Part 15

"Amalfi and Atrani lie close together in two … ravines, the mountains almost arching over them, and the sea washing their very house-walls. … It is not easy to imagine the time when Amalfi and Atrani were one town, with docks and arsenals and harbourage for their associated fleets, and when these little communities were second in importance to no naval power of Christian Europe. The Byzantine Empire lost its hold on Italy during the eighth century; and after this time the history of Calabria is mainly concerned with the republics of Naples and Amalfi, their conflict with the Lombard dukes of Benevento, their opposition to the Saracens, and their final subjugation by the Norman conquerors of Sicily. Between the year 839 A. D., when Amalfi freed itself from the control of Naples and the yoke of Benevento, and the year 1131, when Roger of Hauteville incorporated the republic in his kingdom of the Two Sicilies, this city was the foremost naval and commercial port of Italy. The burghers of Amalfi elected their own doge; founded the Hospital of Jerusalem, whence sprang the knightly order of S. John; gave their name to the richest quarter in Palermo; and owned trading establishments or factories in all the chief cities of the Levant. Their gold coinage of 'tari' formed the standard of currency before the Florentines had stamped the lily and S. John upon the Tuscan florin. Their shipping regulations supplied Europe with a code of maritime laws. Their scholars, in the darkest depths of the dark ages, prized and conned a famous copy of the Pandects of Justinian, and their seamen deserved the fame of having first used, if they did not actually invent, the compass. … The republic had grown and flourished on the decay of the Greek Empire. When the hard-handed race of Hauteville absorbed the heritage of Greeks and Lombards and Saracens in Southern Italy [see ITALY (Southern): A. D. 1000-1090], these adventurers succeeded in annexing Amalfi. But it was not their interest to extinguish the state. On the contrary, they relied for assistance upon the navies and the armies of the little commonwealth. New powers had meanwhile arisen in the North of Italy, who were jealous of rivalry upon the open seas; and when the Neapolitans resisted King Roger in 1135, they called Pisa to their aid, and sent her fleet to destroy Amalfi. The ships of Amalfi were on guard with Roger's navy in the Bay of Naples. The armed citizens were, under Roger's orders, at Aversa. Meanwhile the home of the republic lay defenceless on its mountain-girdled seaboard. The Pisans sailed into the harbour, sacked the city and carried off the famous Pandects of Justinian as a trophy. Two years later they returned, to complete the work of devastation. Amalfi never recovered from the injuries and the humiliation of these two attacks. It was ever thus that the Italians, like the children of the dragon's teeth which Cadmus sowed, consumed each other."

_J. A. Symonds, Sketches and Studies in Italy, pages 2-4._

AMALINGS, OR AMALS.

The royal race of the ancient Ostragoths, as the Balthi or Balthings were of the Visigoths, both claiming a descent from the gods.

AMAZIGH, The.

See LIBYANS.

AMAZONS.

"The Amazons, daughters of Arês and Harmonia, are both early creations, and frequent reproductions, of the ancient epic. … A nation of courageous, hardy and indefatigable women, dwelling apart from men, permitting only a short temporary intercourse for the purpose of renovating their numbers, and burning out their right breast with a view of enabling themselves to draw the bow freely,—this was at once a general type stimulating to the fancy of the poet, and a theme eminently popular with his hearers. Nor was it at all repugnant to the faith of the latter—who had no recorded facts to guide them, and no other standard of credibility as to the past except such poetical narratives themselves—to conceive communities of Amazons as having actually existed in anterior time. Accordingly we find these warlike females constantly reappearing in the ancient poems, and universally accepted as past realities. In the Iliad, when Priam wishes to illustrate emphatically the most numerous host in which he ever found himself included, he tells us that it was assembled in Phrygia, on the banks of the Sangarius, for the purpose of resisting the formidable Amazons. When Bellerophon is to be employed on a deadly and perilous undertaking, by those who indirectly wish to procure his death, he is despatched against the Amazons. … The Argonautic heroes find the Amazons on the river Thermôdon in their expedition along the southern coast of the Euxine. To the same spot Hêrakles goes to attack them, in the performance of the ninth labour imposed upon him by Eurystheus, for the purpose of procuring the girdle of the Amazonian queen, Hippolyte; and we are told that they had not yet recovered from the losses sustained in this severe aggression when Theseus also assaulted and defeated them, carrying off their queen Antiopê. This injury they avenged by invading Attica … and penetrated even into Athens itself: where the final battle, hard-fought and at one time doubtful, by which Thêseus crushed them, was fought—in the very heart of the city. Attic antiquaries confidently pointed out the exact position of the two contending armies. … No portion of the ante-historical epic appears to have been more deeply worked into the national mind of Greece than this invasion and defeat of the Amazons. … Their proper territory was asserted to be the town and plain of Themiskyra, near the Grecian colony of Amisus, on the river Thermôdon [northern Asia Minor], a region called after their name by Roman historians and geographers. … Some authors placed them in Libya or Ethiopia."

