Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/144

 128 AMYCLAE. /r< < i tinoed to Tnainfaun its independence as an Achaean town long after the conquest of Peloponnesus hj the Dorians. According to the common tradition, which represented the conquest of Peloponnesus as effected in one generation by the descendants of Hercules, Amjclae was given by the Dorians to Philonomus, as a reward for his having betrayed to them his native dty Sparta. Philonomna is farther said to have peopled the town with colonists from Imbfxn and Lemnos; but there can be no doubt that the ancient Achaean population maintained themselves in the place independent of Sparta for many genera- tions. It was only shortly bdbre the first Messenian war that the town was conquered by the Spartan kiug Teledns. (Strab. p. 364; Conon, 36; Pans, iii. 2. § 6.)'^ The tale ran, that the inhabitants of Amyclae hiad been so often alarmed by false reports of the approach of the enemy, that they passed a law that no one should mention the subject; and accordingly, when the Spartans at last came, and no . one dared to announce their approach, *' Amyclae ' perished through silence:" hence arose the proverb Amyclis iptii taciturmor. (Serv. ad Virg. Aen. > X. 564.) After its capture by the Lacedaemonians Amyclae became a village, and was only memorable by the festival of the Hyadnthia celebrated at the place annually, and by the temple and colossal statue of Apollo, who was hence called Amyclaem, The throne on which this statue was placed was a cele- brated work of art, and was constructed by Bathycles of Magnesia. It was crowned by a great number of bas-reliefs, of which an account is given by Pau- sanias (iii. 18. § 9, seq.; Diet, of Biogr, art. Bor- thtfcles). The site of Amyclae is usually placed at SkUi- vohhoriy where the name of Amyclae has been found on inscriptions in the walls. But this place is situ- ated nearly 6 miles firom Sparta, or more than double the distance mentioned by Polybius. Moreover, there is every probability that Skiavohkori is a Sclavouisn town not more ancient than the 14th century ; and becoming a place of importance, some of its buildings were erected with the ruins of Amy- clae. Accordingly Leake supposes Amyclae to have been situated between Sklavokhdri and Sparta, on the lull of Aghia Kyriakiy half a mile firom the £urotas. At this place Leake discovered, on an im- perfect inscription, the letters AMT following a proper name, and leaving little doubt that the in- complete word was AMTKAAIOT. (Leake, Jforea, vol. i. p. 135, seq., Pdoponnenaca^ p. 162.) a y t. • AMYCLAE, a city on the coast "f C%nP*"^ ^^^ tween Tarracina and Caieta, which had ceased to exist in the time of Pliny, but had left the name of Sinus Amydanus to the part of the coast on which it was situated. (Plin. H, N. xiv. 8 ; Tac. Ann. iv. 59.) Its foundation was ascribed to a band of La- conians who had emigrated from the city of the same name near Sparta; and a strange story is told by Pliny and Servius of the inhabitants having been compelled to abandon it by the swarms of serpents with which they were infested. (Plin. H. N. iiL 5. 8. 9, viii. 29. s. 43 ; Serv. ad Aen. x. 564.) Other writers refer to this dty the legend commonly related of the destruction of the Laconian Amydae, in conse- quence of the silence of its inhabitants; and the ep- thct applied to it by Virgil of tacUao Amydae ap- pears to favour this view. (Virg. Aen. x. 564; Sil. Itnl. viii. 530.) The exact site is unknown, but it must have beeil close to the marshes below Fundi; whence Martial terms it " Amyclae Fundaoae" (xiii ANACTORItJM. 115). In the immediate neighbourhood, bat on a rocky promontofy projecting into the sea, was a irilk of Tiberius, called Speluhcab, from the natonl eavems in the rock, in one of which the empenr nearly lost his life by the falling in of the roof, while he was supping there with a party of fineods. (Tac ^fm.iv. 59; Suet Tib. 39; Plin. iiL 5. s. 9.) The andent name of the locality is retained, with litUe variation, by the modem village of SperUmga^ about 8 miles W. of Gaeto, where the grottoes in the rock are still visible, with some remains of thdr aodcDt architectural decorations. (Craven's Abmed^ tqL i. p. 73.) ;|t [E ttB.] A'MYDON f AmuMi'), a town in Macedonia on the Axius, from which Pyraechmes led the Paeonuun to the assistance of Troy. The place is called Aby- don by Suidas and Stejiianua B. (Horn. /^ iL 849; comp. Strab. p. 330; Jut. iii 69.) AMYMCNE. [Lerna.] A'MTRUS ("A/ttipos: eA. 'Aftvpc^), a town in Thessaly, situated on a river of the same name fiilling into the lake Boebsis. It is mentioned b; Hesiol as the '* vine-bearing Amyrus." The sor- rounding country is called the Amyric phun (t^ ^Aftvpuciif TtZiw) by Polybius. Leake supposes the ruins at Kattii to represent Amyms. (Hes. ap Strab. p. 442, and Steph. B. a. v.; SchoL ad ApoH Rhod. i. 596; VaL Fkcc. iL 11 ; PoL v. 99; Leake, Northern Greece^ vol. iv. p. 447.) AMYSTIS CAfiv<rTis)y an Indian river, a tribn- tary of the Ganges, flowing past a city caDed Gata- dupoe (Arrian. IwL 4), wUch Mscnnert sappoees, from its name, to have stood at the fells of the Upper Ganges, on the site of the modem JTimftrar, which would make the Amystis the Potterea (Man- nert, vol. v. pt 1. p. 70), [P. S.] AMY'ZON (AfivC<6p), m inconsiderable town of Caria. (Strab. p. 658.) The ruins of the citadel and walls exist on the east side of Mount Latmns, on the road from Bafi to Tchisme. The place is identified by an inscription. (LeaKe, Ada Minora p. 238.) [G. L] ANABURA, a dty of Phiygia (Liv. xxxviii 15) which lay on the route of the oansul Cn. Manlins from Synnada to the sources of the Alander [Alas- deb] ; probably Kirk Sinn (Hamilton). [G. L] ANACAEA. [Attica.] . ANACT0'RIUM('Avojct3p«m' : EtK. •Awurr^ioj), a town in Acamania, situated on the Ambradot golf, and on the promontory, which now bears the name of C. Madonna, On.entering the Ambradot golf frxnn the Ionian sea it was the first town in Acar- nania after Actium, from which it was. distant 40 stadia, and which was in the territory of Anac- torium. This town was for some time one of the most important places in this part of Greece. It was colonized jointly by the Corinthians and C(n«yraeans; but in the war between these peoples, in b. c. 432, the Corinthians obtained sole possession of the place by fraud. It remained in the hands of the Corin- thians till B. c. 425, when it was taken by the Acamanians with the assistance of the Athenians, and the Corinthian settlers were expeUed. Augustus removed its inhabitants to the town of Nioopolis, which he founded on the opposite coast of Epims, and Strabo describes it as an emporium of the latter city. The site of Amctorium has been disputed, and depends upon the position assigned to Actiam. It has however been ^own that Actium must be placed at the entrance of the Ambraciot gulf on Xa /'onto, and Anactorium on C, Madonna. [Acnuii.]