like the latter, but is built of masonry above ground, yet equally well concealed."

The tombs of the kings are below the citadel to the south, five in number, three to the west, and two to the east. The steep face of the rock has been artificially smoothed. "Under the three smaller tombs are considerable remains of the old Greek walls, and a square tower built in the best Hellenic style." These walls can also be traced up the hill towards the west, and are evidently those described by Strabo, as forming the peribolus or enclosure within which were the royal tombs. (Hamilton.) The front wall of an old medresseh at Amasia is built of ancient cornices, friezes, and architraves, and on three long stones which form the sides and architrave of the entrance there are fragments of Greek inscriptions deep cut in large letters. Hamilton does not mention a temple which is spoken of by one traveller of little credit.

The territory of Amasia was well wooded, and adapted for breeding horses and other animals; and the whole of it was well suited for the habitation of man. A valley extends from the river, not very wide at first, but it afterwards grows wider, and forms the plain which Strabo calls Chiliocomon, and this was succeeded by the districts of Diacopene and Pimolisene, all of which is fertile as far as the Halys. These were the northern parts of the territory, and extended 500 stadia in length. The southern portion was much larger, and extended to Babonomon and Ximene, which district also reached to the Halys. Its width from north to south reached to Zelitis and the Great Cappadocia as far as the Trocmi. In Ximene rock salt was dug. Hamilton procured at Amasia a coin of Pimolisa, a place from which the district Pimolisene took its name, in a beautiful state of preservation.

The modern town stands on both sides of the river; it has 3970 houses, all mean; it produces some silk. (London Geog. Jour. vol. x. p. 442.) [G.L.]

AMASTRĂ. [AMESTRATUS.] AMASTRIS (Auаorpis: Eth. 'Auaσтplavós, Amastrianus: Amasra, or Amasserah), a city of Paphlagonia, on a small river of the same name. Amastris occupied a peninsula, and on each side of the isthmus was a harbour (Strab. p. 544): it was 90 stadia east of the river Parthenius. The original city seems to have been called Sesamus or Sesamum, and it is mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 853) in conjunction with Cytorus. Stephanus (8. v. "Aμaσтpis) says that it was originally called Cromna; but in another place (8. v. Kpŵuva), where he repeats the statement, he adds, "as it is said; but some say that Cromna is a small place in the territory of Amastris," which is the true account. The place derived its name Amastris from Amastris, the niece of the last Persian king Darius, who was the wife of Dionysius, tyrant of Heracleia, and after his death the wife of Lysimachus. Four places, Sesamus, Cytorus, Cromna, also mentioned in the Iliad (ii. 855), and Teion or Tios, were combined by Amastris, after her separation from Lysimachus (Memnon, ap. Phot. Cod. ccxxiv.), to form the new community of Amastris. Teion, says Strabo, soon detached itself from the community, but the rest kept together, and Sesamus was the acropolis of Amastris. From this it appears that Amastris was really a confederation or union of three places, and that Sesamus was the name of the city on the peninsula. This may explain the fact that Mela (i. 19) mentions Sesamus and Cromna as cities of Paphlagonia, and does not

mention Amastris. (Comp. Plin. vi. 2.) There is a coin with the epigraph Sesamum. Those of Amastris have the epigraph Auaσтрiavшv.

The territory of Amastris produced a great quantity of boxwood, which grew on Mount Cytorus. The town was taken by L. Lucullus in the Mithridatic war. (Appian. Mithrid. 82.) The younger Pliny, when he was governor of Bithynia and Pontus, describes Amastris, in a letter to Trajan (x. 99), as a handsome city, with a very long open place (platea), on one side of which extended what was called a river, but in fact was a filthy, pestilent, open drain. Pliny obtained the emperor's permission to cover over this sewer. On a coin of the time of Trajan, Amastris has the title Metropolis. It continued to be a town of some note to the seventh century of our aera. [G. L.]

COIN OF AMASTRIS.

