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 Kapa 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 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 pas-mains of a town, and Issus is somewhere east of sage 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 between 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 ΜARDI ('Αμαρδοί, Μαρδοί), 2 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.] 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 AMARI LACUS. the Caspian. It appears to be the Sefid-rud, or AMARYNTHUS ('Aμápvvéos : Eth. 'Auapúvēlos, AMASIA. (Kкopуpal) are two, naturally connected with one 66 Amasia has been often visited by Europeans, but the best description is by Hamilton (Researches in Asia Minor, &c. vol. i. p. 366), who gives a view of the place. He explains the remark of Strabo road by which alone the summit can be reached," for about the 5 or 6 stadia to mean "the length of the 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. vol. p. 302) in giving the version, "the summits Hamilton erroneously follows Cramer (Asia Minor, AMASE'NUS, a small river of Latium, still called have on each side a very narrow neck of land;" for neck," as Groskurd correctly understands it. Hathe Amaseno, which rises in the Volscian mountains the words "on each side" refer to the ascent to the above Privernum, and descends from thence to the Pontine marshes, through which it finds its way to milton found two "Hellenic towers of beautiful conthe sea, between Tarracina and the Circeian pro- struction" on the heights, which he considers to be montory. Before its course was artificially regulated the Koрupal of Strabo. But the greater part of the it was, together with its confluent the Ufens, one of walls now standing are Byzantine or Turkish. Inthat Justinian repaired this place. Hamilton obthe chief agents in the formation of those marshes. deed we learn from Procopius (de Aedif. iii. 7), Its name is not found in Pliny or Strabo, but is repeatedly mentioned by Virgil (Aen. vii. 684, xi. 547). serves: "the Kopupal were not, as I at first imaServius, in his note on the former passage, errone- gined, two distinct points connected by a narrow narrow ridges extend, one to the north, and the other ously places it near Anagnia, evidently misled by the intermediate ridge, but one only, from which two expressions of Virgil. Vibius Sequester (p. 3) cor"Amasenus Privernatium." [E. H. B.] to the east, which last terminates abruptly close to the rectly says AMASIA (Αμάσεια, Αμασία: Eth. Αμασεύς: river.” But Strabo clearly means two κορυφαί, and This neck is evidently a narrow ridge of Amasia, Amasiah, or Amásiyah), a town of Pon- he adds that they are naturally united (ovuqueîs). the river Iris, or Yeshil Ermak. The It is true that he does not say that the neck unites origin of the city is unknown. It was at one time them. the residence of the princes of Pontus, and after-steep ascent along which a man must pass to reach wards appears to have been a free city under the the kopupal. 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 The coins from the time of Trajan bear the title Metropolis, and it appears to have been the chief city of Pontus. Amasia was tus, on emperor. 66 the birthplace of the geographer Strabo, who describes it in the following words (p. our city lies in a deep and extensive gorge, 561): 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 The opeîa were cisterns to which there was ac'small pool of clear cess by galleries (oúpyyes). Hamilton explored a passage, cut in the rock, down which he descended about 300 feet, and found a cold water." The wall round this pool, which apHellenic masonry, which he also observed in some peared to have been originally much deeper, was of 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 a lofty rock, steep on all well. Hamilton says: 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 hill on each side to the heights; and the heights "there seem to have been two of these covered passages or galleries at Amasia, one of which led from the Kopupal 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, 1 3 like the latter, but is built of masonry above ground, | mention Amastris. (Comp. Plin. vi. 2.) 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 CAμaσтpis: 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 (s. v. "Aμaσтpis) says that it was originally called Cromna; but in another place (s. v. Kpŵμva), 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 There is a coin with the epigraph Sesamum. Those of Amastris have the epigraph Auaorpιavv. 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 (1. 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. 00000000 A'MATHUS ('Aμaðoûs, -oûvтos: Eth. 'Aμabobotos: 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. lviii. 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. s. v. Μάλικα, τὸν Ηρακλέα, 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 14 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 Jannaeus sat: (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 13. § 3), and after its restoration was one of the five cities in which the Sanhedrim the others were Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara and Sepphoris (Ib. xiv. 10). Burkhardt passed "the ruins of an ancient city standing on the declivity of the mountain" called Amata, near the Jordan, and a little to the north of the Zerka (Jabbok). He was told "that several columns remain standing, and also some large buildings." (Travels, p. 346.) [G. W.] AMAZONES ('AμaÇóves), a mythical race of warlike females, of whom an account is given in the Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. AMBARRI, a Gallic people, whom Caesar (B. G. i. 11) calls close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui. If the reading" Aedui Ambarri" in the passage referred to is correct, the Ambarri were Aedui. They are not mentioned among the "clientes of the Aedui. (B. G. vii. 75.) They occupied a tract in the valley of the Rhone, probably in the angle between the Saône and the Rhone; and their neighbours on the E. were the Allobroges. They are mentioned by Livy (v. 34) with the Aedui among those Galli who were said to have crossed the Alps into Italy in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. [G.L.] AMBIA'NI, a Belgic people, who were said to be able to muster 10,000 armed men in B. c. 57, the year of Caesar's Belgic campaign. They submitted to Caesar. (B. G. ii. 4, 15.) Their country lay in the valley of the Samara (Somme); and their chief town Samarobriva, afterwards called Ambiani and Civitas Ambianensium, is supposed to be represented by Amiens. They were among the people who took part in the great insurrection against the Romans, which is described in the seventh book of the Gallic war. (B. G. vii. 75.) [G. L.] AMBIATI'NUS VICUS, or AMBITARINUS, as the true reading is said to be (Sueton. Calig. 