_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 1, chapter 11._

AMAZONS RIVER, Discovery and Naming of the.

The mouth of the great river of South America was discovered in 1500 by Pinzon, or Pinçon (see AMERICA: A. D. 1499-1500), who called it 'Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce' (Saint Mary of the Fresh-Water Sea). "This was the first name given to the river, except that older and better one of the Indians, 'Parana,' the Sea; afterwards it was Marañon and Rio das Amazonas, from the female warriors that were supposed to live near its banks. … After Pinçon's time, there were others who saw the fresh-water sea, but no one was hardy enough to venture into it. The honor of its real discovery was reserved for Francisco de Orellana; and he explored it, not from the east, but from the west, in one of the most daring voyages that was ever recorded. It was accident rather than design that led him to it. After … Pizarro had conquered Peru, he sent his brother Gonzalo, with 340 Spanish soldiers, and 4,000 Indians, to explore the great forest east of Quito, 'where there were cinnamon trees.' The expedition started late in 1539, and it was two years before the starved and ragged survivors returned to Quito. In the course of their wanderings they had struck the river Coco; building here a brigantine, they followed down the current, a part of them in the vessel, a part on shore. {45} After a while they met some Indians, who told them of a rich country ten days' journey beyond—a country of gold, and with plenty of provisions. Gonzalo placed Orellana in command of the brigantine, and ordered him, with 50 soldiers, to go on to this gold-land, and return with a load of provisions. Orellana arrived at the mouth of the Coco in three days, but found no provisions; 'and he considered that if he should return with this news to Pizarro, he would not reach him in a year, on account of the strong current, and that if he remained where he was, he would be of no use to the one or to the other. Not knowing how long Gonzalo Pizarro would take to reach the place, without consulting anyone he set sail and prosecuted his voyage onward, intending to ignore Gonzalo, to reach Spain, and obtain that government for himself.' Down the Napo and the Amazons, for seven months, these Spaniards floated to the Atlantic. At times they suffered terribly from hunger: 'There was nothing to eat but the skins which formed their girdles, and the leather of their shoes, boiled with a few herbs.' When they did get food they were often obliged to fight hard for it; and again they were attacked by thousands of naked Indians, who came in canoes against the Spanish vessel. At some Indian villages, however, they were kindly received and well fed, so they could rest while building a new and stronger vessel. … On the 26th of August, 1541, Orellana and his men sailed out to the blue water 'without either pilot, compass, or anything useful for navigation; nor did they know what direction they should take.' Following the coast, they passed inside of the island of Trinidad, and so at length reached Cubagua in September. From the king of Spain Orellana received a grant of the land he had discovered; but he died while returning to it, and his company was dispersed. It was not a very reliable account of the river that was given by Orellana and his chronicler, Padre Carbajal. So Herrera tells their story of the warrior females, and very properly adds: 'Every reader may believe as much as he likes.'"

_H. H. Smith, Brazil, the Amazons, and the Coast, chapter 1._

In chapter 18 of this same work "The Amazon Myth" is discussed at length, with the reports and opinions of numerous travellers, both early and recent, concerning it.—Mr. Southey had so much respect for the memory of Orellana that he made an effort to restore that bold but unprincipled discoverer's name to the great river. "He discarded Maranon, as having too much resemblance to Maranham, and Amazon, as being founded upon fiction and at the same time inconvenient. Accordingly, in his map, and in all his references to the great river he denominates it Orellana. This decision of the poet-laureate of Great Britain has not proved authoritative in Brazil. O Amazonas is the universal appellation of the great river among those who float upon its waters and who live upon its banks. … Pará, the aboriginal name of this river, was more appropriate than any other. It signifies 'the father of waters.' … The origin of the name and mystery concerning the female warriors, I think, has been solved within the last few years by the intrepid Mr. Wallace. … Mr. Wallace, I think, shows conclusively that Friar Gaspar [Carbajal] and his companions saw Indian male warriors who were attired in habiliments such as Europeans would attribute to women. … I am strongly of the opinion that the story of the Amazons has arisen from these feminine-looking warriors encountered by the early voyagers."

