Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/130

 114 AMAKTIA. Pinarns, betweeo Issqb and MTmndrns, where was fbnght the battie called the battle of Issos. The narrative of Arrian maj be compared with the oom- mentaiy of Poljbins (xii. 17, 19). Strabo*s descriptioii of the Anuuiides (p. 676) is this: " after Mallns is A^gaeae, which has a small fort; then the Amanides Pjlae, having an anchorage for ^pe, at which (pylse) terminate the Amanns mountains, extending down from the Tanms — and after Aegaeae is Issus, a small fort having an an- chorage, and the river Finams." Strabo therefore places the Amanides Pylae between Aegae and Issns, and near the coast; and the Stadiasmos and Pto- lemy give the same poation to the Amanides. This pass is represented by a place now called KamKapu on the road between MaUos on the Pynunns ( JeAon) and Issns. fiat there was another pass ** which " (as Major Benndl observes, and Leake agrees with him) " crossing Monnt Amanns fitom the eastward, descended upon the centre of the head of the gnlf, near Issue, fiy this pass it was that Darius maiched from Sochus, and took up his posidon on the banks of the Pinarus ; by which movement Alexander, who had just before marched from Msllus to Myriandrus, through the two maritime pylae, was placed betwem the Persians and Syria." (Leake, JournoJ of a Tovr in Ana Minora p. 210.) This is the pass which has been assumed to be the Amanides of Airian and Curtius, about NNE. of Issus. It foUows from this that the Amanicae Pylae of Anian (^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 Uie coast, but it is not fisir from it. If Strabo called this the Amanides Pylae, as he seems to have done, he cer- tainly gave ^e 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> jacent to Gindarus is Pagrae in the territoiy 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 M%}or Rennell's supposition that Strabo by this pass means the Amanides. He evidently means another pass, that of BeUatif which leads from Iskenderun to Bakr<u or Pagratj which is the modem name of Pagrae; and Strabo is so for consistent that he describes this pass of Pagrae as leading from the pass which ho has called Amanicae. Leake shows that the Amanides Pylae of Strabo are between Aegaeae and Issns, but he has not sufficiently noticed the differonce between Strabo and Arrian, as Cramer observes (^Asia Minora vol. ii. p. 359). The map which illustrates Mr. Ainsworth's paper on the Ciiician and Syrian Gates {London Gtog. Journal^ vol. viii. p. 185), and which is copied on the op- posite page, enables us to form a moro correct judg- ment 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'NTLA. ('A/iarr/o: Eth. 'A^okticiJs, Steph. fi. t. 0.; ^kiuaniv6s, Ptol. ii. 16. § 3; Amantinus, Plin. iv. 10. s. 17. § 35; Amantianus, Caes. B. C. iiL 12 ; 'A/ioyrc;, Etym. M. s. v. ; Amantes, Plin. iii. 23. s. 26. § 45), a town and district in Greek II- lyria. It is said to have been founded by the Abantes of Euboca, who, according to tradition, settled near the Ceraunian mountains, and founded Amantia and AMAKU& Thranium. From hence the original name of Aman- tia is said to have been Abantia, and the anixoanding country to have been called Abantis. (Steph. B. 9.V. ^ASayrlSj 'A/iorrla; Etym. M. s.v. "Afutrrts; Pans. V. 22. § 3.) Amantia probably stood at some distance from the coast, S. of the river Aons, and on a tributary of the latter, named Polyanthes. (Ly^ cophr. 1043.) It is placed by Leake at NMtta, 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 plaoea Amantia at 320 stadia, and the latter at 30 Bomaa miles from ApdUonia. Ptolemy speaks of an Aman- tia on the coast, and another town of the same name inlan4i whence we may perhaps infer that the Utter had a port of the same name, more especially as the language of Caesar (A C. iiL 40) would imply that Amantia was situated on the coast Am^wri* was a place of some importance in the dril wars between Caesar and Pompey; and it continued to be men- tioned in the time oi the Byzantine anperora. (Ci B, a iiL 12, 40; CicPhiL zL 11; Leake, Cfftecef vol. L p. 375, seq.) AMAmJS (d 'Atuaf6tj rh 'Afuiy6y), is described by Strabo as a detached put (&ird<nraur/ta) of Taurus, and as fonning the southern boundary of the plain of Cataonia. He supposes this range to branch off fn»n the Taurus in CUida, at the same place where the Antitanrus bnmches off and takes a more north- erly direction, fonning the northern boundary of Cataonia. (Strab. p. 535.) He considers the Ama- nus to extend eastward to the Eujdirates and Meli- tene, where Commagene borders on Cappadocia. Hero the range is interrupted by the Euphrates, but it reconunences 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- hcia and the Syrian sea to the west from Cataonia and to the south ; and by such a division (Jitaarrdir^t) it includes the whole gulf of Issus and the inter^ mediate Ciiician valleys towards the Taurus." This seems to be the meaning of the description of the Amanus in Strebo. Groskurd, in his German ver- sion (vol. ii. p. 448) translates StcurrdLrci simply bj "extent" (ottsdeAiNMi^); but by attending to Stiabo's words and the order q£ 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 dsewhere, when he makes ih9 Amanus descend to the gulf of Issns between Aegae and Issus. [Axanxdbs Pyiab.] The term Amanus in Strabo tnen appears to be applied to the high ground which descends frx>m the mass of Taurus to the gulf of Issus, and bounds the cast side of it, and also to the highland which ex- tends in the direction already indicated to the Euphrates, which it strikes north of Samosata (So- mmadt'). The Jdwur Dagh appears to be the mo- dem 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 ele- vation of 5000 feet, and it terminates abruptly in Jebel Kheserik and Jtdt-el-Khdnzir, This cape seems to be Bhosus, or the Rhosicus Scopulus of Ptolemy. There was near it a town Rhosus, which Stephanus(s. v. 'Pcmtos) places in Cilicia. Rhosus is now Arsua. There is another short range which is connected with Amanus, and advances right to the borders of the sea, between R&M-t^Khdwur and the