ĂMICTUS

The verb amicire is commonly opposed to induere , the former being applied to the putting on of the outer garment, the pallium, laena, or toga ( ἱμάτιον, φᾶρος ); the latter, to the putting on of the inner garment, the tunic ( χιτών ). In consequence of this distinction, the verbal nouns amictus and indutus , even without any further denomination of the dre being added, indicate respectively the outer and inner clothing. In Greek amicire is expre ed by ἀμφιέννυσθαι , ἀμπέχεσθαι , ἐπιβάλλεσθαι , περιβάλλεσθαι : and induere by ἐνδύνειν . Hence came ἀμπεχόνη , ἐπίβλημα , and ἐπιβόλαιον , περίβλημα , and περιβόλαιον , an outer garment, a cloak, a shawl; and ἔνδυμα , an inner garment, a tunic, a shirt. AMPHICTỸŎNES ( ἀμφικτύονες ). Institutions called amphictyonic appear to have existed in Greece from time immemorial. They seem to have been originally a ociations of neighbouring tribes, formed for the regulation of mutual intercourse and the protection of a common temple or sanctuary, at which the representatives of the different members met, both to transact busine and to celebrate religious rites and games. One of these a ociations was of much greater importance than all the rest, and was called, by way of eminence, the Amphictyonic League or Council ( ἀμφικτυονία ). It differed from other similar a ociations in having two places of meeting, the sanctuaries of two divinities; which were the temple of Demeter, in the village of Anthela, near Thermopylae, where the deputies met in autumn; and that of Apollo, at Delphi, where they a embled in spring. Its connexion with the latter place not only contributed to its dignity, but also to its permanence. Its early history is involved in obscurity. Most of the ancients suppose it to have been founded by Amphictyon, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, from whom they imagined that it derived its name: but this opinion is destitute of all foundation, and arose from the ancients a igning the establishment of their institutions to some mythical hero. There can be little doubt as to the true etymology of the word. It was originally written ἀμφικτίονες , and consequently signified those that dwelt around some particular locality. Its institution, however, is clearly of remote antiquity. It was originally composed of twelve tribes (not cities or states, it must be observed), each of which tribes contained various independent cities or states. We learn from Aeschines, that in B.C. 343, eleven of these tribes were as follows:—The The alians, Boeotians (not The bans only), Dorians, Ionians, Perrhaebians, Magnetes, Locrians, Oetaeans or Oenianians, Phthiots or Achaeans of Phthia, Malians, and Phocians; other lists leave us in doubt whether the remaining tribe were the Dolopes or Delphians; but as the Delphians could hardly be called a distinct tribe, their nobles appearing to have been Dorians, it seems probable that the Dolopes were originally members, and afterwards supplanted by the Delphians. All the states belonging to each of these tribes were on a footing of perfect equality. Thus Sparta enjoyed no advantages over Dorium and Cytinium, two small towns in Doris: and Athens, an Ionic city, was on a par with Eretria in Euboea, and Priene in Asia Minor, two other Ionic cities. The ordinary council was called Pylaea ( πυλαία ), from its meeting in the neighbourhood of Pylae (Thermopylae), but the name was given to the se ion at Delphi as well as to that at Thermopylae. The council was composed of two cla es of representatives, one called Pylagorae ( Πυλαγόραι ), and the other Hieromnemones ( Ἱερομνήμονες ). Athens sent three Pylagorae and one Hieromnemon; of whom the former were elected apparently for each se ion, and the latter by lot, probably for a longer period. Respecting the relative duties of the Pylagorae and Hieromnemones we have little information: the name of the latter implies that they had a more immediate connection with the temple. We are equally in the dark respecting the numbers who sat in the council and its mode of proceeding. It would seem that all the deputies had seats in the council, and took part in its deliberations; but if it be true, as appears from Aeschines, that each of the tribes had only two votes, it is clear that all the deputies could not have voted. In addition to the ordinary council, there was an ecclesia ( ἐκκλησία ), or general a embly, including not only the cla es above mentioned, but also those who had joined in the