du xiiiᵉ siècle (Paris, 1856); (e) a 14th-century drama, Un Miracle de Notre Dame d’Amis et Amile, ed. L. J. N. Monmerqué and F. Michelin Théâtre fr. au moyen âge (1839); (f ) old Norse, Icelandic, Danish versions, &c. (see K. Hofmann, op. cit.); (g) an imitation which under the name of Oliver and Artus was current in many languages and was the subject of Hans Sachs’s comedy, Die treuen Gesellen (1556); (h) Engelhart und Engeltrut, by the minnesinger Conrad von Würzburg (ed. M. Haupt, Leipzig, 1844, 2nd ed., 1900); (i) the late prose romances, with many changes and additions, Milles et Amys, printed by A. Verard (Paris, c. 1503), .&c., for which see G. Brunet, Manuel du libraire, s.v. “Milles.” A different version of the legend is inserted at considerable length in L’Ystoire des sept sages (ed. G. Paris, Soc. des anc. textes fr., 1876), in which the friends are called Alexandre and Louis, and Bellisant Florentine. For a further bibliography see L. Gautier, Bibl. des chansons de geste (Paris, 1897). William Morris’s version of the French romance was printed at the Kelmscott Press in 1894. See also the essay by W. Pater in The Renaissance, 1893.
AMITERNUM, an ancient town of the Sabines, situated about 5 m. N. of Aquila, in the broad valley of the Aternus, from which, according to Varro, it took its name. It was stormed by the Romans in 293 B.C., and though it suffered from the wars of the Republican period, it seems to have risen to renewed prosperity under the empire. This it owed largely to its position. It lay at the point of junction of four roads—the Via Caecilia, the Via Claudia Nova and two branches of the Via Salaria, which joined it at the 64th and 89th miles respectively. The fertility of its territory was also praised by ancient authors. There are considerable remains of an aqueduct, an amphitheatre and a theatre (the latter excavated in 1880—see Notizie degli scavi, 1880, 290, 350, 379), all of which belong to the imperial period, while in the hill on which the village of S. Vittorino is built are some Christian catacombs. Amiternum was the birthplace of the historian Sallust. In a gorge 112 m. east are massive remains of cyclopean walls (i.e. in rough blocks), probably intended to regulate the flow of the stream (N. Persichetti in Römische Mitteilungen, 1902, 134 seq.).
AMLWCH (llwch＝“lake”), a market town of Anglesey, North Wales, situated on slightly rising ground on the N. coast of the island, 15 m. N.W. of Beaumaris and 262 m. from London, by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2994. Originally it owed its whole importance to the copper mines of the Parys (probably, Parry’s) mountain, as, before ore was discovered in March 1768, it was a small hamlet of fishermen. The mines once produced 3000 tons of metal annually, copper smelting being largely carried on, but have now almost ceased working. Though apparently not mentioned by Ptolemy, they were perhaps Roman. Robert Parys, chamberlain of North Wales under Henry IV., is often given as their godfather. The poor harbour called the “port,” protected by a breakwater, has been cut out of the rock (shingle). Amlwch is the terminus of the branch railway from Gaerwen to Amlwch, formerly the Anglesey Central Railway Company. Porthllechog, or Bull Bay (so called from the Bull Rock), at a mile’s distance, is a small but favourite watering-place. Beyond, on the coast, some 3 m. distant, are the remains of a British fort and of the Llanllaianau monastery, opposite the Middle Mouse islet and close to Llanbadrig old church and Cemmaes. Industries include slate quarrying, shipbuilding, iron and brass foundries, alum, vitriol, manure, guano and tobacco works. At Llanllaianau was found, in 1841, a stone coffin, holding a well-preserved skeleton of 712 ft. in length. The coffin was apparently of Aberdovey (Aberdyfi) limestone, much corroded. At Llangefni, not far from Amlwch, in 1829, and at Llangristiolus, 3 m. distant from Llangefni, about 1770, were found human bones of a high antiquity, between Glan Hwfa and Fron, and at Capel, respectively. The town has an old Anglican church (St Eleth’s).