Α'MATHUS ('Αμαθοῖς, -οῦντος: Εth. Αμαθού σos: Adj. Amathusiacus, Ov. Met. x. 227.: nr. Old Limasol), an ancient town on the S. coast of Cyprus, celebrated for its worship of Aphrodite who was hence called Amathusia - and of Adonis. (Scylax, p. 41; Strab. p. 683; Paus. ix. 41. § 2; Steph. B. s. v.; Tac. Ann. iii. 62; Catull. Iviii. 51; Ov. Am. iii. 15. 15.) It was originally a settlement of the Phoenicians, and was probably the most ancient of the Phoenician colonies in the island. Stephanus calls Amathus the most ancient city in the island, and Scylax describes its inhabitants as autochthones. Its name is of Phoenician origin, for we find a town of the same name in Palestine. (See below.) Amathus appears to have preserved its Oriental customs and character, long after the other Phoenician cities in Cyprus had become hellenized. Here the Tyrian god Melkart whom the Greeks identified with Heracles, was worshipped under his Tyrian name. (Hesych. 8. 8. Μάλικα, τὸν Ἡρακλέα, Αμαθούσιοι.) The Phoenician priesthood of the Cinyradae appears to have long continued to exercise its authority at Amathus. Hence we find that Amathus, as an Oriental town, remained firm to the Persians in the time of Darius I., while all the other towns in Cyprus revolted. (Herod. v. 104, seq.) The territory of Amathus was celebrated for its wheat (Hipponax, ap. Strab. p. 340), and also for its mineral productions (fecundam Amathunta metalli, Ov. Met. x. 220, comp. 531.)

Amathus appears to have consisted of two distinct parts: one upon the coast, where Old Limasol now stands, and the other upon a hill inland, about 1 mile from Old Limasol, at the village of Agios Tychonos, where Hammer discovered the ruins of the temple of Aphrodite. (Hammer, Reise, p. 129; Engel, Kypros, vol. i. p. 109, seq.; Movers, Die Phōnizier, vol. ii. pt. ii. pp. 221, 240, seq.)

A'MATHUS ('Αμαθοῦς or τὰ ̓Αμαθά), a strongly fortified city on the east of the Jordan, in Lower Persia, 21 Roman miles south of Pella. (Eusebii Onomast.) It was destroyed by Alexander Jannacu

concerted a plan in the following year (429), with | the Peloponnesians, for the complete subjugation of Acarnania. They had extensive relations with the Chaonians and other tribes in the interior of Epirus, and were thus enabled to collect a formidable army of Epirots, with which they joined the Lacedaemonian commander, Cuemus. The united forces advanced into Acarnania as far as Stratus, but under the walls of this city the Epirots were defeated by the Acarnanians, and the expedition came to an end. Notwithstanding this second misfortune, the Ambraciots marched against Argos again in B. C. 426. The history of this expedition, and of their two terrible defeats by Demosthenes and the Acarnanians, is related elsewhere. [ARGOS AMPHILOCHICUM.] It appears that nearly the whole adult military population of the city was destroyed, and Thucydides considers their calamity to have been the greatest that befel any Grecian city during the earlier part of the war. Demosthenes was anxious to march straightway against Ambracia, which would have surrendered without a blow; but the Acarnanians refused to undertake the enterprize, fearing that the Athenians at Ambracia would be more troublesome neighbours to them than the Ambraciots. Acarnanians and Amphilochians now concluded a peace and alliance with the Ambraciots for 100 years. Ambracia had become so helpless that the Corinthians shortly afterwards sent 300 hoplites to the city for its defence. (Thuc. ii. 68, 80, iii. 105 -114.)

The

The severe blow which Ambracia had received prevented it from taking any active part in the remainder of the war. It sent, however, some troops to the assistance of Syracuse, when besieged by the Athenians. (Thuc. vii. 58.) Ambracia was subsequently conquered by Philip II., king of Macedonia. On the accession of Alexander the Great (B. c. 336) it expelled the Macedonian garrison, but soon afterwards submitted to Alexander. (Diod. xvii. 3, 4.) At a later time it became subject to Pyrrhus, who made it the capital of his dominions, and his usual place of residence, and who also adorned it with numerous works of art. (Pol. xxii. 13; Liv. xxxviii. 9; Strab. p. 325.) Pyrrhus built here a strongly fortified palace, which was called after him Pyrrheum (Пúßßelov). (Pol. xxii. 10; Liv. xxxviii. 5.) Ambracia afterwards fell into the hands of the Aetolians, and the possession of this powerful city was one of the chief sources of the Aetolian power in this part of Greece. When the Romans declared war against the Aetolians, Ambracia was besieged by the Roman consul M. Fulvius Nobilior, B. C. 189. This siege is one of the most memorable in ancient warfare for the bravery displayed in the defence of the town. In the course of the siege the Aetolians concluded a peace with Fulvius, whereupon Ambracia opened its gates to the besiegers. The consul, however, stripped it of its valuable works of art, and removed them to Rome. (Pol. xxii. 9-13; Liv. xxxviii. 3-9.) From this time Ambracia rapidly declined, and its ruin was completed by Augustus, who removed its inhabitants to Nicopolis, which he founded in commemoration of his victory at Actium. (Strab. p. 325; Paus. v. 23. § 3.)

