Hammer in his "Arabische, Persische, und Türkische Handschriften," Vienna, 1840, and of some geographical works. In religion he belonged to the sect of the Motazelites; but dissenting from them on the subject of the eternity of future punishments, he founded a sect of his own, one of whose peculiarities is the rejection of that doctrine.—A. M.
AMRU-BEN-EL-ASS, held in Arab tradition to be one of the seven companions of the prophet, and an individual of disagreeable interest to the moderns, as the instrument of the Caliph Omar in the destruction of the Alexandrian library, was an Arab of the tribe Koraysh, born about a.d. 600, who, though at first a bitter scoffer at the doctrines of Mohammed, became, after his conversion, one of the most energetic and successful propagators of Islam. As general of Omar, he took Jerusalem, after an obstinate and protracted resistance, and subsequently marching into Egypt, whither Artiyün, the Greek governor of Jerusalem, had fled, he first took Farmah, the ancient Pelusium, and afterwards Misr—the spot on which the army of Amru lay encamped for seven months before the latter town acquired the appellation of Medínat Fostát (city of tents), and close to it the city of Cairo afterwards rose. The next operation of Amru was to reduce Alexandria. In this he was considerably assisted by the Coptic Christians of Egypt, who had made a separate treaty with the Islamite leader, and were well treated by him. It was not, however, till after a siege of a year and two months, and immense loss of life in numerous ineffectual assaults, that Amru succeeded in driving the Greeks from their metropolis (about a.d. 642); and even after he had done so, they returned during his absence in Upper Egypt, retook the city, and forced him again to besiege it before he finally secured possession. Amru now penetrated westward into the Pentapolis, and ravaged the country as far as Tripoli. He retained the government of the Mohammedan conquests in Africa during the life of Omar; but Othman, in a.d. 647, deprived him of his command in favour of Abdallah-Ibn-Saïd, foster-brother of the latter caliph. Amru, considering this but an ungrateful recompense for his services in the cause of Islam, did everything in his power to foment and further the subsequent revolt against Othman, who was assassinated in a.d. 655-6. Mu'awigah, whom he aided against Ali in gaining the caliphat, replaced Amru in his governorship of Egypt, where he died in a.d. 663. There seems to be very little doubt that Amru destroyed a large collection of books in Alexandria. The baths of this city are said to have been supplied with fuel from the manuscripts during six months—apparently an exaggeration. That the library thus consumed, however, was not the library of the Serapeum, or temple of Serapis, as is sometimes stated, appears equally clear. The l ibrary of the Serapeum perished in the destruction of the pagan temples under Theodosius, a.d. 389; and the collection annihilated by the stupid bigotry of the followers of Mohammed, may have been the great library of the Museum, to which that of the Serapeum was an adjunct, and which had already been partly consumed by fire when Julius Cæsar was besieged in Alexandria. Amru was not altogether the willing tool of Omar in the affair now alluded to. He had contracted a friendship with a certain learned grammarian of the city, named John Philoponus, and at his request he proposed to Omar that the library should be preserved, and not destroyed. The reply sent back by Omar is well known: "If these books contain merely what is in the Book of God, they are useless; if they contain what is not there, they are pernicious: burn them."—A. M.
AMRU-BEN-KELTHUM, an Arabian poet, author of one of the Mo'allakát, or suspended poems (see above, Amru-el-Kais), lived in the sixth century of the Christian era. The Mo'allakah of this author was a laudatory poem on the subject of his own tribe, the Taghleb. It was published by Kosegarten at Jena in 1819, and Sir William Jones has translated it into English: London, 1782, 4to.—A. M.
AMRU-BEN-LEYTH, second and last sultan of Persia of the dynasty of the Bení Saffar, succeeded his brother Yaküb in a.d. 878-9, and added to his inherited dominions the province of Sejistán. Embroiling himself with the Caliph Al-Mu'tamed, he suffered from that monarch a defeat and partial deprivation of his territories, but regained the caliph's favour by defeating and sending prisoner to Bagdad their mutual enemy Rafi-Ibn-Harthamah, general of the Fatimite prince, Mohammed-Ibn-Zeyd, in a.d. 887. Amru, however, was finally dethroned by Ismail, founder of the Saman dynasty, who, at the instigation of Al-Mu'tadhed, the successor of Al-Mu'tamed, led an army against him, and, gaining a decisive victory, sent him captive to Bagdad, where he died in prison about the commencement of the tenth century. Amru-Ben-Leyth bears the reputation in history of a cruel, avaricious, and tyrannical prince.—A. M.
