two treatises rebutting P’ view that the intelligibles are outside the intellect
(18.11–17). Porphurios criticized Amelius for the “unphilosophical complexity” of his works
(21.17; cf. 20.76–80) and his naïve religiosity (10.33–34), suggesting rivalry between Plo ̄tinos’
two most prominent students.
Amelius’ own philosophical views, close to Plo ̄tinos’ by his own admission (Vit. Plot.
20.76–78), sometimes differed from them (17.41–42). Amelius upheld the existence of three
divine hupostaseis, but unlike Plo ̄tinos maintained (based on P, Timaeus 30c7–d1)
that all are intellects. Amelius commented on John 1.1 arguing that the logos of which John
speaks is the cause of all beings (E, PE 11.18.26–19.1). S reports (In Met.
119.12–15) that Amelius also maintained that human souls accommodate the Forms which
are present in nature as logoi and are the causes of everything.
L. Brisson, “Amélius: Sa vie, son oeuvre, sa doctrine, son style,” ANRW 2.36.2 (1987) 793–860; BNP 1
(2002) 575–576, Idem.
George Karamanolis
A ⇒ D
Ammo ̄n (Metrol.) (395 – 405 CE)
One of the extant fragments (fr. 41 Blockley), preserved by Pho ̄tios, Bibl. 80 (63a), from
the history of O T refers to Ammo ̄n the geo ̄metre ̄s. His name is
typically Egyptian, and he was not simply a “land surveyor,” but probably an “architect,”
according to the three official titles listed in Theodosian Code, 13.4.3. Ammo ̄n is said to have
carried out the measurement of the perimeter of Rome’s city walls when “the Goths were
about to launch the first attack on her.” Therefore, he may have surveyed the wall after the
original circuit was completed and restored under Honorius 402– 3 CE and before 410 CE,
when Alaric plundered Rome. According to Olumpiodo ̄ros, Ammo ̄n’s survey was 21
Roman miles, but this record is obviously corrupt, since the actual circuit is only about 12½.
RE 1.2 (1894) 1857–1858 (#2), Fr. Hultsch; I.A. Richmond, The City Wall of Imperial Rome (1930; repr.
1971) 25, 35.
Mauro de Nardis
Ammo ̄n (Astrol.) (ca 100 BCE – ca 400 CE?)
Poetical astrologer, from whose Concerning Beginnings (peri katarkho ̄n) two fragments
(19 hexameters) were preserved in the scholia to Tzetze ̄s, Allegoriai Iliadis 7.117; he is cited by
name at 7.126. Ammo ̄n interprets the moon in tropic signs as indicating the falsity of
oracles and dreams, and swift homeward return for travelers (cf. M 6.359–360); in
solid signs the moon presages illness, but slow return for travelers. The dedicatee of
H T’ Iatromathe ̄matika is an Ammo ̄n, who if not the Egyptian god
might be an astrological Ammo ̄n, such as ours.
Ed.: A. Ludwich, Maximi et Ammonis carminum (1877) 52–54.
RE 1.2 (1894) 1858 (#3), E. Riess.
GLIM
AMMO ̄N (ASTROL.)