There is no longer any doubt that Arta is the site of Ambracia, the position of which was for a long time a subject of dispute. The remains of the walls of Ambracia confirm the statements of the ancient writers respecting the strength of its fortifications. The walls were built of immense quadran

gular blocks of stone. Lieut. Wolfe measured one 18 ft. by 5. The foundations of the acropolis may still be traced, but there are no other remains of Hellenic date. The general form of the city is given in the following plan taken from Leake.

PLAN OF AMBRACIA.

1. The Acropolis.

2. Mt. Perranthes.

3. Bridge over the Arachthus.

[The dotted line shows the ancient walls, where the foundations only remain. The entire line, where the remains are more considerable.]

How long Ambracia continued deserted after the removal of its inhabitants to Nicopolis, we do not know; but it was re-occupied under the Byzantine Empire, and became again a place of importance. Its modern name of Arta is evidently a corruption of the river Arachthus, upon which it stood; and we find this name in the Byzantine writers as early as the eleventh century. In the fourteenth century Arta was reckoned the chief town in Acarnania, whence it was frequently called by the name of Acarnania simply. Cyriacus calls it sometimes Arechthea Acarnana. (Böckh, Corpus Inscr. No. 1797.) It is still the principal town in this part of Greece, and, like the ancient city, has given its name to the neighbouring gulf. The population of Arta was reckoned to be about 7000 in the year 1830. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 206, seq.; Wolfe, Journal of Geographical Society, vol. iii. p. 82, seq.)

There were three other places in the territory of Ambracia mentioned by ancient writers: 1. Am. bracus. 2. The port of Ambracia. 3. Craneia.

Ambracus (Ausрaños) is described by Polybius as a place well fortified by ramparts and outworks, and as surrounded by marshes, through which there was only one narrow causeway leading to the place. It was taken by Philip V., king of Macedonia, in B.C. 219, as a preliminary to an attack upon Ambracia. (Pol. iv. 61, 63.) Scylax probably alludes to this place, when he says (p. 12) that Ambracia had a fortress near its harbour; for near the western shore of the old mouth of the river Arachthus (Arta) some ruins have been discovered, whose topographical situation accords with the description of Polybius. They are situated on a swampy island, in a marshy lake near the sea. They inclosed an area of about a quarter of a mile in extent, and appeared to be

merely a military post, which was all that the swampy nature of the ground would admit of. (Wolfe, Ibid. p. 84.) This fortress commanded the harbour, which is described by Scylax and Dicaearchus (ll. cc.) as a KλELTòs Auhy, or a port with a narrow entrance, which might be shut with a chain. The harbour must have been an artificial one; for the present mouth of the Arta is so obstructed by swamps and shoals as scarcely to be accessible even to boats. In ancient times its navigation was also esteemed dangerous, whence Lucan (v. 651) speaks of "orae malignos Ambraciae portus."

Craneia (Kpáveia) was a small village situated on a mountain of the same name, which Leake supposes to have been the high mountain now called Kelberini, which rises from the right bank of the river Arta, immediately opposite to the town.

Between the territory of Ambracia and Amphilochia, Dicaearchus (45) mentions a people called Oreitae (Opeirai), who appear to have been inhabitants of the mountains named Makrinoro, beginning at the NW. corner of the Ambraciot gulf.

COIN OF AMBRACIA.

