et twice a year, sitting alternately at Thermopylae
and Delphi, to settle any differences that might arise between them, the
decisions of which were several times enforced by arms, and gave rise to
what were called _sacred wars_, of which there were three; it was
originally instituted for the conservation of religious interests.

AMPHI`ON, a son of Zeus and Antiope, who is said to have invented
the lyre, and built the walls of Thebes by the sound of it, a feat often
alluded to as an instance of the miraculous power of music.

AMPHISBAENA, a genus of limbless lizards; a serpent fabled to have
two heads and to be able to move backward or forward.

AM`PHITRITE, a daughter of Oceanus or Nereus, the wife of Neptune,
mother of Triton, and goddess of the sea.

AMPHIT`RYON, the king of Tiryns, and husband of Alcmene, who became
by him the mother of Iphicles, and by Zeus the mother of Hercules.

AMPHITRYON THE TRUE, the real host, the man who provides the feast,
as Zeus proved himself to the household to be when he visited Alcmene.

AM`RAN RANGE, pronounced the "scientific frontier" of India towards
Afghanistan.

AMRIT`SAR (136), a sacred city of the Sikhs in the Punjab, and a
great centre of trade, 32 m. E. of Lahore; is second to Delhi in Northern
India; manufactures cashmere shawls.

AM`RU, a Mohammedan general under the Caliph Omar, conquered Egypt
among other military achievements; he is said to have executed the order
of the Caliph Omar for burning the library of Alexandria; _d_. 663.

AMSTERDAM (456), the capital of Holland, a great trading city and
port at the mouth of the Amsel, on the Zuyder Zee, resting on 90 islands
connected by 300 bridges, the houses built on piles of wood driven into
the marshy ground; is a largely manufacturing place, as well as an
emporium of trade, one special industry being the cutting of diamonds and
jewels; birthplace of Spinoza.

AMUR`, a large eastward-flowing river, partly in Siberia and partly
in China, which, after a course of 3060 m., falls into the Sea of
Okhotsk.

AMURNATH, a place of pilgrimage in Cashmere, on account of a cave
believed to be the dwelling-place of Siva.

AMYOT, JACQUES, grand-almoner of France and bishop of Auxerre; was
of humble birth; was tutor of Charles, who appointed him grand-almoner;
he was the translator, among other works, of Plutarch into French, which
remains to-day one of the finest monuments of the old literature of