AMRU-EL-KAIS, a famous Arabian poet who lived before Mahomet, but one of whose poems is of the class called Mo'allakah, or "Suspended," from their being hung up in the Kaaba at Mecca. He had a feud with his own tribe, the Beni-Asad, who had rebelled against and assassinated their chief, his father; and having repaired to the court of the Greek emperor, Heraclius, to ask assistance in punishing them, that monarch at first protected him, and even set on foot an expedition against the Beni-Asad; but a member of the tribe succeeded in so far turning the mind of Heraclius against El-Kais, that he presented him with a poisoned tunic, which killed the poet as soon as he put it on. Abulfeda questions this story. The works of Amru-el-Kais have always continued to attract attention. The best edition of his Mo'allakah is said to be that of Hengstenberg, with a Latin translation; Bonn, 1823, 4to. Of his miscellaneous poems there is a good edition, with translation and notes, by the Baron MacGuckin Slane: Paris, 1837, 4to. There is an English translation of the Mo'allakah by Sir William Jones.—A. M.
AMSDORF, Nicholas, one of the oldest and most faithful of Luther's friends and fellow-workers, was born of a noble family at Tschoppau, near Wurzen, in Misnia, 3d December, 1483. In 1502 he repaired to Wittemberg, and took his master's degree in 1504. In 1511 he was made professor of theology there, and was presented with a canonry in the church of All-Saints. From the first moment that Luther stood forward to oppose the corruptions of the papacy, Amsdorf appeared at his side, and to the last day of the reformer's life he continued his constant and almost too passionate supporter and admirer. He accompanied Luther to the Leipzig disputation, and to the famous diet at Worms, and was with him when he was carried off to the friendly castle of Wartburg. Soon afterwards, when, in Luther's absence from Wittemberg, the monks of the Augustinian monastery abolished the mass and some other Romish rites, Amsdorf united with Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and John Dolz, in a formal approbation of that step addressed to the elector, and in recommending that the example should be followed in other places. In 1524 he settled in Magdeburg, as evangelical superintendent, and pastor of the church of St. Ursula; and was the first man to set up the reformed worship in that important city. A few years after, he did the same service in the ancient imperial city of Goslar, and in 1534 in the territory of Calenberg. In 1537 he took part in the convention of Schmalkald. In 1541 he was made bishop of Naumburg by the elector, John Frederick, in opposition to Julius Von Pflug, who had been chosen by the cathedral chapter. After the defeat of the elector at Mühlberg in 1547, Amsdorf was driven from the see, and Von Pflug put in his room. He returned to Magdeburg, where he took an active, and sometimes even a violent part in the controversies which soon after arose in the Saxon church. He was a warm antagonist of the Leipzig Interimists, and acted for some time along with Flaccius Illyricus, the champion of the anti-Melancthonian party. His zeal against George Major's proposition regarding the necessity of good works to salvation, carried him into the monstrous and incredible extreme of maintaining that good works are positively injurious to salvation. In 1552 he removed to Eisenach as superintendent. In 1554 he administered the sacrament to the dying elector, John Frederick, and pronounced his funeral oration; and in 1558 he was present at the opening of the university of Jena, the foundation of which was greatly due to his advice and influence. After a most active life, he died at Eisenach in his eighty-second year. He was never married; and for ten years before his death he kept a coffin at his bedside, to remind him of his mortality. His writings were very numerous; but having never been collected, they have long been extremely rare. They were almost all of the nature of polemical tracts, and of ephemeral interest. His learning enabled him to assist Luther in his translation of the Bible: and he was the editor of the Jena edition of the reformer's works.—P. L.
AMU´LIO or DA MULA, an able and learned Italian cardinal, born at Venice in 1505, died at Rome in 1570. He had distinguished himself as a student of jurisprudence at Padua, and the Venetians employed him in public affairs of importance. He was their ambassador to Charles V. in 1553, and in 1558
