Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/690

Rh 652 A M A A M A Perceval, Hist, dcs A rales, vol. i., p. IS) ; Knobel, Volke-rtafcl, p. 198 ; Movers, PkSnizier, 2ter Th., Bd. ii., p. 422). With these Arabian accounts it is natural to bring into connection the facts narrated by Manetho, and now in substance ascertained from old Egyptian records, regarding the conquest of the Nile valley by an Arabian race, called Hycsos by the former, and Mcnti, or shep herds, in the latter (see Bunsen, Egypt s Place, vol. iii., p. 266 ; Brugsch, Hist. dEgyptc, vol. i., p. 75 ; Chabas, Lcs Pasteur s en Egypte, p. 9) Now, from the time of the eighteenth dynasty, northern Arabia is found in Egyptian monuments to be in posses sion of a people called Shasu, a name which Egyptologers generally compare with the second syllable of Hyesos, and which also, per haps, corresponds with Zuzim of Gen. xiv. 5. These Shasu may with confidence be identified with the Amalekites of Scripture ; their locale and their habits are the same ; and of them we learn that they were spread over a vast territory, quite like the wander ing Arabs of our day. They are found near Djor, on the north east frontier of Egypt, as well as in the defiles of Lebanon, where their depredations made themselves felt fourteen centuries before our era&quot; (Chabas, Etudes sur I Antiquite Htitorique, p. 114; cf. his Voyage dun Egyptien, p. 111). &quot;They wear short tunics, a turban-like head-dress, and are armed with spears and axes. A characteristic feature is the long beard, as among the Canaanitish nations&quot; (Brugsch, Geog. Inschriften, Bd. ii. 53). The notices occurring in Arabian writers, which speak of Amalek ites as spread over various more southern portions of Arabia, may probably be referred to the period subsequent to their expulsion from their northern seats by the Israelites and other enemies. The Benu-Kerker, who dwell around Mecca, are by some referred to this stock ; the same is true of the Benu-Amila, who, before migrating northwards into Syria, dwelt in Yemen. We hear of Amalekites also in &quot;Cheibar, Jatrib, and other parts of Hedjaz&quot; (Abulfeda, op. tit., p. 179) ; in regard to which notice a certain degree of confirmation is afforded by the mention by Pliny of an Arabian town, the name of which reads Marippa Palmalacum, but which probably should be read Jatrippa Alamalacum, that is, Jatrib the Amalekite (see Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 32 ; Blau, Zcitschrift d. m. Ges., Bd. xxii. 668; cf. Noldeke, Ubcr d. Amalckitcr, 37). Accord ing to some (Tuch, Blau, and others), the famous Sinaitic inscrip tions, ascertained to be written in a Shemitic dialect, arc to be ascribed to the Amalekite race. Doubtless their authors dwelt in the country once inhabited by this people, but that .they belonged to them, and not to some succeeding race, has not yet been demonstrated. From the cuneiform records we have gained as yet no illustration of this subject, unless the people Maliklm, or Malaku, mentioned in the inscriptions of Sennacherib among certain Aramosan tribes in habiting the valley of the Euphrates, may be identified with Amalek (see Records of the Past, vol. i., pp. 26, 57). AMALFI, a town of Italy, in the Principato Citeriore, situated at the entrance of a deep ravine on the north side of the Gulf of Salerno. It was founded, according to the common account, under Constantine the Great, and was one of the first cities to recover from the irruption of the barbarians into Italy. During the 10th and llth centuries it was an independent republic of great commercial im portance, with a trade which extended to Egypt and the east, and a population of 50,000. Its code of maritime laws (Tabula Amalfitana) is said to have regulated com merce at one time throughout the whole of Italy, but the truth of this statement appears to be extremely question able. In 1 135 Amalfi was plundered by the Pisans, who are said to have then discovered and carried off the far-famed manuscript of the Pandects of Justinian, which is now in the Laurentian library at Florence. Soon after this the town passed under the dominion of Naples, and from that time rapidly declined. In 1343 a terrible storm buried a large part of the town under the sea, and at the present day it is a mere wreck of its