book 5, section 1-11.

See, also, ATHENS: B. C. 466-454, and GREECE: B. C. 424-421.

Amphipolis was taken by Philip of Macedon, B. C. 358.

See GREECE: B. C. 359-358.

AMPHISSA, Siege and Capture by Philip of Macedon (B. C. 339-338).

See GREECE: B. C. 357-336.

AMPHITHEATRES, Roman.

"There was hardly a town in the [Roman] empire which had not an amphitheatre large enough to contain vast multitudes of spectators. The savage excitement of gladiatorial combats seems to have been almost necessary to the Roman legionaries in their short intervals of inaction, and was the first recreation for which they provided in the places where they were stationed. ... Gladiatorial combats were held from early times in the Forum, and wild beasts hunted in the Circus; but until Curio built his celebrated double theatre of wood, which could be made into an amphitheatre by turning the two semi-circular portions face to face, we have no record of any special building in the peculiar form afterwards adopted. It may have been, therefore, that Curio's mechanical contrivance first suggested the elliptical shape. ... As specimens of architecture, the amphitheatres are more remarkable for the mechanical skill and admirable adaptation to their purpose displayed in them, than for any beauty of shape or decoration. The hugest of all, the Coliseum, was ill-proportioned and unpleasing in its lines when entire."

_R. Burn, Rome and the Campagna, introduction._

AMPHORA.--MODIUS.

"The [Roman] unit of capacity was the Amphora or Quadrantal, which contained a cubic foot ... equal to 5.687 imperial gallons, or 5 gallons, 2 quarts, 1 pint, 2 gills, nearly. The Amphora was the unit for both liquid and dry measures, but the latter was generally referred to the Modius, which contained one-third of an Amphora. ... The Culeus was equal to 20 Amphoræ."

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 13._

AMRITSAR.

See SIKHS.

AMSTERDAM: The rise of the city.

"In 1205 a low and profitless marsh upon the coast of Holland, not far from the confines of Utrecht, had been partially drained by a dam raised upon the hitherto squandered stream of the Amstel. Near this dam a few huts were tenanted by poor men who earned a scanty livelihood by fishing in the Zuyder Sea; but so uninviting seemed that barren and desolate spot, that a century later Amstel-dam was still an obscure seafaring town, or rather hamlet. Its subsequent progress was more rapid. The spirit of the land was stirring within it, and every portion of it thrilled with new energy and life. Some of the fugitive artizans from Flanders saw in the thriving village safety and peace, and added what wealth they had, and, what was better, their manufacturing intelligence and skill, to the humble hamlet's store. Amsteldam was early admitted to the fellowship of the Hanse League; and, in 1342, having outgrown its primary limits, required to be enlarged. For this an expensive process, that of driving piles into the swampy plain, was necessary; and to this circumstance, no doubt, it is owing that the date of each successive enlargement has been so accurately recorded."

_W. T. McCullagh, Industrial History of Three Nations,