AMLETH or HAMLETH, the Hamlet of Shakspeare's tragedy, was, according to Saxo Grammaticus, the son of Horwendill, a prince of Jutland, and lived about two centuries before Christ. Fengo, brother of Horwendill, having traitorously slain the latter at a banquet, married Hamlet's mother Gerutha, whom he had previously seduced. Hamlet, fearing he might be Fengo's next victim, now feigned himself mad; but the king had his suspicions, and employed a young lady, the Ophelia of Shakspeare, to gain Hamlet's love and his secret. He also, according to Saxo, adopted the other expedient of which Shakspeare makes use, that of concealing a courtier in the queen's room while her son was holding an interview with her. Both of these attempts failing, Hamlet was sent off to England with two agents of Fengo's, and letters were written on wood requesting the king of England to put him to death. Hamlet again effected his deliverance in the manner indicated by Shakspeare, who appears throughout his drama to have adhered pretty closely to the ancient legend, which he had probably read in Belleforest's French paraphrase of the account of Saxo, or in an English translation of Belleforest. The catastrophe, however, as given in the tragedy of Hamlet, differs from the account of Saxo Grammaticus, according to whom the prince, after slaying the usurper and a great many of his adherents, went through a variety of adventures, was twice married, first to an English, and afterwards to a Scottish princess, and was finally slain in battle by Vigleth, successor to Roric, feudal superior of Horwendill. There are reasons for believing that Saxo Grammaticus derived this story from an Icelandic saga now lost; and though some recent historians are of opinion that the legend of Hamlet the Dane is a baseless fiction, others, and among these Dahlmann in his "Geshichte von Dännemark," and P. E. Müller in his "Sagabibliotheck med Ammerkninger," lean to the belief that, among the early princes of Jutland, there may have been one of this name.—A. M.
AMMAN, Geo. Christoph, a physician of Ratisbon, author of some medical works, lived in the 17th century.
AMMAN, Johann Conrad, a physician noted for his skill in instructing deaf mutes. He was born at Schaffhausen in 1669, practised chiefly in Holland, and died near Leyden about 1730. His principal works are: "Surdus Loquens," Amsterdam, 1692, 8vo., and "Dissertatio de Loquela, qua non solum Vox Humana et Loquendi Artificium ex originibus suis eruuntur, sed et traduntur Media, quibus ii, qui ab incunabulis Surdi et Muti fuerunt, loquelam adipisci possint," Amsterdam, 1700, 12mo. The latter work appears to be a Latin translation of the former, which is in Dutch. Amman's method with the deaf and dumb was sagacious and successful; and his "Surdus Loquens," or "Dissertatio de Loquela," is well worthy of attention, not only in a medical, but in a philological point of view.—A. M.
AMMAN, Johann Jacob, a German surgeon, who in 1612 and 1613 travelled to Constantinople, Palestine, and Alexandria. His travels, published at Zürich in 1618, under the title, "Reise ins gelopte Land, von dannen durch die Wüste und Ægypten gen Alexandrien," &c., contain some curious and interesting information. Born 1586; died at Zürich in 1658.—A. M.
AMMAN or AMMON, Jost, a very popular old German designer and engraver, born at Zürich in 1539. He spent the latter part of his life at Nürenberg, where he died in 1591, leaving behind him, notwithstanding his comparatively short life, an immense number of works; among the rest an extensive series of female costumes, and a collection of portraits of the kings of France, from Pharamond to Henry III. He did a great deal of work for the German booksellers of his time, in the way of illustrating their publications. The plates in an edition of Hans Sachs' "Description of All Ranks upon the Earth" (Eigentliche Beschreibung aller Stande auf Erden), published at Frankfort in 1568 and 1576, are by Jost Amman. This artist was also very skilful in staining glass. For list of his engravings see Bryan.—A. M.
AMMANATI, See Piccolomini.
