Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AMPYX. AMUSSIS. 91
The name amphora was also applied both by
the Greeks and the Romans to a definite measure
of capacity, which, however, was different among
the two peoples, the Roman amphora being only
two-thirds of the Greek &4popsis. In both cases
the word appears to be an abbreviation, the full
phrase being in Greek /rpopseis jIerprr177S (thle
standard amphora), and ill Latin amphora qua- Idrantal (the cubic anzphora). Respecting the mea- / X
sures themselves, see METRETES, QUADRANTAL. efA
At Rome a standard amphora, called amphora 9
Capitolina, was kept in the temple of Jupiter on
the Capitol (Rhemn. Fann. de Pond. 61; Capitol. /
ollaxim. 4). The size of ships was estimated by / /
amphorae (Cic. ad Fano. xii. 15; Liv. xxi. 63); /1
and the produce of a vineyard was reckoned by
the number of anmphorae, or of culei (of twenty poses the men to have worn frontals in Lyamphorae each), which it yielded. [P. S.] dia. They appear to have been worn by the
AMPLIATTIO. [JUDICIUMa.] Jews and other nations of the East. (Deut. vi. 8,
AMPULLA (7KUcvOos, )oagc6Xtos), a bottle, xi. 18.) [J. Y.]
usually made either of glass or earthenware, rarely AMULE'TUM ( repia7r'rov, wreptapgta, pvuAaof more valuable materials. Bottles both of glass ICTriplo), an amulet. This word in Arabic (Hamaand earthenware are preserved in great quantities let) means that which is suspended. It was probably
in our collections of antiquities, and their forms brought by Arabian merchants, together with the
are very various, though always narrow-mouthed, articles to which it was applied, when they were
and generally more or less approaching to globular. imported into Europe from the East. It first occurs
From their round and swollen shape, Horace ap- in the Natural History of Pliny.
plies the word, as the Greeks did *tcvOos, to An amulet was any object - a stone, a plant,
indicate grand and turgid, but empty, language. an artificial production, or a piece of writing -
(HIor. Ep. i. 3. 14, de A?. Po't. 97.) Bottles were which was suspended from the neck, or tied to
used for holding all kinds of liquids, and are men- any part of the body, for the purpose of counteracttioned especially in connection with the bath. ing poison, curing or preventing disease, warding
Every Roman took with him to the bath a bottle off the evil eye, aiding women in childbirth, or
of oil (amnpulla olearia), for anointing the body obviating calamities and securing advantages of
after bathing, and as such bottles frequently con- any kind.
tained perfumed oils we read of amnpullae cosminanae. Faith in the virtues of amulets was almost uni(Mart. iii. 82. 26.) A bottle of this kind is figured versal in the ancient world, so that the whole art
under BALNEUM. of medicine consisted in a very considerable degree
The dealer in bottles was called ampullarius, of directions for their application; and in proporand part of his business was to cover them with tion to the quantity of amulets preserved in our
leather (coriuno). A bottle so covered was called collections of antiquities, is the frequent mention of
ampulla rubidla. - (Plaut. Rud. iii. 4. 51, Stich. ii. 1. them in ancient treatises on natural history, on the
77, compared with Festus, s. v. Rubida.) practice of medicine, and on the virtues of plants
AMPYX, AMPYCTER (actruv, &/arvw'sp), and stones. Some of the amulets in our museums
called by the Romans frontale, was a broad band are merely rough unpolished firagments of such
or plate of metal, which Greek ladies of rank wore stones as amber, agate, cornelian, and jasper;
upon the forehead as part of the head-dress. (II. others are wrought into the shape of beetles, quadxxii. 468-470; Aeschyl. Supp. 431; Theocr. i. rupeds, eyes, fingers, and other members of the
33.) Hence it is attributed to the female divinities. body. There can be no doubt that the selection
Artemis wears a frontal of gold (XpurxEa~' t/hxrzrca, of stones either to be set in rings, or strung toEurip. Hec. 464); and the epithet Xpvco-rdvruces is gether in necklaces, was often made with reference
applied by Homer, Hesiod, and Pindar to the to their reputed virtues as amulets. (Plin. H. r.
Muses, the I-Iours, and the Fates. From the ex- xxv. 9. s. 67, xxix. 4. s. 19, xxx. 10. s. 24., xxxvii.
pression TYV KCUvas'runmca O~jga, in a fragment of 8. s. 37.) [FAsCINus.] [J. Y.]
Pindar, we may infer that this ornament was AMUSSIS or AMUSSIUM, a carpenter's
sometimes made of blue steel (mi5avos) instead of and mason's instrument, the use of which was to
gold; and the Scholiast on the above cited passage obtain a true plane surface; but its construction
of Euripides asserts, that it was sometimes en- is difficult to make out from the statements of the
riched with precious stones. ancient writers. It appears clearly from Vitruvius
T/efirontal of a horse was called by the same (i. 6. ~ 6) that it was different from the reguta
name, and was occasionally made of similar (straight rule), and fiom the libella (plumbline or
rich materials. Hence, in the Iliad, the horses square), and that it was used for obtaining a truer
which draw the chariots of Hera and of Ares are surface, whether horizontal or perpendicular, than
called Xpvoa/7rurvces. those two instruments together would give. It is
The annexed woodcut exhibits the frontal on the defined by the grammarians as a regula or tabzla,
head of Pegasus, taken from one of Sir William made perfectly plane and smooth, and used for
lHamilton's vases, in contrast with the correspond- making work level and for smoothing stones (Regula
ing ornament as shown on the heads of two females ad quams aliquid exaeqsuatmz, Festus, s. v.; anmussis est
in the same collection. aequamsentuos levigatum, et est apud fabros tabdcla
Frontals were also worn by elephants. (Liv. quaedamn, quca utuZsntur ad saxa levsiyanda, Varr. ap.
xxxvii. 40.) Hesychius (s. v. AvilT Nou",) sup- Non. i. 28); and another grammarian very clearly