AMPHION, in Greek Mythology, the son of Zeus by Antiope, and the husband of Niobe, was a musician of such wonderful power, that at the sounds of his lyre the stones began to move, and formed themselves into walls around Thebes, after his conquest of that city. He was killed by Apollo for assaulting his temple; or, as some report, he destroyed himself in despair at the slaughter of his children by that god. The famous Farnese bull, discovered in 1546, represents Amphion punishing Dirce for her treatment of his mother. There are four other mythical personages of this name.
AMPHIPOLIS, a city of Macedonia, situated on the east bank of the river Strymon, about three miles from the sea. It was originally a Thracian town, known as the Ἐννέα οδοί (Nine Roads), and was colonised by the Athenians in 437 B.C., two previous attempts (497 and 465 B.C.) having been unsuccessful. In 424 B.C. it surrendered to the Lacedæmonians without resistance, and the Athenians never afterwards recovered possession of it. For his failure to prevent this disaster Thucydides was banished from Athens. The site of Amphipolis is occupied by the modern Jeni Keui.
AMPHISBÆNA (from ἀμφίς, on both sides, and βαίνω, to go), a genus of animals, found only in South America and the West Indies, which, though they have the general appearance of snakes or worms, belong to the order Lacertilia, or Lizards. The best known species are the sooty or dusky amphisbæna (A. fuliginosa), and the rarer A. alba. The body of the amphisbæna, from 18 to 24 inches long, is of nearly the same thickness throughout. The head is small, and there can scarcely be said to be a tail, the vent being close to the extremity of the body. The animal lives mostly underground, burrowing in soft earth, and feeds on ants and other small animals. From its appearance, and the ease with which it moves backwards, the popular belief in the countries where it prevails has been that the amphisbæna has two heads, and that when the body is cut in two the parts seek each other out and reunite. From this has arisen another popular error, which attributes extraordinary curative properties to its flesh when dried and pulverised.
AMPHITHEATRE (from ἀμφί and θέατρον) denotes a theatre in which the spectators were placed “all round” the stage. Though the word is of Greek formation, the thing itself is distinctively Roman, being designed for those cruel shows of gladiators and wild beasts in which that people took great pleasure, and which in modern times are only represented by the barbarous bull-fights still popular in Spain.
In the present article we do not enter on the consideration of the spectacles themselves, but shall confine ourselves to the buildings, which were devised to allow as large a number of spectators as possible to enjoy the sight of the show. In a dramatic representation it is necessary, that the actors should be heard, and also that their faces should be seen, and the audience has therefore to be arranged in a semicircle in front of them; but when men fought with other men or with beasts, they could be seen equally well from all sides.
In Italy, combats of gladiators at first took place in the forums, where temporary wooden scaffoldings were erected for the spectators; and Vitruvius gives this as the reason why in that country the forums were in the shape of a parallelogram instead of being squares as in Greece. Wild beasts were also hunted in the circus. But towards the end of the Roman republic, when the shows increased both in frequency and in costliness as the city grew in power, special buildings began to be provided for them; and when the consolidation of peace under the empire had secured great material prosperity for the provinces, such as they had never enjoyed when separated into small states and often at war with each other, the example of the capital was followed by many other towns in the West; so that nearly a hundred amphitheatres have been identified, either by the existence of their ruins or by being mentioned by old writers. There were even a few in the East, although such cruel games were quite alien to the elegance and refinement of the Hellenic mind.
From their being so admirably adapted for enabling the greatest possible number of people to behold a spectacle, it is natural to suppose that they would be occasionally used for purposes different from those usually intended by them; and accordingly Suetonius relates how Caligula had an impertinent poet burnt alive in the amphitheatre, and how Titus ordered the informers, after having been whipped in the forum, to be led through the arena, apparently that they might be exposed to the execrations of the people. Criminals were also sometimes exposed in them to be devoured by wild beasts, and many of the Christian martyrs died in this way.
The first amphitheatre was that constructed, 59 B.C., by C. Scribonius Curio. The only author by whom it is described is Pliny, whose account of it rather taxes our credulity. He tells that Scribonius built two wooden theatres, which were placed back to back, and that after the dramatic representations were finished, they were turned round, with all the spectators in them, so as to make one circular theatre, in [the centre of which gladiators fought. And this was repeated more than once. Thirteen years later, Cæsar built (also of wood) the first regular amphitheatre, and exhibited wild beasts in it; and sixteen years after, C. Statilius Taurus built the first one of stone, which was burnt in the great fire of Rome during the reign of Nero. Probably the outside walls only were of stone.
Several others were constructed under the early emperors, but they were entirely superseded and eclipsed by that of Vespasian and Titus, the vast ruins of which strike the traveller with awe. Set on fire by lightning under the emperor Macrinus, it was restored by Alexander Severus, the shows during the interval being held (as of old) in the circus. The latest record of its being used is in the 6th century, when Cassiodorus was present; but Bede in the 8th century speaks of the edifice as still entire. During the Middle Ages many of the stones of this, as of many other ancient buildings, were carried away for building purposes; and among the plunderers we regret to have to reckon the great Michel Angelo, who worked up a large number of its stones into a palace for one of the Roman noble families. As, however, the Colosseum had been the scene of many of the Christian martyrdoms, Benedict XIV., whose name ought never to be mentioned without an expression of admiration and gratitude for his enlightened patronage of learning and antiquities, took advantage of this to consecrate the interior by the erection of crosses and oratories, thereby preserving it from further depredations. Of late years considerable excavations have been made to examine its substructures. Its name is variously written, but on the whole it would seem that the most correct orthography is Colosseum (not Coliseum), and that it is derived from its colossal size, which far surpassed any former edifice of the sort. Many of its minor arrangements are uncertain, but the main features and general plan are sufficiently intelligible.
