans till the time of Domitian. It is said that all the coins to the time of Domitian have only the epigraph Amaseia or Amasia, but that from this time they bear the effigy and the name of a Roman emperor. The coins from the time of Trajan bear the title Metropolis, and it appears to have been the chief city of Pontus.

Amasia was the birthplace of the geographer Strabo, who describes it in the following words (p. 561): "our city lies in a deep and extensive gorge, through which the river Iris flows; and it is wonderfully constructed both by art and by nature, being adapted to serve the purpose both of a city and of a fort. For there is a lofty rock, steep on all sides, and descending abruptly to the river; this rock has its wall in one direction on the brink of the river, at that part where the city is connected with it; and in the other direction, the wall runs up the bill on each side to the heights; and the heights

The iopeia were cisterns to which there was access by galleries (σúptyyes). Hamilton explored a passage, cut in the rock, down which he descended about 300 feet, and found a "small pool of clear cold water." The wall round this pool, which appeared to have been originally much deeper, was of Hellenic masonry, which he also observed in soma parts of the descent. This appears to be one of the galleries mentioned by Strabo. The other gallery was cut to the neck, says Strabo, but he does not say from where. We may conclude, however, that it was cut from the Kopupaí to the ridge, and that the other was a continuation which led down to the well. Hamilton says: "there seem to have been two of these covered passages or galleries at Amasia, one of which led from the Koрupai or summits in an easterly direction to the ridge, and the other from the ridge into the rocky hill in a northerly direction. The former however. is not excavated in the rock,