AMMANATI, Bartolommeo, a celebrated Florentine sculptor and architect, pupil of Baccio Bandinelli and Sansovino, was born in 1511, and died in 1589. Works by Ammanati still adorn many Italian cities, among the rest Rome, Naples, Florence, and Venice. He executed important commissions for Cardinal da Monti, afterwards Pope Julius III., and Cosmo de Medici, and competed successfully with Benvenuto Cellini for permission to execute the statue of Neptune in the Piazza del Gran Duca at Florence. The gigantic figure of Mount Apennine at Pratolino, near the same city, is also by Ammanati. His most remarkable architectural work is the Ponte della Trinita over the Arno at Florence, a light and elegant structure, and, as the experience of three hundred years has well proved, of enduring solidity. The statues which decorate this bridge were not executed by Ammanati. He is said to have aimed in sculpture at the style of Michel Angelo, but without decided success. The wife of Ammanati was the poetess Laura Battiferri.—A. M.
AMMANATI, Giovanni, an Italian artist of the 14th century, remarkable for his skill in inlaying. In 1331 he superintended the decoration of the choir of the cathedral of Orvieto.
AMMANN, Johann, a German physician and botanist, was born at Schaffhausen in 1707. He prosecuted the study of medicine at Leyden, under the celebrated Boerhaave. In 1730 he visited London, and was elected in 1731 a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1733 he was elected professor of botany and natural history at St. Petersburg, and became a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences there. His Herbarium is now in the museum of that city. He published a work on the rarer Russian plants, and contributed several important botanical memoirs of the Transactions of the Academy. A genus Ammannia, in the natural order Lythraceæ, has been named in honour of him. He died at St. Petersburg in 1741.—J. H. B.
AMMANN, Paul, a German, physician and botanist, was born at Breslau on 31st August, 1634. He pursued his medical studies at different German universities, took the degree of doctor of medicine at Leipsic, and in 1664 was admitted into the Academia Cæsarea Naturæ Curiosoram, the chief natural history society of Germany. He became professor of medicine, and subsequently of botany and physiology at Leipsic. Ammann was an able winter, and a man of extensive learning. He seems, however, to have been of a caustic turn of mind, and disposed to be harsh in his criticisms. Though he wrote several medical works, his fame as a writer is chiefly connected with his botanical publications. These consist of his "Character Plantarum Materialis," in which he shows that the characters of plants, as regards classification, should be derived from the fructification. His "Suppellex Botanica" is an enumeration of the plants cultivated in the botanical and other gardens at Leipsic, as well as of those which grew in woods and meadows in the vicinity, with a short introduction to materia medica; and his "Hortus Bosianus" is a description of the exotics cultivated in that garden. He died at Leipsic on the 4th February, 1691.—J. H. B.
AMMAR-IBN-YASIR, surnamed Abou-l-Yokdhan, one of the most celebrated of the immediate followers of Mahomet, who on one occasion miraculously saved his disciples from being burnt alive by the inhabitants of Mecca. Ammar was present at the battle of the Camel in a.d. 657-58, and commanded the cavalry of Ali at the battle of Sefayr, where he fell at the age of ninety. Abdallah-Ibn-Said, grandson of Ammar, settling in Spain, founded the Moorish family of the Beni-Said.—A. M.
AMMIANUS, author of a considerable number of epigrams, to be found in the "Anthologia Græca." He lived during the reign of the Emperor Adrian, a.d. 117-138.—A. M.
AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, "the last subject of Rome who composed a profane history in the Latin language." He himself tells us that he was of Greek descent, and we gather from his reference to Antioch, as well as from a letter addressed to him still extant, that that city was his birth-place. He is supposed to have been of noble family, as he was admitted when a young man into the ranks of the "Domestic Protectors," a military body, composed entirely of the sons of the nobility and experienced officers. Some of the "Protectors" formed a body-guard for the emperor, while others were sent to distant provinces, under the highest military officers. The lot of the latter fell to Ammianus, who was sent by the Emperor Constantius to the East, under Ursicinus, the master of horse. With him he returned to Italy. He afterwards went to Gaul, and subsequently took part in the expedition which Julian, the successor of Constantius, undertook against the Persians. He then remained for some time at Antioch, and ultimately took up his residence in Rome, where he spent his last days, composing his history, and reading parts of it to delighted audiences. The first thirteen books of Ammianus' history are lost. The other eighteen extend from the seventeenth year of the reign of Constantius to the death of Valens. They deal principally with facts of which the writer was personally cognizant, and are remarkable for their impartiality. There is not the slightest reason for believing that he was a Christian.—J. D.
