LiTERATFRE.— The artt. in EDB, DCG, EBi, and JE; G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, Eng. tr., Edinb. 1902, p. 226 ff. ; H. W. Hog-gr, in JQR ix. [1896] 1-23; OxJ. Heb. Lex., s.v. JDK; Grimm-Thayer, s.v. i/iijv; artt. in ExpT viii. [1897] 190, by Nestle, and xiii. [1902] 663, by Jannaris.
L. St. Alban Wells. AMETHYST {anidvuTo^, Kev 212»).— A variety of quartz of rock-crystal, of purple or bluish violet colour. Derived from d, 'not,' snxd. ixedixTKeiv, 'to intoxicate,' it Avas regarded as a charm against the effects of wine. Quaffed from a cup of amethyst, or by a reveller wearing an amulet of that sub- stance, the vine-juice could not intoxicate. This vra^ doubtless a case of sympathetic magic, wine being amethystine in colour. In the LXX (Ex 28'*, etc.) ' amethyst ' stands for ahldmdh, a stone which was regarded as a charm against bad dreams. The amethyst was used as a gem-stone by the ancient Egyptians, and largely employed in classical an- tiquity for intaglios. Naturally it was often en- graved with Bacchanalian subjects. Being com- paratively abundant, it is inferior in price to true gems, and is not to be confounded with the oriental amethyst, a variety of corundum, or sapphire of amethystine tint, which is a very valuable gem of great brilliancy and beauty. James Strahan.
AMOMUM (&fiu3ixov, perhaps from Arab, hamma, ' heat'). — An aromatic balsam used as an unguent for the hair, made from tlie seeds of an eastern plant which has not been identified with certainty. Josephus (Ant. XX. ii. 2) speaks of Harran as 'a soil which bare amomum in plenty,' and Vergil [Eel. iv. 25) predicts that in the Golden Age 'Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum.' The word came to be used generally for any pure and sweet odour. In Rev 18^^ AV (with B ii'^) omits the word ; RV (Avith K *AC) accepts it and translates 'spice' (RVm 'Gr. amomum'). The term is now applied to a genus of aromatic plants, some sjiecies of which yield cardamoms and grains of paradise.
James Strahan.
AMPHIPOLIS CAM^iTToXts). — This Macedonian city played an important part in early Greek history. Occupying an eminence on the left bank of the Strymon, just below the egress of the river from Lake Cercinitis, 3 miles from the Strymonic Gulf, it commanded the entrance to a pass leading through the mountains into the great Macedonian plains. It was almost encircled by the river, whence its name ' Amphi-polis.'
Thucydides (i. 100) says that the Athenians ' sent 10,000 settlers of their own citizens and the allies to the Strymon, to colonize what was then called the "Nine Ways" ('Ei'i'^a oM), but now Amphipolis.' It was the jewel of their empire, but they lost it in 422 B.C., and never recovered it. It was under the Macedonian kings from 360 till the Roman conquest of the country in 167 B.C. The Romans made it a free city and the capital of
the first of four districts into which they divided Macedonia. It lay on the Via Egnatia, which connected Dyrrachium with the Hellespont. From Philippi it was 32 miles to the south-west, and ' this was one of the most beautiful day's journeys Paul ever experienced ' (Renan, Saint Paul, Eng. tr., p. 91). The Apostle and his fellow-travellers evidently remained in Amphipolis over night, and next day went on to Apollonia (Ac 11^). It is now represented by Neochori.
Literature.— W. M. Leake, Northern Greece, London, 1835, iii. 181 f. ; G. Grote, Hist, of Greece, new ed., do. 1870, iii. 284 fl. ; Conybeare-Howson, St. Paul, do. 1872, i. 374 ff.
James Strahan.
AMPLIATUS ('AMTrXtaroj [Ro 168 K ABFG], a com- mon Lat. name of which AV Amplias ['A/UTrX/aj, DELP] is a contraction). — Saluted by St. Paul and described as ' my beloved in the Lord ' (rbv dyairrjToi' fiou iv Kvplip). The only other persons described in Ro 16 as 'my beloved' are Epsenetus (v.^) and Stachys (v.*). A woman is saluted — perhaps with intentional delicacy — as ' Persis the beloved ' (v.^). The precise phrase * my beloved in the Lord ' does not occur again in the NT. The special term of Christian endearment might suggest that Ampli- atus was a personal convert of St. Paul's or closely associated with him in Christian work. Such friends, however, are referred to as ' beloved child ' (Timothy, 1 Co 4"), ' beloved brother ' (Tychicus, Ephe^'), ' beloved fellow-servant' (Epaphras, Col 1'), etc. (cf . art. BELOVED). Nothing whatever is known of Arapliatus beyond this reference.
Assuming the integrity of the Epistle and the Roman destination of these salutations, he was perhaps a Roman, whom St. Paul had met on one of his missionary journeys, and who was known by the Apostle at the time of writing to be residing in or visiting Rome. It is interesting to find the name Ampliatus several times in inscriptions be- longing to the Imperial familia or household (see Lightfoot, Philippians*, 1878, p. 174, and Sanday- Headlam, Romans^, 1902, p. 424). Sanday-Headlam also refer to a Christian inscription in the catacomb of Domitilla belonging to the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd cent, in which the name occurs, possibly as that of a slave or freedman prominent in the Church. If the view be held that the salutations in Ro 16 were part of a letter to the Church of Ephesus, Ampliatus must have been a Roman, resident in Ephesus, with whom St. Paul became acquainted during his long stay in that city. It is possible that he was a Jew who had taken a Latin name (cf. the names Paulus, and Lucius a 'kinsman,' i.e. a Jew, Ro 16^^).