8), a place in the country of the Treviri above Confluentes (Coblentz), where the emperor Caligula was born. Its precise position cannot be ascertained. [G. L.] AMBIBARI, one of the people or states of Armorica. (Caes. B. G. vii. 75.) Their position does not appear to be determined. [G. L.] AMBILIA'TI, a people mentioned by Caesar (B. G. iii. 9) with the Nannetes, Morini, and others; but nothing can be inferred from this passage as to their precise position. Some of the best MSS. have in this passage the reading “ Ambianos" instead of "Ambiliatos." [G. L.] AMBISONTES or BISONTES, one of the many otherwise unknown tribes in the interior of Noricum, about the sources of the rivers Ivarus and Anisus, in the neighbourhood of the modern city of Salzburg. (Plin. iii. 24; Ptol. ii. 13. §3.) [L. S.] AMBIVA'RETI, are mentioned by Caesar (B. G. vii. 75) as "clientes" of the Aedui; and they are mentioned again (vii. 90). As dependents of the Aedui, they must have lived somewhere near them, but there is no evidence for their exact position. The Ambivareti mentioned by Caesar (B. G. iv. 9) were a people near the Mosa (Maas). As the two names are evidently the same, it is probable that there is some error in one of the names; for these people on the Mosa could hardly be clientes of the Aedui. As to the various readings in the passage (B.G.iv.9), see Schneider's edition of Caesar. [G.L.] AMBLADA CAμbλada: Eth. 'Aμ6λadeús), a city of Pisidia, which Strabo (p. 570) places near the boundaries of Phrygia and Caria. It produced wine that was used for medicinal purposes. There are copper coins of Amblada of the period of the Antonini and their successors, with the epigraph Ausλadewv. The site is unknown. [G. L.] AMBRA'CIA (Αμπρακία, Thuc.; Αμβρακία, Xen. and later writers: Eth. 'Aμтpariúтns, Herod. viii. 45, Thuc. ii. 80; Ionic 'Aμmраkihтns, Herod. ix. 28; 'Ausрakiúтns, Xen. Anab. i. 7. § 18, et alii; 'Au6panieús, Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1228; AμépáKios, 'Aubpakivos, Steph. B. s. v.: Ambraciensis, Liv. xxxviii. 43; Ambraciota, Cic. Tusc. i. 34: Arta), an important city to the north of the Ambraciot gulf, which derived its name from this place. It was situated on the eastern bank of the river Arachthus or Arethon, at the distance of 80 stadia from the gulf, according to ancient authorities, or 7 English miles, according to a modern traveller. It stood on the western side of a rugged hill called Perranthes, and the acropolis occupied one of the summits of this hill towards the east. It was rather more than three miles in circumference, and, in addition to its strong walls, it was well protected by the river and the heights which surrounded it. It is generally described as a town of Epirus, of which it was the capital under Pyrrhus and the subsequent monarchs; but in earlier times it was an independent state, with a considerable territory, which extended along the coast for 120 stadia. How far the territory extended northward we are not informed; but that portion of it between the city itself and the coast was an extremely fertile plain, traversed by the Arachthus, and producing excellent corn in abundance. Ambracia is called by Dicaearchus and Scylax the first town in Hellas proper. (Strab. p. 325; Dicaearch. 31, p. 460, ed. Fuhr; Scyl. p. 12; Polyb. xxii. 9; Liv. xxxviii. 4.) According to tradition, Ambracia was originally a Thesprotian town, founded by Ambrax, son of Thesprotus, or by Ambracia, daughter of Augeas; but it was made a Greek city by a colony of Corinthians, who settled here in the time of Cypselus, about B. C. 635. The colony is said to have been led by Gorgus (also called Torgus or Tolgus), the son or brother of Cypselus. Gorgus was succeeded in the tyranny by his son Periander, who was deposed by the people, probably after the death of the Corinthian tyrant of the same name. (Strab. pp. 325, 452; Scymn. 454; Anton. Lib. 4; Aristot. Pol. v. 3. § 6, v. 8. § 9; Ael. V. H. xii. 35; Diog. Laërt. i. 98.) Ambracia soon became a flourishing city, and the most important of all the Corinthian colonies on the Ambraciot gulf. It contributed seven ships to the Greek navy in the war against Xerxes, B. c. 480, and twenty-seven to the Corinthians in their war against Corcyra, B. c. 432. (Herod. viii. 45; Thuc. i. 46.) The Ambraciots, as colonists and allies of Corinth, espoused the Lacedaemonian cause in the Peloponnesian war. It was about this time that they reached the maximum of their power. They had extended their dominions over the whole of Amphilochia, and had taken possession of the important town of Argos in this district, from which they had driven out the original inhabitants. The expelled Amphilochians, supported by the Acarnanians, applied for aid to Athens. The Athenians accordingly sent a force under Phormion, who took Argos, sold the Ambraciots as slaves, and restored the town to the Amphilochians and Acarnanians, B. C. 432. Anxious to recover the lost town, the Ambraciots, two years afterwards (430), marched against Argos, but were unable to take it, and retired after laying waste its territory. Not disheartened by this repulse, they 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, Cnemus. 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. The 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 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 (Пúppelov). (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 Inser. 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. Ambracus. 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 |
