A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AMASTRIS.
(i. 30; Plut. Solon, 26; Plat. Tiomaeus, p. 21.)
It would appear from Xenophon (Cyrop. viii. 6.
~ 20) that, after the overthrow of Croesus by
Cyrus, Amasis was compelled to pay tribute.
He strove to win the favour of the priest-caste by
building them temples. During the reign of
Amasis agriculture, commerce, and the arts
flourished greatly. The extension of Egyptian
commerce was much favoured by the conquest of
Cyprus, which he made tributary. His reign was
one of almost uninterrupted peace and prosperity,
which gave him leisure for adorning Egypt with
several magnificent buildings and works of art. (ii.
175, 176.) The plans of conquest which Cyrus
had been unable to carry into effect, were followed
out by Cambyses, who in B. c. 525 led an army
against Egypt. According to the story told by
Herodotus (iii. 1), Cambyses had been incensed
by a deception practised upon him by Amasis,
who, pretending to comply with a demand of the
Persian king, that he should send him his daughter
to adorn his harem, substituted the daughter of
Apries for his own. Amnasis however did not
live to see the fall of his country. He died before Cambyses reached the borders, after a reign of
44 years, and was buried at Sais in the tomb
which he had constructed in the temple of Athena.
(iii. 10, ii. 169.) His corpse was afterwards taken
out of the tomb and shamefully insulted by the
order of Cambyses. (iii. 16.) As a governor he
exhibited great abilities, and was the anthor of
several useful regulations (ii. 177), but he appears
to have indulged in more familiarity towards those
about him than was altogether consistent with his
kingly dignity. (Herod. ii. 161-182, iii. 1-16;
Diod. i. 68, 95.)
3. A Persian of the tribe of the Maraphii,
who was sent by Aryandes, the governor of
Egypt under Cambyses, at the head of an army,
to assist Pheretime, the mother of Arcesilaus
III., king of Cyrene. He took Barca by stratagem and treachery, and made an unsuccessful
attempt upon Cyrene. He was then recalled by
Aryandes. On its march back the Persian army
suffered severely from the Libyans. (Herod. iv.
167, 201, 203.) [C. P. M.]I
AMASTRIS or AMESTRIS ("A{aorpis or
"Au-qo-rpts). 1. The wife of Xerxes, and mother
of Artaxerxes I. According to Herodotus, she
was the daughter of Otanes, according to Ctesias,
who calls her Amistris, of Onophas. She was
cruel and vindictive. On one occasion she sacrificed fourteen youths of the noblest Persian families
to the god said to dwell beneath the earth. The
tale of her horrible mutilation of the wife of Masistes, recorded by Herodotus, gives us a lively
picture of the intrigues and cruelties of a Persian
harem. She survived Xerxes. (Herod. vii. 61,
114, ix. 108-113; Ctesias, Persic. c. 20. 30. ed.
Lion; Plut. Alcib. p. 123, c.)
2. A daughter of Artaxerxes II., whom her father promised in marriage to Teribazus. Instead
of fulfilling his promise, he married her himself.
(Plut. Artax. c. 27.)
3. Also called Amastrine ('Aucao-Tp(i), the
daughter of Oxyartes, the brother of Darius, was
given by Alexander in marriage to Craterus.
(Arrian. Alnab. vii. 4.) Craterus having fallen in
love with Phila, the daughter of Antipater, Amastris married Dionysius, tyrant of Heracleia, in Bithynia, a. c. 322. After the death of Dionysius,

AMAZONES. 137
in B. c. 306, who left her guardian of their children, Clearchus, Oxyathres, and Amastris, she
married Lysimachus, B. c. 302. Lysimachus,
however, abandoned her shortly afterwards, and
married Arsino6, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus; whereupon Amastris retired to Heracleia,
which she governed in her own right. She also
founded a city, called after her own name, on the
sea-coast of Paphlagonia. She was drowned by
her two sons about B. c. 288. (Memnon, c. 4, 5;
Diod. xx. 109.) -The head figured below probably
represents Amastris: the woman on the reverse
holds a small figure of victory in her hand. (Eckhel, ii. p. 421.)
AMA'TA, the wife of king Latinus and mother
of Lavinia, who, when Aeneas sued for the hand
of the latter, opposed him, because she had already
promised Lavinia to Turnus. At the same time
she was instigated by Alecto, who acted according
to the request of Juno, to stir up the war with
Turnus. This story fills the greater part of the
seventh book of Virgil's Aeneid. When Anmata
was informed that Turnus had fallen in battle, she
hung herself. (Virg. Aen. xii. 600; Dionys. i.
64.) [L. S.]
A'MATHES ('Aeudam7s), a son of Heracles, from
whom the town of Amathus in Cyprus was believed to have derived its name. According to
some traditions, however, its name was derived
from Amathusa, the mother of Cinyras. (Steph.
Byz. s. v. 'AiuaeOos.) [L. S.]
AMATHU'SIA or AMATHU'NTIA ('AuaBovrsia or 'AbsaOovvrTa), a surname of Aphrodite,
which is derived from the town of Amathus in
Cyprus, one of the most ancient seats of her worship. (Tac. Annal. iii. 62; Ov. Amor. iii. 15. 15;
Virg. Cir. 242; Catull. Ixviii. 51.) [L. S.]
AMA'TIUS, surnamed Pseudomarius, a person of low origin, who pretended to be either the
son or grandson of the great Marius. On the
death of Julius Caesar B. c. 44, he came forward
as a popular leader, and erected an altar to Caesar
on the spot where his body had been burnt. He
was, however, shortly afterwards seized by the
consul Antony and put to death without a trial.
This illegal act was approved of by the senate in
consequence of the advantages they derived from
it. Valerius Maximus (ix. 15. ~ 2) says, that his
name was Herophilus. (Appian, B. C. iii. 2, 3;
Liv. Epit. 116; Cic. ad Att. xii. 49, xiv. 6-8,
Philsipp. i. 2; Nicolaus Damascenus, Vit. Aug.
c. 14. p. 258, ed. Coraes.)
AMA'ZONES ('AjaJv6esr), a warlike race of
females, who act a prominent part in several of the
adventures of Greek mythology. All accounts of
them agree in the statement, that they came from
the country about the Caucasus, and that their
principal seats were on the river Thermodon, in
the neighbourhood of the modern Trebizond. From
thence they are said to have at different times invaded Thrace, Asia Minor, the islands of the Ae