Athenian, whose grandmother—also named Agariste, daughter of the tyrant CLEISTHENES OF SICYON—had married MEGACLES (II) of the ALCMAEONIDAE family of ATHENS. The younger Agariste was the niece (not the granddaughter, as mistakenly in Plut. Per. 3.1) of the Athenian political reformer CLEISTHENES SON OF MEGACLES, whose legislative reforms in 508/7 BCE transformed Athens into a DEMOCRACY. She was married to XANTHIPPUS and was the mother of PERICLES. Herodotus (6.131.2) reports that Agariste had a DREAM while pregnant, that she gave birth to a LION, and a few days later Pericles was born. This is the sole mention of her in the Histories. PLUTARCH follows Herodotus and reports the dream (Plut. Per. 3.1–2), which is as usual a post‐eventum fabrication either of Agariste’s or tradition in general, and follows the pattern of omens and portents prior to or accompanying births, such as that presaging the greatness of the Athenian tyrant PEISISTRATUS (1.159).
SEE ALSO: Agariste (I) daughter of Cleisthenes; Hippocrates (3) son of Megacles; Symbols and Signs; Tyrants; Women in the Histories
FURTHER READING
1 McNellen, Brad. 1997. “Herodotean Symbolism: Pericles as Lion Cub.” ICS 22: 11–23.
AGASICLES (Ἀγασικλέης, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
A man from HALICARNASSUS (Herodotus’ native city) who won a victory at the games held at the sanctuary of Triopian APOLLO, but defied the custom of dedicating his prize—a BRONZE tripod—to the god on the spot and instead displayed it at his home (1.144.3). As a result of this breach of custom (NOMOS), Herodotus says, Halicarnassus was excluded from participating in the games by the other five Dorian CITIES (pentapolis) who controlled access to the sanctuary (LINDUS, IALYSUS, CAMIRUS, COS, CNIDUS).
SEE ALSO: Athletes and Athletic Games; Dedications; Dorians; Triopium; Tripod
FURTHER READING
1 Lloyd‐Jones, Hugh. 1999. “The Pride of Halicarnassus.” ZPE 124: 1–14.
AGASICLES (Spartan king) , see HEGESICLES
AGATHOERGI (ἀγαθοεργοί, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Herodotus mentions in passing a group at SPARTA called the Agathoergi (“Doers of Good Deeds”), composed of the eldest five men who leave the Spartan CAVALRY service each year; for that next year, they serve the state on missions requiring TRAVEL outside SPARTA (1.67.5). This is the only extant ancient reference to such a group. The name did appear in lexicographers of the Roman era (e.g., Hesychius α 251); at some point in the Byzantine period, an explanation was added that the Agathoergi were selected “on the basis of manly excellence by (?) the EPHORS” (Suda s.v. ἀγαθοεργοί (A 115)). Whether this claim rested on any ancient evidence is uncertain, and the attempt to see this as a fragment of the fourth‐century BCE historian EPHORUS lacks support (Cunningham 2011; cf. BNJ 70 F239).
SEE ALSO: Lichas
REFERENCE
1 Cunningham, I. C. 2011. “Not a New Fragment of Ephorus.” CQ 61.1: 312–14.
FURTHER READING
1 Figueira, Thomas. 2006. “The Spartan hippeis.” In Sparta and War, edited by Stephen Hodkinson and Anton Powell, 57–84. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
AGATHYRSIANS (Ἀγάθυρσοι, οἱ)
CARLO SCARDINO
Heinrich‐Heine‐Universität Düsseldorf
A Scythian or northern Thracian tribe which lived in the Carpathian Mountains between the upper reaches of the MARIS (modern Mureș) and ISTER (Danube) rivers (4.48.4). Later this people was known as the Dacae (Dacians), with whom perhaps they had merged. The Agathyrsians are a northern neighbor of the SCYTHIANS (4.100.2, 102.2). Although Herodotus does not say so explicitly, they probably stem from the Greek MYTH of AGATHYRSUS, a son of HERACLES and a Scythian snake‐goddess Echidna (4.10; Hes. Theog. 295–318). Herodotus describes their customs as being very similar to the Thracians’ and mentions how the men wear GOLD jewelry and share their women in common, which—as later in Plato’s Republic (462)—has a pacifying effect on the society (4.104). The relationship with the Scythians was not unproblematic: SPARGAPEITHES, a king of the Agathyrsians, was involved in the death of the Scythian king ARIAPEITHES (4.78.2). During DARIUS I’s expedition (c. 513 BCE) the Agathyrsians, together with neighboring peoples, refused to help the Scythians, because they had attacked the Persians on their own and without provocation, as they argue in a SPEECH emphasizing the topic of justice (4.119). When the Scythians flee before Darius, the Agathyrsians rush to defend their own borders and forbid the Scythians from marching through their land (4.125.4–5). Later authors mentioning the Agathyrsians are EPHORUS (BNJ 70 F158) and ARISTOTLE ([Pr.] 920a1); Vergil remarks on their tattoos (Aen. 4.146); Pliny the Elder (HN 4.26) and Ammianus Marcellinus (31.2.14) locate the people further east in the region of Crimea and the Sea of Azov.
SEE ALSO: Ethnography; Thrace
FURTHER READING
1 Patsch, Carl. 1925. “Die Völkerschaft der Agathyrsen.” AAWW 62: 69–77.
AGATHYRSUS (Ἀγάθυρσος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Mythical, oldest son of HERACLES and a snake‐goddess of SCYTHIA (4.10.1–2). Herodotus recounts the tale of Agathyrsus’ and his brothers’ birth as the version of the Scythian foundation story told by the Greeks living around the EUXINE (Black) Sea (4.8–10), though artistic and other evidence points ultimately to a Scythian origin for the legend (Ivantchik 2001). Agathyrsus and GELONUS fail to draw their father’s bow and put on his belt and are banished from Scythia, while their younger brother SCYTHES accomplishes those tasks and becomes the first Scythian king. All three names are eponyms of Scythian tribes.
SEE ALSO: Agathyrsians; Gelonians; Myth; Olbia; Snakes
REFERENCE
1 Ivantchik, Askold. 2001. “La légende ‘grecque’ sur l’origine des Scythes (Hérodote 4.8–10).” In Origines Gentium: Textes, edited by Valérie Fromentin and Sophie Gotteland, 207–21. Pessac: Ausonius.
AGBALUS ( Ἄγβαλος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic,