_J. C. Fletcher and D. P. Kidder, Brazil and the Brazilians, chapter 27._

ALSO IN _A. R. Wallace, Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, chapter 17._

_R. Southey, History of Brazil, chapter 4 (volume 1)._

AMAZULUS, ZULUS. The Zulu War.

See SOUTH AFRICA: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS; and the same: A. D. 1877-1879.

AMBACTI.

"The Celtic aristocracy [of Gaul] … developed the system of retainers, that is, the privilege of the nobility to surround themselves with a number of hired mounted servants—the ambacti as they were called—and thereby to form a state within a state; and, resting on the support of these troops of their own, they defied the legal authorities and the common levy and practically broke up the commonwealth. … This remarkable word [ambacti] must have been in use as early as the sixth century of Rome among the Celts in the valley of the Po. … It is not merely Celtic, however, but also German, the root of our 'Amt,' as indeed the retainer-system itself is common to the Celts and the Germans. It would be of great historical importance to ascertain whether the word—and therefore the thing—came to the Celts from the Germans or to the Germans from the Celts. If, as is usually supposed, the word is originally German and primarily signified the servant standing in battle 'against the back' ('and '=against, 'bak'=back) of his master, this is not wholly irreconcilable with the singularly early occurrence of the word among the Celts. … It is … probable that the Celts, in Italy as in Gaul, employed Germans chiefly as those hired servants-at-arms. The 'Swiss guard' would therefore in that case be some thousands of years older than people suppose."

_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 5, chapter 7, and foot-note._

AMBARRI, The.

A small tribe in Gaul which occupied anciently a district between the Saone, the Rhone and the Ain.

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2, note._

AMBIANI, The.

See BELGÆ.

AMBITUS.

Bribery at elections was termed ambitus among the Romans, and many unavailing laws were enacted to check it.

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 9._

AMBIVARETI, The.

A tribe in ancient Gaul which occupied the left bank of the Meuse, to the south of the marsh of Peel.

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2, note._

AMBLEVE, Battle of (716.)

See FRANKS (MEROVINGIAN EMPIRE): A. D. 511-752.

AMBOISE, Conspiracy or Tumult of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1559-1561.

AMBOISE, Edict of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563.

AMBOYNA, Massacre of.

See INDIA: A. D. 1600-1702.

AMBRACIA (Ambrakia).

See KORKYRA.

AMBRONES, The.

See CIMBRI AND TEUTONES: B. C. 113-102.

AMBROSIAN CHURCH. AMBROSIAN CHANT.

See MILAN: A. D. 374-397.

AMEIXAL, OR ESTREMOS, Battle of (1663).

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1637-1668.

[Image: ETHNOLOGICAL MAP OF MODERN EUROPE (right)]

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AMERICA, The Name.

See below: A. D. 1500-1514.

AMERICA, Prehistoric.

