Amphipolis (Hastings' Dictionary)
Amphipolis, men- tioned in Ac 17' as a stage in St. Paul's mission- i'ourney from Philippi to Thessalonica, was a city of ilaeedonia. It was situated on the eastern bank of the river Stryraon, about 3 miles from the sea, closer to which lay its seaport Eion. The river, on leaving Lake Cercinitis, winds in a semi- circle round the base of a terraced hill, on which the town was built, protected by the river on three Bides, and by a wall along the landward chord of the arc.
It was, as Thucydides (iv. 102) says, conspicuous (■wipitpavi)!) toward sea and land ; and this is probably the import of its name, ' the all- around (visible) city ' (Classen, in loc, who suggests the parallel of Umbstadt in Upper Hesse). Its importance, already marked by its earlier name 'Nine Ways' ('Ew^a 65o/), made its possession keenly contested, alike on military and mercantile grounds. The Athenians founded a colonj under Hagnon in B.C.
437, which presented a history of chequered fortunes and varied interest, in its surrender to Brasidas, the fight under its walls between Brasidas and Cleon in which both fell, its refusal to submit again to the mother-city, its repeated attempts to assert its independence, till it passed into the pos- session of the Macedonians under Perdiccas and Philip, and eventually into that of the Romans. By these A.
was constituted a free city, and made the capital of the first of the four districts into which, in B.C. 167, they divided the province (Liv. xlv. 18. 29). The Via En^iatia passed through it. It was called in the Middle Ages Popolia (Tafel, Thessal. p. 498 f.), and is now represented by a village called Neochori, in Turkish Jenikoei (see plan in Leake, N.G. ii. 191). Zoilus, the carping critic of Homer, was a native, and wrote a history of it in three books (Suidas, s.v.) William P. Dickson.
AMPLIATUS ('AaiitXiotos, RV correctly with y A B F G, Vulg. Boh. Orig., for TR 'AmtXiSs, D E L P, AV Amplias, the abbrev. form). — A Chris- tian greeted by St. Paul (Ro 16') as the ' beloved in the Lord.' It is a very common Roman slave name. (Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 172; CIL vi. 4899, 5154, etc.) Some further interest attaches to the name. It occurs in one of the earliest chambers of the Cata- comb of St.
Domitilla, inscribed in large, bold letters over a cell belonging to the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd cent. A later inscription in the same chamber also contains the same name. The simplicity of the earliest inscription suggests a slave, and the prominence assigned to the name suggests that it belonged to some prominent member of the early Roman Church, perhaps a member of the household of Domitilla. LtTERATCRB.— De Rossi. BxUl. Arch. Chrit. Ser. III. vol. vi. 881) lip.
57-74 ; Atheiueum, March 4, 1884, p. 2S« ; Sanday and '.eadlam, ifomaru, p. 424. \^ (^\ IIkADLAM.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Amphipolis
Amphipolis am-fip'-o-lis (Amphipolis): A town in Macedonia, situated on the eastern bank of the Strymon (modern Struma or Karasu) some three miles from its mouth, near the point where it flows out of Lake Prasias or Cercinitis. It lay on a terraced hill, protected on the North, West and South by the river, on the East by a wall (Thuc. iv.102), while its harbor-town of Eion lay on the coast close to the river's mouth. The name is derived either from its being nearly surrounded by the stream or from its being conspicuous on every side, a fact to which Thucydides draws attention (in the place cited). It was at first called Ennea Hodoi, Nine Ways, a name which suggests its importance both strategically and commercially. It guarded the main route from Thrace into Macedonia and later became an important station on the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road from Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic to the Hebrus (Maritza), and it was the center of a fertile district producing wine, oil, figs and timber in abundance and enriched by gold and silver mines and considerable manufactures, especially of woolen…
Smith's Bible Dictionary on Amphipolis
(a city surrounded by the sea), a city of Macedonia, through which Paul and Silas passed on their way from Philippi to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1) It was distant 33 Roman miles from Philippi, to the southwest, and about three miles from the sea. Its site is now occupied by a village called Neokhorio ; in Turkish Jeni-Keni, or “New Town.”
Fausset's Bible Dictionary on Amphipolis
A Macedonian city, through which Paul and Silas passed, by the Ignatian Way, in journeying from Philippi (33 Roman miles distant) to Thessalonica (Act 17:1). Their not staying there may have been because there were few, if any, Jews in it: and they hastened on to Thessalonica, "where was a synagogue of Jews," affording the suitable starting point for a Christian church. It means the city (almost) surrounded by the river Strymon, three miles from its entrance into the sea. An Athenian colony. Its commercial situation, and the neighboring woods of Kerkine, and gold mines of mount Pangtens, gave it importance; also memorable in the Peloponnesian war for the battle fought at it, in which Brasidas and Cleon were killed. The site is now occupied by the village Neokhorio.
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia