Lake Trichonis formed the heartland of the Aetolian tribal league, while the Aetolian settlements in the coastal region had developed into independent poleis and detached themselves from the tribal organization (Thuc. 3.102.5; Bommeljé 1988). The reintegration of the coast was closely connected with the transformation of Aetolia from a tribal state into a federation in the late classical and Hellenistic periods (Funke 2015).
Herodotus mentions Aetolia only in passing as a remote place of refuge of TITORMUS (6.127.2; cf. Ael. VH 12.22). Furthermore, Herodotus refers to the Aetolians as a tribe that immigrated into the PELOPONNESE and settled in ELIS (8.73.2). This narrative is closely connected with the MYTH of the return of the HERACLEIDAE and the genesis of Elean ETHNICITY (Gehrke 2005).
SEE ALSO: Hellas; Migration
REFERENCES
1 Bommeljé, Sebastian. 1988. “Aeolis in Aetolia: Thuc. 3.102.5 and the Origin of the Aetolian Ethnos.” Historia 37: 297–316.
2 Funke, Peter. 2015. “Aitolia and the Aitolian League.” In Federalism in Greek Antiquity, edited by Hans Beck and Peter Funke, 86–117. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3 Gehrke, Hans‐Joachim. 2005. “Zur elischen Ethnizität.” In Gegenwärtige Antike—antike Gegenwarten. Kolloquium zum 60. Geburtstag von Rolf Rilinger, edited by Tassilo Schmitt, Winfried Schmitz, and Aloys Winterling, 17–47. Munich: Oldenbourg.
FURTHER READING
1 Philippson, Alfred. 1958. Die griechischen Landschaften. Eine Landeskunde Vol. II.2, Das westliche Mittelgriechenland und die westgriechischen Inseln, edited by Ernst Kirsten. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann.
2 Taita, Julia. 2000. “Gli Αἰτωλoί di Olimpia. L’identità etnica delle comunità di vicinato del santuario olimpico.” Tyche 15: 147–88.
AFRICA , see LIBYA
AFTERLIFE , see DEATH; HADES
AGAEUS (Ἀγαῖος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of ONOMASTUS of ELIS in the PELOPONNESE. Onomastus came to SICYON as a suitor of AGARISTE, Cleisthenes’ daughter, in the sixth century BCE (6.127.3). Nothing more is known of Agaeus.
SEE ALSO: Cleisthenes of Sicyon
AGAMEMNON (Ἀγαμέμνων, ὁ)
VASILIKI ZALI
University of Liverpool
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the king of ARGOS or MYCENAE, son of ATREUS (or of his son Pleisthenes) and Aerope, brother of MENELAUS, husband of Clytemnestra and father of ORESTES (1.67.2), IPHIGENEIA (4.103.2, or Iphianassa), Electra (Laodice), and Chrysothemis. In Homeric EPIC he is the leader of the Greek forces in the TROJAN WAR and contributes the greatest fleet (Il. 2.569–80). He was murdered by Aegisthus, Clytemnestra’s lover, upon his return from TROY, and his death was avenged by his son Orestes (Od. 3.248–312). Agamemnon’s MYTH was very popular especially with the Athenian tragedians, who added their own variations to the story. In historical times, Agamemnon was held to be the king of SPARTA and had his own cult. His tomb was allegedly located in Spartan Amyclae (Paus. 3.19.6). Already from the sixth century BCE Sparta forged bonds with Agamemnon in an attempt to justify leadership of the PELOPONNESE and Greece. Herodotus (7.159) testifies to this tendency when he has SYAGRUS, the Spartan envoy sent to GELON of SYRACUSE to ask for help against PERSIA in 480, use Agamemnon as an argument to claim Spartan leadership of the Greek forces.
SEE ALSO: Talthybius; Tragedy
FURTHER READING
1 Hooker, J. T. 1989. “Spartan Propaganda.” In Classical Sparta: Techniques Behind Her Success, edited by Anton Powell, 122–41. London: Routledge.
2 Salapata, Gina. 2011. “The Heroic Cult of Agamemnon.” Electra 1: 39–60.
3 Taplin, Oliver. 1990. “Agamemnon’s Role in the Iliad.” In Characterization and Individuality in Greek Literature, edited by Christopher Pelling, 60–82. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
AGARISTE (I) (Ἀγαρίστη, ἡ) daughter of Cleisthenes
MATTHEW DILLON
University of New England, Australia
Herodotus records a long narrative concerning how Agariste’s father, the tyrant CLEISTHENES OF SICYON (c. 600–570 BCE), selected her husband (6.126–31), which is part of his discourse defending the ALCMAEONIDAE from the charge of MEDISM (6.121–31). Agariste was Cleisthenes’ only daughter, and he obviously intended a very good match for her. Suitors were invited from all over Greece to come to SICYON for one year, while he assessed their suitability to be Agariste’s husband in terms of their “manly‐excellence” (ARETĒ), temper, upbringing, and way of life. Most of the suitors were the sons of famous men, but descent was not the criterion by which Cleisthenes was judging. His choice narrowed to HIPPOCLEIDES of ATHENS, connected to the Corinthian TYRANTS, and MEGACLES (II), also of Athens, of the Alcmaeonid clan. When Hippocleides shocked Cleisthenes by dancing on his head on a table at the FEAST at which the successful suitor was to be announced, Cleisthenes awarded his daughter to Megacles. This will hardly have been the real motivation (if the dancing actually occurred), and Cleisthenes was presumably seeking a suitable political connection, as Megacles’ father ALCMAEON was of legendary WEALTH. Agariste’s son Cleisthenes was named for her father, indicating that Megacles was keen to advertise his connection with Sicyon. This Cleisthenes reformed the Athenian state into a DEMOCRACY in 508/7 BCE. The historical incident of the MARRIAGE contest may well have been embellished by the Alcmaeonidae to highlight their connection with Sicyon and Megacles’ success in winning the hand of Agariste, and Herodotus (6.126.1) saw the marriage as elevating the status of the clan. A daughter (unnamed) from this marriage was given by Megacles to the Athenian tyrant PEISISTRATUS as his second wife ([Arist.] Ath. pol. 14.4–15.1) in the early 550s.
SEE ALSO: Agariste (II) daughter of Hippocrates; Cleisthenes son of Megacles; Competition; Short Stories; Women in the Histories
FURTHER READING
1 Lavelle, Brian M. 2014. “Hippokleides, the ‘Dance’, and the Panathenaia.” GRBS 54.3: 314–41.
2 Müller, Carl Werner. 2006. Legende—Novelle—Roman. Dreizehn Kapitel zur erzählenden Prosaliteratur der Antike, 225–76. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
3 Papakonstantinou, Zinon. 2010. “Agariste’s Suitors: Sport, Feasting and Elite Politics in Sixth‐Century Greece.” Nikephoros 23: 71–93.
4 West, Stephanie. 2015. “Agariste’s Betrothal: The Adaptability of a Cautionary Tale.” Lucida Intervalla 44: 7–34.
AGARISTE (II) (Ἀγαρίστη, ἡ) daughter of Hippocrates (3)
MATTHEW