AMMAN, JOHANN CONRAD (1669–c. 1730), Swiss physician, was born at Schaffhausen in 1669. After graduating at Basel in 1687 he began to practise at Amsterdam, where he gained a great reputation. He was one of the earliest writers on the instruction of the deaf and dumb, and first called attention to his method in his Surdus loquens (Amsterdam, 1692), which was often reprinted, and was reproduced by John Wallis in the Philosophical Transactions (1698). His process consisted principally in exciting the attention of his pupils to the motions of his lips and larynx while he spoke, and then inducing them to imitate these movements, till he brought them to repeat distinctly letters, syllables and words. The edition of Caelius Aurelianus, which was undertaken by the Wetsteins in 1709, was superintended by Amman. He died about 1730 at Warmoud, near Leiden.
AMMAN, JOST (1539–1591), Swiss artist, celebrated chiefly for his engravings on wood, was born at Zürich. Of his personal history little is known beyond the fact that he removed in 1560 to Nuremberg, where he continued to reside until his death in March 1591. His productiveness was very remarkable, as may be gathered from the statement of one of his pupils, that the drawings he made during a period of four years would have filled a hay wagon. A large number of his original drawings are contained in the Berlin collection of engravings. The genuineness of not a few of the specimens to be seen elsewhere is at least questionable. A series of copperplate engravings by Amman of the kings of France, with short biographies, appeared at Frankfort in 1576. He also executed many of the woodcut illustrations for the Bible published at Frankfort by Sigismund Feierabend. Another serial work, the Panoplia Omnium Liberalium Mechanicarum et Sedentariarum Artium Genera Continens, containing 115 plates, is of great value. Amman’s drawing is correct and spirited, and his delineation of the details of costume, &c., is minute and accurate. He executed too much, however, to permit of his reaching the highest style of art. Paintings in oil and on glass are attributed to him, but no specimen of these is known to exist.
AMMAN, PAUL (1634–1691), German physician and botanist, was born at Breslau in 1634. In 1662 he received the degree of doctor of physic from the university of Leipzig, and in 1664 was admitted a member of the society Naturae Curiosorum, under the name of Dryander. Shortly afterwards he was chosen extraordinary professor of medicine in the above-mentioned university; and in 1674 he was promoted to the botanical chair, which he again in 1682 exchanged for the physiological. He died at Leipzig in 1691. He seems to have been a man of critical mind and extensive learning. His principal works were: Medicina Critica (1670); Paraenesis ad Docentes occupata circa Institutionum Medicarum Emendationem (1673); Irenicum Numae Pompilii cum Hippocrate (1689); Supellex Botanica (1675); and Character Naturalis Plantarum (1676).
AMMANATI, BARTOLOMEO (1511–1592), Florentine architect and sculptor. He studied under Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino, and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo. He was more distinguished in architecture than in sculpture. He designed many buildings in Rome, Lucca and Florence, an addition to the Pitti Palace in the last-named city being one of his most celebrated works. He was also employed in 1569 to build the beautiful bridge over the Arno, known as Ponte della Trinita—one of his celebrated works. The three arches are elliptic, and though very light and elegant, have resisted the fury of the river, which has swept away several other bridges at different times. Another of his most important works was the fountain for the Piazza della Signoria. In 1550 Ammanati married Laura Battiferri, an elegant poet and an accomplished woman.
AMMIANUS, MARCELLINUS, the last Roman historian of importance, was born about A.D. 325–330 at Antioch; the date of his death is unknown, but he must have lived till 391, as he mentions Aurelius Victor as the city prefect for that year. He was a Greek, and his enrolment among the protectores domestici (household guards) shows that he was of noble birth. He entered the army at an early age, when Constantius II. was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus, governor of Nisibis and magister militiae. He returned to Italy with Ursicinus, when he was recalled by Constantius, and accompanied him on the expedition against Silvanus the Frank, who had been forced by the unjust accusations of his enemies into proclaiming himself emperor in Gaul. With Ursicinus he went twice to the East, and barely escaped with his life from Amida or Amid (mod. Diarbekr), when it was taken by the Persian king Shapur (Sapor) II. When Ursicinus lost his office and the favour of Constantius, Ammianus seems to have shared his downfall; but under Julian, Constantius’s
