Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/163

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loc cit.
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A:M:roNAS. Rs the author of all life in nature. (Comp. Pint, de /*•. (^t Os. 9, 21.) The new Platonists perceived in Amnion their demiurges, that is, the creator and preserver of the world. As this subject belongs more especially to the mythology of Egypt, we caimot here enter into a detailed discussion about the nature and character which the later Greeks assigned to him, or his connexion with Dionysus and Heracles, Respecting these points and the various opinions of modern critics, as well as the ditVerent representations of Ammon still extant, the reader may consult Jablonsky, Pantheon Aegypt; Bohien, Das alte Imiien, mit bcsonderer Rucksicht uvf Eyypten, ii. c. 2. § 9 ; J. C. Prichard, Eyyptian Mytholocfy; J. F. ChampoUion, Pantheon Egyptien^ OH Collection des Personages de I'ancicnne Egypte^ ^c, Paris, 1823. The worship of Ammon was introduced into Greece at an early period, probably through the medium of the Greek colony in Cyrene, which must have formed a connexion with the great ora- cle of Ammon in the Oasis soon after its establish- ment. Ammon had a temple and a statue, the gift of Pindar, at Thebes (Pans. ix. 16. § 1), and another at Sparta, the inhabitants of which, as Pausanias (iii. 18. § 2) says, consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya from early times more than the other Greeks. At Aphytis, Ammon was wor- shipped, from the time of Lysander, as zealously as in Ammonium. Pindar the poet honoured the god with a hymn. At Megalopolis the god was repre- sented with the head of a ram (Pans. viii. 32. § 1), and the Greeks of Cyrenaica dedicated at Delphi a chariot with a statue of Ammon. (x. 13. § 3.) The homage which Alexander paid to the god in the Oasis is well known. [L. S.] AMMON ("A/Ujuwi'), a geometrician, who made R measurement of the walls of Rome, about the time of the first invasion of the Goths, and found them to be 21 miles in circuit. (Olympiodorus, up. Phot. Cod. 80, p. G3, ed. Bekker.) [P. S.] AMMON ("Ayu.ucuj/), ]. Bishop of Hadrianople, A. D. 400, wrote (in Greek) On the Resurrection against Origenisni (not extant). A fragment of Ammon, from this work possibly, may be found ap. S. Cyril. Alex. Lib. de Recta Fide. (Vol. v. pt. 2, ad fin. p. 50, ed. Paris. 1638.) He was present at the Council of Constantinople a. d. 394, held on occasion of the dedication of Rufinus's church, near Chalcedon. (Soz. Hist. Eccl. viii. 8. 3 ; Mansi, Cuncilia. vol. iii. p. 851.) 2. Bishop of Elearchia, in the Thebaide, in the 4 til and 5th centuries. To hira is addressed the Canonical Epistle of Theophilus of Alexandria, ap. Synodicon Beveregii, vol. i. pt. 1, p. 170. Pape- brochius has published in a Latin version his Epistle to Theophilus, De Vita et Conversatione SS. Pacliomii et Theodori (ap. BoUand. Ada Sanc- torum, vol. xiv. p. 347, &.C.). It contains an Epistle of St. Antony. [A. J. C] AMMO'N AS {'AnfioSvas) or AMOUN {'A/Jiovu), founder of one of the most celebrated monastic communities in Egypt. Obliged by his relations to marry, he persuaded his bride to perpetual con- tinence (Sozom. Hist. Eccl. i. 14) by the authority of St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians. (Socr. Hist. Eccl. iv. 23.) They lived together thus for 1 8 years, when at her wish, for greater perfection, they parted, and he retired to Scetis and Mt. Kitria, to the south of Lake Mareotis, where he lived 22 years, visiting his sister- wife twice in the AMMON lUS. 145 year. (Tbid. and Pallad. Hi^t. Laus. c. 7 ; Ruffin. nt. Patr. c. 29.) He died before St. Antony (from whom there is an epistle to him, S. Athan. 0pp. vol. i. pt. 2, p. 959, ed. Bened.), i. e. before A. v. 365, for the latter asserted that he beheld the soul of Amoun borne by angels to heaven ( Vit. S. Antonii a S. Athanas. § 60), and as St. Athanasius's history of St. Antony preserves the order of time, he died perhaps about a. d. 320. There are seventeen or nineteen Rules of Asceticism {K«pa.aia) ascribed to him ; the Greek original exists in MS. (Lambecius, Biblioth. Vindol. lib. iv. cod. 156, No. 6) ; they are published in the Latin version of Gerhard Vossius in the Biblioth. PP. Ascetica., vol. ii. p. 484, Paris. 1661. Tiventy-tico Ascetic Institutions of the same Amoun, or one bearing the same name, exist also in MS. (Lambec. I.e. Cod. 155, No. 2.) [A.J.C.] AMMO'NIA (^ Aixfxuvia), a surname of Hera, under which she was worshipped in Elis. The inhabitants of Elis had from the earliest times been in the habit of consulting the oracle of Zeua Ammon in Libya. (Paus. v. 15. § 7.) [L. S.] AMMONIA'NUS {^h^ifxwviavSs), a Greek grammarian, who lived in the fifth century after Christ. He was a relation and a friend of the phi- losopher Syrianus, and devoted his attention to the study of the Greek poets. It is recorded of him that he had an ass, which became so fond of poetry from listening to its master, that it neglect- ed its food. (Damascius, ap. Phot. p. 339, a., ed. Bekker ; Suid. s. v. 'A/x/xcaviavos and Ouos upas.) AMMO'N lUS, a favourite of Alexandek Balas, king of Syria, to whom Alexander entrust- ed the entire management of public affairs. Am- monius was avaricious and cruel ; he put to death numerous friends of the king, the queen Laodice, and Antigonus, the son of Demetrius. Being de- tected in plotting against the life of Ptolemy Phi- lometor, about B. c. 147, the latter required Alexander to surrender Ammonius to him; but though Alexander refused to do this, Ammonius was put to death by the inhabitants of Antioch, whom Ptolemy had induced to espouse his cause. (Liv. Epit. 50 ; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 4. § 5 ; Diod. Em. 29, p. 628, ed. Wess.) AMMO'NIUS {'Aixfj-oivios) of Alexandria, the son of Ammonius, was a pupil of Alexander, and one of the chief teachers in the grammatical school founded by Aristarchus. (Suid. s. v. 'A/x- IJLwvios.) He wrote commentaries upon Homer, Pindar, and Aristophanes, none of which are ex- tant. (Fabric. bAI. Graec. v. p. 712; Matter, Essais historiques sur V icole d"* A leicandrey i. pp. 179,233.) AMMO'NIUS ( *A/ijU(Mi'tos), of Alexandria, Presbyter and Ooconoraus of the Church in that city, and an Egyptian by birth, a. d. 458. He subscribed the Epistle sent by the clergy of Egypt to the emperor Leo, in behalf of the Council ot Chalcedon. {Concilia^ ed. Labbei, vol. iv. p. 897, b.) He wrote (in Greek) On the DijFcrence betiveen Nature a7id Person, against the Mono- physite heresy of Eutyches and Dioscorus (not extant) ; an Exposition of the Book of Acts (ap. Catena Graec. Patr. in Act. SS. Apostolorum, 8vo., Oxon. 1838, ed. Cramer) ; a Commentary on tlie Psalms (used by Nicetas in his Catena ; see Cod. 189, Biblioth. Coislin., ed. Montfauc. p 244) ; On the HeuaHmeron (no remains) ; On St. JohCs Gospel, which exists in the Catena Grae- corvm Patrum in S. Joan. ed. Corderii, foL, L