"Widely scattered throughout the United States, from sea to sea, artificial mounds are discovered, which may be enumerated by the thousands or hundreds of thousands. They vary greatly in size; some are so small that a half-dozen laborers with shovels might construct one of them in a day, while others cover acres and are scores of feet in height. These mounds were observed by the earliest explorers and pioneers of the country. They did not attract great attention, however, until the science of archæology demanded their investigation. Then they were assumed to furnish evidence of a race of people older than the Indian tribes. Pseud-archæologists descanted on the Mound-builders that once inhabited the land, and they told of swarming populations who had reached a high condition of culture, erecting temples, practicing arts in the metals, and using hieroglyphs. So the Mound-builders formed the theme of many an essay on the wonders of ancient civilization. The research of the past ten or fifteen years has put this subject in a proper light. First, the annals of the Columbian epoch have been carefully studied, and it is found that some of the mounds have been constructed in historical time, while early explorers and settlers found many actually used by tribes of North American Indians; so we know that many of them were builders of mounds. Again, hundreds and thousands of these mounds have been carefully examined, and the works of art found therein have been collected and assembled in museums. At the same time, the works of art of the Indian tribes, as they were produced before modification by European culture, have been assembled in the same museums, and the two classes of collections have been carefully compared. All this has been done with the greatest painstaking, and the Mound-builder's arts and the Indian's arts are found to be substantially identical. No fragment of evidence remains to support the figment of theory that there was an ancient race of Mound-builders superior in culture to the North American Indians. … That some of these mounds were built and used in modern times is proved in another way. They often contain articles manifestly made by white men, such as glass beads and copper ornaments. … So it chances that to-day unskilled archæologists are collecting many beautiful things in copper, stone, and shell which were made by white men and traded to the Indians. Now, some of these things are found in the mounds; and bird pipes, elephant pipes, banner stones, copper spear heads and knives, and machine-made wampum are collected in quantities and sold at high prices to wealthy amateurs. … The study of these mounds, historically and archæologically, proves that they were used for a variety of purposes. Some were for sepulture, and such are the most common and widely scattered. Others were used as artificial hills on which to build communal houses. … Some of the very large mounds were sites of large communal houses in which entire tribes dwelt. There is still a third class … constructed as places for public assembly. … But to explain the mounds and their uses would expand this article into a book. It is enough to say that the Mound-builders were the Indian tribes discovered by white men. It may well be that some of the mounds were erected by tribes extinct when Columbus first saw these shores, but they were kindred in culture to the peoples that still existed. In the southwestern portion of the United States, conditions of aridity prevail. Forests are few and are found only at great heights. … The tribes lived in the plains and valleys below, while the highlands were their hunting grounds. The arid lands below were often naked of vegetation; and the ledges and cliffs that stand athwart the lands, and the canyon walls that inclose the streams, were everywhere quarries of loose rock, lying in blocks ready to the builder's hand. Hence these people learned to build their dwellings of stone; and they had large communal houses, even larger than the structures of wood made by the tribes of the east and north. Many of these stone pueblos are still occupied, but the ruins are scattered wide over a region of country embracing a little of California and Nevada, much of Utah, most of Colorado, the whole of New Mexico and Arizona, and far southward toward the Isthmus. … No ruin has been discovered where evidences of a higher culture are found than exists in modern times at Zuni, Oraibi, or Laguna. The earliest may have been built thousands of years ago, but they were built by the ancestors of existing tribes and their congeners. A careful study of these ruins, made during the last twenty years, abundantly demonstrates that the pueblo culture began with rude structures of stone and brush, and gradually developed, until at the time of the exploration of the country by the Spaniards, beginning about 1540, it had reached its highest phase. Zuni [in New Mexico] has been built since, and it is among the largest and best villages ever established within the territory of the United States without the aid of ideas derived from civilized men." With regard to the ruins of dwellings found sheltered in the craters of extinct volcanoes, or on the shelves of cliffs, or otherwise contrived, the conclusion to which all recent archæological study tends is the same. "All the stone pueblo ruins, all the clay ruins, all the cliff dwellings, all the crater villages, all the cavate chambers, and all the tufa-block houses are fully accounted for without resort to hypothetical peoples inhabiting the country anterior to the Indian tribes. … Pre-Columbian culture was indigenous; it began at the lowest stage of savagery and developed to the highest, and was in many places passing into barbarism when the good queen sold her jewels."

_Major J. W. Powell, Prehistoric Man in America; in "The Forum," January, 1890._

"The writer believes … that the majority of American archæologists now sees no sufficient reason for supposing that any mysterious superior race has ever lived in any portion of our continent. They find no archæological evidence proving that at the time of its discovery any tribe had reached a stage of culture that can properly be called civilization. Even if we accept the exaggerated statements of the Spanish conquerors, the most intelligent and advanced peoples found here were only semi-barbarians, in the stage of transition from the stone to the bronze age, possessing no written language, or what can properly be styled an alphabet, and not yet having even learned the use of beasts of burden."

_H. W. Haynes, Prehistoric Archæology of North America (volume 1, chapter 6, of "Narrative and Critical History of America")._

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"It may be premised … that the Spanish adventurers who thronged to the New World after its discovery found the same race of Red Indians in the West India Islands, in Central and South America, in Florida and in Mexico. In their mode of life and means of subsistence, in their weapons, arts, usages and customs, in their institutions, and in their mental and physical characteristics, they were the same people in different stages of advancement. … There was neither a political society, nor a state, nor any civilization in America when it was discovered; and excluding the Eskimos, but one race of Indians, the Red Race."

_L. H. Morgan, Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines: (Contributions to North American Ethnology, volume 5.), chapter 10_.

"We have in this country the conclusive evidence of the existence of man before the time of the glaciers, and from the primitive conditions of that time, he has lived here and developed, through stages which correspond in many particulars to the Homeric age of Greece."

_F. W. Putnam, Report, Peabody Museum of Archæology, 1886._

ALSO IN _L. Carr, The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley_.

_C. Thomas, Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States: Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1883-84_.

_Marquis de Nadaillac, Prehistoric America_.

_J. Fiske, The Discovery of America, chapter 1._

See, also, MEXICO; PERU; and AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALLEGHANS, CHEROKEES, and MAYAS.

AMERICA: 10th-11th Centuries. Supposed Discoveries by the Northmen.