AMBRA CIUS SINUS (8'AμmракIKOS KÓλTOS, Thuc. i. 55; 'Аμsракikos кóλmos, Pol. iv. 63, Strab. p. 325, et al.; Dáλaoσа 'Аμжракiкh, Dion Cass. I. 12: Sinus Ambracius, Liv. xxxviii. 4; Mel. ii. 3: Gulf of Arta), an arm of the Ionian sea, lying between Epirus and Acarnania, so called from the town of Ambracia. Polybius (1. c.) describes the bay as 300 stadia in length, and 100 stadia in breadth: Strabo (1. c.) gives 300 stadia as its circumference, which is absurdly too small. Its real length is 25 miles, and its breadth 10. The entrance of the gulf, one side of which was formed by the promontory of Actium, is described under ACTIUM. In consequence of the victory which Augustus gained over Antony at the entrance to this gulf, Statius (Silv. ii. 2. 8) gives the name of Ambraciae frondes to the crowns of laurel bestowed upon the victors in the Actian games. The Ambracius Sinus is also frequently mentioned in Greek history. On it were the towns of Argos Amphilochicum, and Anactorium, and the sea-port of Ambracia. The rivers Charadra and Arachthus flowed into it from the N. It was celebrated in antiquity for its excellent fish, and particularly for a species called kampos. (Ath. iii. p. 92, d., vii. pp. 305, e., 311, a, 326, d.) The modern gulf still maintains its character in this respect. The red and grey mullet are most abundant, and there are also plenty of soles and eels. (Wolfe, Observations on the Gulf of Arta, in Journal of Geographical Society, vol. iii.)

AMBRY'SUS or AMPHRY'SUS (Au6pvoos, Strab.; "Au6pwooos, Paus.; "Auppvoos, Steph. B. 8. v.: Eth. 'Auspuσios, 'Au6pvoeús, and in Inscr. 'Auspwoσebs: Dhistomo), a town of Phocis, was situated 60 stadia from Stiris, NE. of Anticyra, at the southern foot of Mt. Cirphis (not at the foot of Parnassus, as Pausanias states), and in a fertile valley, producing abundance of wine and the coccus, or kermes-berry, used to dye scarlet. It was de

and fortified by the Thebans with a double wall, in their war against Philip. Its fortifications were considered by Pausanias the strongest in Greece, next to those of Messene. (Paus. x. 3. § 2, x. 36. § 1, seq., iv. 31. § 5; Strab. p. 423.) It was taken by the Romans in the Macedonian war, B. C. 198. (Liv. xxxii. 18.) The site of Ambrysus is fixed at the modern village of Dhistomo, by an inscription which Chandler found at the latter place. The remains of the ancient city are few and inconsiderable. (Dodwell, Tour through Greece, vol. i. p. 196, seq.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 535, seq.)

AMENA'NUS ('Αμένανος, Strab.; 'Αμενανός, Steph. Byz. where the MSS. have 'Aueλiavós: 'Aué. vas, Pind.: Amenana flumina, Ovid. Fast. iv. 467), a small river of Sicily which flows through the city of Catania, now called the Giudicello. It is noticed by Strabo (p. 240) as remarkable for the vicissitudes to which it was subject, its waters sometimes failing altogether for years, and then flowing again in abundance. The same peculiarity is remarked by Ovid (Met. xv. 279), and is still observed with regard to the Giudicello. It is probably connected with internal changes of Etna, at the foot of which it rises. (Fazell. iii. 1. p. 138; Cluver. Sicil. p. 120; D'Orville, Sicula, p. 218.) l'indar speaks of the newly founded city of Aetna (the name given by Hieron to Catana) as situated by the waters of the Amenas, but the correctness of the form Amenanos, preserved by Strabo, is attested by coins of Catana, which bear on the obverse the head of the river deity, under the usual form of a youthful male head with horns on the forehead, and the name at full length AMENANOZ. (Castell. Sicil. Numism. pl. 20, fig. 8.) [E. H. B.]

AME'RIA. [CABIRA.]

