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AMESTRATA

Volume 1 · 81 words · 1778 Edition

a town of Sicily, (Cicero); Amestratia, (Stephanus); Amasitra, (Silius Italicus); Mutistrator, (Polybius); now Mistretta, in the Val di Demons, on the river Hafleus; a very strong fort of the Carthaginians, besieged in vain by the Romans for seven months with considerable loss; at length, after another siege, taken and razed, (Diodor. Siculus.) The appellation is Phoenician, according to Bochart, Math-Alfrata, and Am-Alfrata, the city and people of the goddesse Athurte. The inhabitants are called by Cicero Amestratini, and Mutistratini by Pliny.