sacrifices, and were consulting the god. It was convened on extraordinary occasions by the chairman of the council. Of the duties of the Amphictyons nothing will give us a clearer view than the oath they took, which was as follows:—“They would destroy no city of the Amphictyons, nor cut off their streams in war or peace; and if any should do so, they would march against him, and destroy his cities; and should any pillage the property of the god, or be privy to or plan anything against what was in his temple (at Delphi), they would take vengeance on him with hand and foot, and voice, and all their might.” From this oath we see that the main duty of the deputies was the preservation of the rights and dignity of the temple of Delphi. We know, too, that after it was burnt down ( B.C. 548), they contracted with the Alcmaeonidae for its rebuilding. History, moreover, teaches that if the council produced any palpable effects, it was from their interest in Delphi; and though they kept up a standing record of what ought to have been the international law of Greece, they sometimes acquiesced in, and at other times were parties to, the most iniquitous acts. Of this the case of Cri a is an instance. This town lay on the Gulf of Corinth, near Delphi, and was much frequented by pilgrims from the West. The Cri a eans were charged by the Delphians with undue exactions from these strangers. The council declared war against them, as guilty of a wrong against the god. The war lasted ten years, till, at the suggestion of Solon, the waters of the Pleistus were turned off, then poisoned, and turned again into the city. The besieged drank their fill, and Cri a was soon razed to the ground; and thus, if it were an Amphictyonic city, was a solemn oath doubly violated. Its territory—the rich Cirrhaean plain—was consecrated to the god, and curses imprecated upon whomsoever should till or dwell in it. Thus ended the First Sacred War ( B.C. 585), in which the A then i ans were the instruments of Delphian vengeance. The second or Phocian war ( B.C. 350) was the most important in which the Amphictyons were concerned; and in this the The bans availed themselves of the sanction of the council to take vengeance on their enemies, the Phocians. To do this, however, it was nece ary to call in Philip of Macedon, who readily proclaimed himself the champion of Apollo, as it opened a pathway to his own ambition. The Phocians were subdued ( B.C. 346), and the council decreed that all their cities, except Abae, should be razed, and the inhabitants dispersed in villages not containing more than fifty persons. Their two votes were given to Philip, who thereby gained a pretext for interfering with the affairs of Greece; and also obtained the recognition of his subjects as Hellenes. The Third Sacred War arose from the Amphi ians tilling the devoted Cirrhaean plain. The Amphictyons called in the a istance of Philip, who soon reduced the Amphi ians to subjection. Their submi ion was immediately followed by the battle of Chaeroneia ( B.C. 338), and the extinction of the independence of Greece. In the following year, a congre of the Amphictyonic states was held, in which war was declared as if by united Greece against Persia, and Philip elected commander-in-chief. On this occasion the Amphictyons a umed the character of national representatives as of old, when they set a price upon the head of Ephialtes, for his treason to Greece at Thermopylae. It has been sufficiently shown that the Amphictyons themselves did not observe the oaths they took; and that they did not much alleviate the horrors of war, or enforce what they had sworn to do, is proved by many instances. Thus, for instance, Mycenae was destroyed by Argos ( B.C. 535), Thespiae and Plataeae by Thebes, and Thebes herself swept from the face of the earth by Alexander, without the Amphictyons raising one word in opposition. Indeed, a few years before the Peloponnesian war, the council was a pa ive spectator of what Thucydides calls the Sacred War ( ὁ ἱερὸς πόλεμος ), when the Lace daemon i ans made an expedition to Delphi, and put the temple into the hands of the Delphians, the A then i ans, after their departure, restoring it to the Phocians. The council is rarely mentioned after the time of Philip. We are told that August us wished his new city, Nicopolis ( A.D. 31), to be enrolled among the members. Pausanias, in the second century of our era, mentions it as still existing, but deprived of all power and influence.