Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/166

Rh 148 AMPIIIARAUS. hood, and the blunders committed so numoroiis, that it cannot be used with safety for reference. The style, where it is not a mere catalogue of names, is simple and unaflFected, but both in the construction of the sentences and in the use of particular words, we can detect many traces of corrupted launity. The commentaries and criti- cisms of Salmasius, Muretus, Freinsheim, Hein- sius, Perizonius and other scholars will be found in the edition of Duker at the end of his Florus. (Lug. Bat. 1722 — 1744, and reprinted av' Leips. 1832.) Ampelius was first published in a separate form, with very useful prolegomena, by Tzschucke (Leips. 1793), and subsequently by Pockwitz (Llinenb. 1823), and F. A. Beck. (Leips. 1826.) [W. II.] AMPHTANAX {'Afi(piduaf^), a king of Lycia. When Proetus was expelled from Argos by his twin-brother Acrisius, Amphianax received him at his court, gave him his daughter Anteia (some call her Stheneboea) in marriage, and afterwards led him back to Argolis, where his share in the go- vernment and Tiryns were restored to him. Some traditions called this Lycian king lobates. (Apol- lod. ii. 2. § 1 ; Horn. Jl. vi. 157, &c.) [L. S.J AMPHIA'NUS, a Greek tragic poet at Alex- andria. (Schol. a4 German. Arat. 332, p. 78, ed. Buhl.) AMPHIARAI'DES, a patronymic from Am- phiaraus, by which Ovid {Fust. ii. 43) calls his son Alcmaeon. [L. S.] AMPHIARA'US ('Aiu<^/<£poos), a son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, the daughter of Thestius. (Hom. Od. XV. 244 ; Apollod. i. 8. § 2 ; Hygin. Fub. 73 ; Pans. ii. 21. § 2.) On his father's side he was descended from the famous seer Melampus. (Pans. vi. 17. § 4.) Some traditions represented him as a son of Apollo by Hypermnestra, which, however, is merely a poetical expression to de- scribe him as a seer and prophet. (Hygin. Fub. 70.) Amphiaraus is renowned in ancient story as a brave hero : he is mentioned among the liunters of the Calydonian boar, which he is said to have deprived of one eye, and also as one of the Argo- nauts. (Apollod. i. 8. § 2, 9. § 16.) For a time he reigned at Argos in common with Adrastus ; but, in a feud which broke out between them, Adrastus took to Hight. Afterwards, however, he became reconciled with Arnphiaraus, and gave him his sister Eriphyle in marriage [Adrastus], by whom Amphiaraus became the father of Alcmaeon, Anipiiilochus, J^urydice, and Demonassa. On marrying Eriphyle, Amphiaraus had sworn, that he would abide by the decision of Eriphyle on any point in which he should diir'er in opinion from Adrastus. When, therefore, the latter called upon him to join the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, Amphiaraus, although he foresaw its un- fortunate issue and at first refused to take any part in it, was nevertheless persuaded by his wife to join his friends, for Eriphyle had been enticed to induce her husband by the necklace of Harmonia which Polyneices had given her. Amphiaraus on leaving Argos enjoined his sons to avenge his death on their heartless mother. (Apollod, iii. 6. § 2; Hygin. Fab. 73; Diod. iv. 65; Hom. Od. XV. 247, &c.) On their way to Thebes the heroes instituted the Nemeau games, and Amphiaraus won the victory in the chariot-race and in throwing the discus. (Apollod. iii. 6. § 4.) During the war against Thebes, Amphiaraus fought bravely AMPHIGRATES. (Pind. 01. vi. 26, &c.), but still he could not sup- j)ress his anger at the whole undertaking, and when Tydeus, whom he regarded as the originator of the expedition, was severely wounded by Mela- nippns, and Athena was hastening to render him immortal, Amphiaraus cut oflf the head of Mela- nippus, who had in the mean time been slain, and gave Tydeus his brains to drink, and Athena, struck with horror at the sight, withdrew. (Apollod. iii. 6. § 8.) When Adrastus and Amphiaraus were the onl' heroes who survived, the latter was pur- sued hy Periclymenus, and fled towards the river Ismenius. Here the earth opened before he was overtaken by his enemy, and swallowed up Am- phiaraus together with his chariot, but Zeus made him immortal. (Pind. Nem. ix. 57, 01. vi. 21, iScc. ; Plut. Parall. 6; Cic. de Divin. i. 40.) Henceforth Amphiaraus was worshipped as a hero, first at Oropus and afterwards in all Greece. (Pans. i. 34. § 2 ; Liv. xlv. 27.) He had a sanc- tuary at Argos (Paus. ii. 23. § 2), a statue at Athens (i. 8. § 3), and a heroum at Sparta. (MUller, Orchom. pp. 146, 486.) The departure of Amphiaraus from his home when he went to Thebes, was represented on the chest of Cypselus. (Paus. V. 17. § 4.) Respecting some extant works of art, of which Amphiaraus is the subject, see Griineisen, Die alt yrievhisclie Bronze des Ttix'schcn Kabinetsin Tubingen^ Stuttg. and Tiibing. 1835. The prophetic power, which Amphiaraus was believed to possess, was accounted for by his de- scent from Melampus or Apollo, though there wa-j also a local tradition at Phlius, according to which he had acquired them in a night which he spent in the prophetic house {oIkos fxatniKos) of Phlius. (Paus. ii. 13. § 6; comp. i. 34. § 3.) He was, like all seers, a favourite of Zeus and Apollo. (Hom. Od. XV. 245.) Respecting the oracle of Amphiaraus see Did. of A ni. s.t Oruculum. It should be remarked here, that Virgil (^e«. vii. 671) mentions three Greek heroes as contemporaries of Aeneas, viz. Tiburtus, Catillus, and Coras, tlie first of whom was believed to be the founder of Tibur, and is described by Pliny {H. N. xvi. 87) as a son of Amphiaraus. [L. S.] AMPHICLEIA {'Ain<piKeia), the daughter of Ariston, and the wife of the son of lamblichus, re- ceived instruction in philosophy from Plotinus. (Porphvr. vit. Ptotin. c. 9.) AMPHI'CRATES {'AfLcpiKpaT-ns), king of Sa- mos in ancient times, in whose reign the Saraians invaded Aegina. (Herod, iii. 59.) AMPHI'CRATES {'AfKpiKpdT-ns), a Greek sophist and rhetorician of Athens. He was a contemporary of Tigranes (u. c. 70), and being exiled (we know not for what reason) from Athens, he went to Seleuceia on the Tigris. The inhabitants of this place requested him to teach rhetoric in their city, but he haughtily refused, saying, that the vessel was too small to contain a dolphin. He then went to Cleopatra, the daughter of Mithri- dates, who was married to Tigranes, and who seems to have become attached to him. Amphi- crates soon drew suspicions upon himself, and was forbidden to have any intercourse with the Greeks, whereupon he starved himself to death. (Plut. Luadl. 22.) Longinus {de Sublim. p. 54, ed. Toup) mentions him along with Hegesias and Matris, and censures him for his affectation of sublimity. Whether he is the same person as the Amphicrates who v/rote a work on celebrated men (Trepl evSo'^a-v