AME'RIA ('Auepía, Strab. Ptol. Plut. Mar. 17; 'Auépiov, Steph. B.: Eth. Amerinus: Amelia), one of the most ancient and important cities of Umbria, situated about 15 m. S. of Tuder, and 7 W. of Narnia, on a hill between the valley of the Tiber and that of the Nar, a few miles above their junction. (Strab. p. 227; Plin. iii. 14. s. 19; Ptol. iii. 1. § 54; Festus, s. v.) According to Cato (ap. Plin. I. c.) it was founded 964 years before the war with Perseus, or 1135 B. c.: and although this date cannot be regarded as historical, it may be received as evidence of a belief in its remote antiquity. The still extant remains of its ancient walls, constructed in the polygonal style, prove it to have been a place of strength in early times: but it is remarkable that its name is not once mentioned during the wars of Rome with the Umbrians, nor does it occur in history previous to the time of Cicero. But the great orator, in his defence of Sex. Roscius, who was a native of Ameria, repeatedly mentions it in a manner which proves that it must then have been a flourishing municipal town: its territory extended to the Tiber, and was fertile in osiers and fruit trees. (Cic. pro Sex. Rosc. 7, 9, &c.; Virg. Georg. i. 265; Colum. iv. 30, v. 10) Its lands were portioned out by Augustus among his veterans; but it did not obtain the rank of a colony, as we find it both in Pliny and inscriptions of later date styled only a municipium. (Lib. Colon. p. 224; Zumpt. de Colon. p. 356; Inscr. ap. Grut. p. 485. 5, 1101. 2, 1104.) The modern town of Amelia retains the ancient site as well as considerable portions of the ancient walls: it is now a small place with only about 2000 inhabitants, though still the see of a bishop.

which branches off from the Via Clodia at Baccanas (Buccano) and leads through Nepe and Falerii to Ameria and thence to Tuder: this can be no other than the Via Amerina mentioned in an inscription | of the time of Hadrian (Orell. 3306). The distances, as given in the Table, make Ameria distant 57 M. P. from Rome by this route, which agrees very closely with a casual statement of Cicero (pro Sex. Rosc. 7. § 18) that it was 56 miles from the one to the other. The Castellum Amerinum placed by the Table at 9 M. P. from Ameria on the road to Falerii is otherwise unknown.

[E. H. B.] AMERI'OLA, a city of ancient Latium, mentioned by Livy among those reduced by force of arms by the elder Tarquin (i. 38). It is here enumerated among the "Prisci Latini," and doubtless at this period was one of the thirty cities of the league: but its name is not found in the later list given by Dionysius (v. 61), nor does it again occur in history; and it is only noticed by Pliny (iii. 5. s. 9) among the extinct cities of Latium. From the names with which it is associated in Livy we may probably infer that it was situated in the neighbourhood of the Corniculan Hills: and it has been conjectured by Gell and Nibby that some ruins still visible on the northernmost of the three hills, about a mile north of Mte S. Angelo, may be those of Ameriola. They consist of some remnants of walls, of irregular polygonal construction, running round a defensible eminence, and indicating the site of a small town. But the distance from Mte S. Angelo (on the summit of which there was certainly an ancient city, whether Corniculum or Medullia) is however so small as to render it improbable that another independent town should have existed so close to it. (Gell, Top. of Rome, p. 52; Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. i. p. 138; Abeken, Mittel-Italien, p. 78.) [E. H. B.]

AME'SELUM (Tò 'Aμησeλov) a town of Sicily, mentioned only by Diodorus (xxii. Exc. Hoesch. p.499), from whom we learn that it was situated between Centuripi and Agyrium, in a position of great natural strength. It was taken, in B. C. 269, by Hieron king of Syracuse, who destroyed the city and fortress, and divided its territory between its two neighbours the Centuripini and Agyrians. Its exact site is [E. H. B.]

unknown.

AME'STRATUS ('Aμńσтpaτos, Steph. B.: Eth. Amestratinus: Mistretta), a city of Sicily, noticed only by Cicero and Steph. B. From the circumstance mentioned by the former, that Verres compelled the inhabitants of Calacte to deliver their tithes of corn at Amestratus instead of at Calacte itself, it is clear that it was not very far from that city: and this fact, coupled with the resemblance of the name, enables us to fix its site at Mistretta, now a considerable town, situated on a hill about 5 miles from the N. coast of Sicily near Sto. Stefano, and 10 from Caronia (Calacte). According to Fazello, considerable remains of antiquity were still visible there in his time; but the place is not described by any recent traveller. We learn from Cicero that it was a small and poor town, though enjoying municipal privileges. (Cic. in Verr. iii. 39, 43, 74; Steph. B. s. v.; Fazell. de Reb. Sicul. x. p. 415; Cluver. Sicil. p. 383.)