former greatness. It has only about G500 inhabitants, whose chief employments are fishing and the manufacture of macaroni, silk, and paper. It is still the seat of an archbishop, and contains an ancient cathedral dedicated to St Andrew. Flavio Gioja, to whom the invention of the mariner s compass has been ascribed, and Masaniello were born at Amalfi. AMALGAM, the name given to an alloy of mercury and another metal. The amalgams are a very numerous class of compounds, and many of them are used largely in the arts. Many amalgams are produced by direct contact of the metals, with evolution of heat. Others are obtained by the action of mercury on a salt of the metal, or the action of the metal on a salt of mercury, assisted by the passage of a weak electric current in some cases. Some amalgams are solid, others liquid. They are, generally speaking, weak compounds, many of them being decom posed by pressure, and all are decomposed at a white heat. Tin amalgam is used for &quot; silvering &quot; mirrors, gold and silver amalgam in gilding and silvering, cadmium and copper amalgam in dentistry, and an amalgam of zinc and tin for the rubbers of electrical machines. See MERCURY and CHEMISTRY. AMALIA, ANNA, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, was born at Wolfenbiittel on the 24th October 1739, and married Duke Ernest of Saxe- Weimar in 1756. Her husband died in 1758, leaving her regent for their infant son, Karl August. During the protracted minority she administered the affairs of the duchy with the greatest prudence, strengthening its resources and improving its position in spite of the troubles of the Seven Years War. She was a warm patroness of art and literature, and attracted to Weimar many of the most eminent men in Germany. Wieland was appointed tutor to her son ; and the names of Herder, Goethe, Knebel, Bottiger, Musoeus, and Schiller shed an undying lustre on her court. In 1775 she retired into private life, her son having attained his majority. In 1788 she set out on a lengthened tour through Italy, being accompanied by Goethe. She died on the 10th April 1807. A memorial of the duchess is included in Goethe s works under the title Zum Andenken der Furstin Anna-Amalia. AMALBIC or AMAURI OF BENA, so called from his birthplace, a small village in the diocese of Chartres, was the founder of a school of pantheists known by his name. He lectured at Paris about the year 1200, and attracted a large circle of hearers. In 1204 his doctrines were con demned by the university; and on a personal appeal to Pope Innocent III. the sentence was ratified, Amalric being ordered to return to Paris and recant his errors. This he did in 1207. His death, two years later, was caused, it is said, by grief at the humiliation to which he had been subjected. In the same year (1209) ten of his followers were burnt before the gates of Paris, and Amalric s own body was exhumed and burnt, and the ashes given to the winds. The doctrines of the Amal- ricians were formally condemned by the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. AMALTEO, the name of a family belonging to Oderzo, Treviso, several members of which were distinguished in literature. The best known are three brothers, Geronimo (1507-74), Giambattista (1525-73), and Cornelio (1530- 1603), who.se Latin poems were published in one collection under the title Trium Fratrum Amaltheorum Carmina (Venice, 1627; Amst. 1689). The eldest brother, Geronimo, was a celebrated physician ; the second, Giambattista, accompanied a Venetian embassy to England in 1554, and was secretary to Pius IV. at the Council of Trent; the third, Cornelio, was a physician and secretary to the re public of Ragusa. AMALTEO, POMPONIO, a painter of the Venetian school, was born at San Vito in Friuli in 1505, and died in 1584. He was a pupil of Pordenone, whose style he closely imitated. His works consist chiefly of frescoes and altar-pieces, and many of them have suffered greatly from the ravages of time. AMARA SINHA, a Sanscrit grammarian and poet, of whose personal history hardly anything is known. He is said to have been &quot; one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya,&quot; and accordingly to have flourished about 56 B.C. This seems on the whole the most pro bable date, though the fifth century of the Christian era,