Born a priest's son in Kaluga, Russian Empire, he was trained as a lawyer but became a journalist and popular novelist.

An Italian exile provided him with plenty of sources and evidence, and exposed him to leading European scholars, and in 1913 he completed Nero: The Beast out of the Bottomless Pit ("Зверь из бездны.

Нерон", referring to Book of Revelation 11:7), a life story of Emperor Nero that evolved into a comprehensive encyclopedia of Rome at the end of Julio-Claudian dynasty and a critical review of contemporary historical concepts.

"Versatile and topical, but smartly superficial, Amfiteatrov catered for the general reader whose taste he knew to perfection" (Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World Literature, ed.

In 1916 Amfiteatrov returned to the Russian Empire and became editor of the nationalist newspaper Russkaya volya.