It is probably the same place as the Amastra of Silius Italicus (xiv. 267), but there is no foundation for identifying it (as has been done by Cluverius and most subsequent geographers) with the Mytistratus of Polybius and Pliny: both names being perfectly well authenticated. [MYTISTRATUS.]

That of Amestratus, in addition to the testimony of Cicero and Stephanus, is fully supported by the evidence of its coins, which have the name at full ΑΜΗΣΤΡΑ ΤΙΝΩΝ. (Castell. Sicil. Vet. Num. pl. 15; Eckhel, vol. i. p. 197.) [E. H. B.] ΑΜΙΡΑ (Αμιδα: Eth. 'Αμιδηνός, Amidensis: Diyar-Bekr). The modern town is on the right bank of the Tigris. The walls are lofty and substantial, and constructed of the ruins of ancient edifices. As the place is well adapted for a commercial city, it is probable that Amida, which occupied the site of Diyar-Bekr, was a town of considerable antiquity. It was enlarged and strengthened by Constantius, in whose reign it was besieged and taken by the Persian king Sapor, A. D. 359. The historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who took part in the defence of the town, has given us a minute account of the siege. (Amm. Marc. xix. 1, seq.) It was taken by the Persian king Cabades in the reign of Anastasius, A. D. 502 (Procop. B. Pers. i. 7, seq.); but it soon passed again into the hands of the Romans, since we read that Justinian repaired its walls and fortifications. (Procop. de Aedif. iii. 1.) Ammianus and Procopius consider it a city of Mesopotamia, but it may be more properly viewed as belonging to Armenia Major. [G. L.]

AMILUS CAños: Eth. 'Apiλios), a village of Arcadia in the territory of Orchomenus, and on the road from the latter to Stymphalus. (Paus. viii. 14. §5; Steph. B. s. v.)

AMI'SIA, a place on the left bank of the river Amisia (Ems), in Germany. (Tacit. Ann. ii. 8.) This place, which is not mentioned by any other ancient author, is perhaps the same as the town of 'Auárea noticed by Ptolemy (ii. 11), and the Aμoσa mentioned by Stephanus Byzantinus as a town of Germany. (Comp. Ledebur, Land u. Volk der Bructerer, p. 180, foll.) [L. S.]

AMI'SIA or AMI'SIUS ('Aμáotos or 'Auaria, the Ems), a river in northern Germany, rising in the hills of the Weser, and emptying itself into the German Ocean near the town of Emden. The river was well known to, and navigated by the Romans. In B. C. 12, Drusus fought on it a naval battle against the Bructeri. (Mela, iii. 3; Plin. H. N. iv. 14, who calls the river Amisius; Tacit. Ann. i. 60, 63, 70, ii. 23, who calls it Amisia; Strab. p. 290; Ptolem. ii. 11; comp. Ledebur, Land u. Volk der Bructerer, p. 180.) [L. S.]

AMISUS ('Αμισός : Eth. 'Αμισηνός, Αμίσιος, Amisenus: Eski Samsun), a city of Pontus in Asia Minor, situated on the west side of the bay called Amisenus, about 900 stadia from Sinope according to Strabo (p. 547). The ruins of Amisus are on a promontory about a mile and a half NNW. of the modern town. On the east side of the promontory was the old port, part of which is now filled up. The pier which defended the ancient harbour may still be traced for about 300 yards, but it is chiefly under water: it consists of very large blocks of stone. On the summit of the hill where the acropolis stood there are many remains of walls of rubble and mortar, and the ground is strewed with fragments of Roman tiles and pottery. On the south end of the brow of the hill which overlooks the harbour there are traces of the real Hellenic walls. (Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, vol.i. p.290.)

The origin of Amisus appears to be uncertain. Hecataeus (Strab. p. 553) supposed it to be the Enete of Homer (Il. ii. 852). Theopompus, quoted by Strabo, says that it was first founded by the