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

AMYNTAS.
fessed to have entrusted to them as a deposit, and
as they refused to restore it, he applied to Sparta
for aid. (Diod. xv. 19.) A similar application
was also made, B. c. 382, by the towns of Acanthus
and Apollonia, which had been threatened by
Olynthus for declining to join her confederacy.
(Xen. Hell. v. 2. ~ 11, &c.) With the consent of
the allies of Sparta, the required succour was
given, under the command successively of Eudamidas (with whom his brother Phoebidas was
associated), Teleutias, Agesipolis, and Polybiades,
by the last of whom Olynthus was reduced, B. c.
379. (Diod. xv. 19-23; Xen. Hell. v. 2, 3.)
Throughout the war, the Spartans were vigorously
seconded by Amyntas, and by Derdas, his kinsman, prince of Elymia. Besides this alliance with
Sparta, which he appears to have preserved without interruption to his death, Amyntas united
himself also with Jason of Pherae (Diod. xv. 60),
and carefully cultivated the friendship of Athens,
with which state he would have a bond of union
in their common jealousy of Olynthus and probably also of Thebes. Of his friendship towards
the Athenians he gave proof, 1st, by advocating
their claim to the possession of Amphipolis (Aesch.
Iscpl nlaparp. p. 32); and, 2ndly, by adopting
Iphicrates as his son. (Id. p. 32.)
It appears to have been in the reign of Amyntas,
as is perhaps implied by Strabo (Exc. vii. p. 330),
that the seat of the Macedonian government was
removed from Aegae or Edessa to Pella, though
the former still continued to be the burying-place
of the kings.
Justin (vii. 4) relates, that a plot was laid for.his assassination by his wife Eurydice, who wished
to place her son-in-law and paramour, Ptolemy of
Alorus, on the throne, but that the design was
discovered to Amyntas by her daughter. Diodorus
(xv. 71) calls Ptolemy of Alorus the son of Amyntas; but see Wesseling's note ad loc., and Thirlwall, Gr. Hist. vol. v. p. 162. Amyntas died in
an advanced age, a. c. 370, leaving three legitimate
sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and the famous Philip.
(Just. 1. c.; Diod. xv. 60.)
A NA
COIN OF AMYNTAS II.
3. Grandson of Amyntas II., was left an infant
n nominal possession of the throne of Macedonia,
vhen his father Perdiccas III. fell in battle against
he Illyrians, B. c. 360. (Diod. xvi. 2.) He was
luietly excluded from the kingly power by his
mncle Philip, B. c. 359, who had at first acted
nerely as regent (Just. vii. 5), and who felt him-.elf so safe in his usurpation, that he brought up
kmyntas at his court, and gave him one of his
laughters in marriage In the first year of the
eign of Alexander the Great, B. c. 336, Amyntas
vas executed for a plot against the king's life.
Thirlw. Gr. Hist. vol. v. pp. 165, 166, 177, vol.
i. p. 99, and the authorities to which he refers;
ust. xii. 6, and Freinsheim, ad Curt.. vi. 9, 17.)

AMYNTAS. 155
4. A Macedonian officer in Alexander's army,
son of Andromenes. (Diod. xvii. 45; Curt. v. 1.
~ 40; Arrian, iii. p. 72, f., ed. Steph.) After the
battle of the Granicus, B. c. 334, when the garrison
of Sardis was quietly surrendered to Alexander,
Amyntas was the officer sent forward to receive it
from the commander, Mithrenes. (Arr. i. p. 17, c.;
Freinsh. Sup. in Curt. ii. 6. ~ 12.) Two years after,
332, we again hear of him as being sent into Macedonia to collect levies, while Alexander after the.
siege of Gaza advanced to Egypt; and he returned
with them in the ensuing year, when the king was
in possession of Susa. (Arr. iii. p. 64, c.; Curt. iv.
6. ~ 30, v. 1. ~ 40, vii. 1. ~ 38.)
After the execution of Philotas on a charge of
treason, B. c. 330, Amyntas and two other sons of
Andromenes (Attanlus and Simmias) were arrested
on suspicion of having been engaged in the plot.
The suspicion was strengthened by their known
intimacy with Philotas, and by the fact that their
brother Polemo had fled from the camp when the
latter was apprehended (Arr. iii. pp. 72, f., 73, a.),
or according to Curtius (vii. 1. ~ 10), when he was
given up to the torture. Amyntas defended himself
and his brothers ably (Curt. vii. 1. ~ 18, &c.), and
their innocence being further established by Polemo's
re-appearance (Curt. vii. 2. ~ 1, &c.; Arr. iii. p. 73,
a.), they were acquitted. Some little time after,
Amyntas was killed by an arrow at the siege of
a village. (Arr. iii. 1. c.) It is doubtful whether
the son of Andromenes is the Amyntas mentioned
by Curtius (iii. 9. ~ 7) as commander of a portion
of the Macedonian troops at the battle of Issus,
B. c. 333; or again, the person spoken of as leading a brigade at the forcing of the "Persian Gates,"
B. c. 331. (Curt. v. 4. ~ 20.) But "Amyntas"
appears to have been a common name among the
Macedonians. (See Curt. iv. 13. ~ 28, v. 2. ~ 5,
viii. 2. ~ 14, 16, vi. 7. ~ 15, vi. 9. ~ 28.)
5. The Macedonian fugitive and traitor, son
of Antiochus. Arrian (p. 17, f.) ascribes his
flight from Macedonia to his hatred and fear of
Alexander the Great; the ground of these feelings is not stated, but Mitford (ch. 44. sect. 1)
connects him with the plot of Pausanias and the
murder of Philip. He took refuge in Ephesus
under Persian protection; whence, however, after
the battle of the Granicus, fearing the approach of
Alexander, he escaped with the Greek mercenaries
who garrisoned the place, and fled to the court of
Dareius. (Arr. 1. c.) In the winter of the same
year, B. c. 333, while Alexander was at Phaselis
in Lycia, discovery was made of a plot against his
life, in which Amyntas was implicated. He appears to have acted as the channel through whom
Dareius had been negotiating with Alexander the
Lyncestian, and had promised to aid him in mounting the throne of Macedonia on condition of his
assassinating his master. The design was discovered through the confession of Asisines, a Persian,
whom Dareius had despatched on a secret mission
to the Lyncestian, and who was apprehended by
Parmenio in Phrygia. (Arr. i. pp. 24, e., 25, b.)
At the battle of Issus we hear again of Amyntas
as a commander of Greek mercenaries in the Persian service (Curt. iii. 11. ~ 18; comp. Arr. ii. p.
40, b.); and Plutarch and Arrian mention his advice vainly given to Darius shortly before, to await
Alexander's approach in the large open plains to
the westward of Cilicia. (Plut. Alex. p. 675, b.,
Arr. ii. pp. 33, e., 34, a.)