Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/83

Rh AGA′THOCLES (Ἀγαθοκλῆς). 1. The father of Lysimachus, was a Thessalian Penest, but obtained the favour of Philip through flattery, and was raised by him to high rank. (Theopompus, apud Athen. vi. p. 259f., &c.; Arrian, Arr. Anab. 6.28. Ind. 18.)

2. The son of Lysimachus by an Odrysian woman, whom Polyaenus (6.12) calls Macris. Agathocles was sent by his father against the Getae, about B. C. 292, but was defeated and taken prisoner. He was kindly treated by Dromichaetis, the king of the Getae, and sent back to his father with presents; but Lysimachus, notwithstanding, marched against the Getae, and was taken prisoner himself. He too was also released by Dromichaetis, who received in consequence the daughter of Lysimachus in marriage. According to some authors it was only Agathocles, and according to others only Lysimachus, who was taken prisoner. (Diod. Exc. xxi. p. 559, ed. Wess.; Paus. 1.9.7; Strab. vii. pp. 302, 305; Plut. Demetr. c. 39, de ser. num. vind. p. 555d.) In B. C. 287, Agathocles was sent by his father against Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had marched into Asia to deprive Lysimachus of Lydia and Caria. In this expedition he was successful; he defeated Lysimachus and drove him out of his father's provinces. (Plut. Demetr. c. 46.) Agathocles was destined to be the successor of Lysimachus, and was popular along his subjects; but his step-mother, Arsinoe, prejudiced the mind of his father against him; and after an unsuccessful attempt to poison him, Lysimachus cast him into prison, where he was murdered (B. C. 284) by Ptolemaeus Ceraunus, who was a fugitive at the court of Lysimachus. His widow Lysandra fled with his children, and Alexander, his brother, to Seleucus in Asia, who made war upon Lysimachus in consequence. (Memnon, apud Phot. Cod. 124, pp. 225, 226, ed. Bekker; Paus. 1.10; Justin, 17.1.)

 AGA′THOCLES (Ἀγαθοκλῆς), a Greek historian, who wrote the history of Cyzicus (περὶ Κυζίκου). He is called by Athenaeus both a Babylonian (i. p. 30a. ix. p. 375a) and a Cyzican. (xiv. p. 649f.) He may originally have come from Babylon, and have settled at Cyzicus. The first and third books are referred to by Athenaeus. (ix. p. 375f., xii. p. 515a.) and it seems to have been extensively read in antiquity, as it is also referred to by Cicero (de Div. 1.24), Pliny (Hist. Nat. Elenchus of books iv. v. vi), and other ancient writers. Agathocles also spoke of the origin of Rome. (Festus, s. v. Romam; Solinus, Polyh. 1.) The scholiast on Apollonius (4.761) cites Memoirs (ὑπομνήματα) by an Agathocles, who is usually supposed to be the same as the above-mentioned one. (Compare Schol. ad Hes. Theog. 485; Steph. Byz. s. v. Βέσβικος; Etymol. M. s. v. Δίκτη.)

There are several other writers of the same name. 1. Agathocles of Atrax, who wrote a work on fishing (ἁλιευτικά, Suidas, s. v. Κικίλιος). 2. Of Chios, who wrote a work on agriculture. (Varro and Colum. de Re Rust. i. 1; Plin. H. N. xxii. 44.) 3. Of Miletus, who wrote a work on rivers. (Plut. de Fluv. p. 1153, c.) 4. Of Samos, who wrote a work on the constitution of Pessinus. (Plut. Ibid. p. 1159, a.)

 AGA′THOCLES, brother of Agathoclea. [.]

 AGATHODAEMON (Ἀγαθοδαίμων or Ἀγαθὸς Δεὸς), the "Good God," a divinity in honour of whom the Greeks drank a cup of unmixed wine at the end of every repast. A temple dedicated to him was situated on the road from Megalopolis to Maenalus in Arcadia. Pausanias (8.36.3) conjectures that the name is a mere epithet of Zeus. (Comp. Lobeck, ad Phrynich. p. 603.)

 AGATHODAEMON (Ἀγαθοδαίμων), a native of Alexandria. All that is known of him is, that he was the designer of some maps to accompany Ptolemy's Geography. Copies of these maps are found appended to several MSS. of Ptolemy. One of these is at Vienna, another at Venice. At the end of each of these MSS. is the following notice: Ἐκ τῶν Κλαυδίου Πτολεμαίου Γεωγραφικῶν βιβλίων ὄκτω τὴν οἰκουμένην πᾶσαν Ἀγαθοδαίμων Ἀλεξανδρεὺς ὑπετύπωσε (Agath. of Alexandria delineated the whole inhabited world according to the eight books on Geography of Cl. Ptolemeaus). The Vienna MS. of Ptolemy is one of the most beautiful extant. The maps attached to it, 27 in number, comprising 1 general map, 10 maps of Europe, 4 of Africa, and 12 of Asia, are coloured, the water being green, the mountains red or dark yellow, and the land white. The climates, parallels, and the hours of the longest day, are marked on the East margin of the maps, and the meridians on the North and South. We have no evidence as to when Agathodaemon lived, as the only notice preserved respecting him is that quoted above. There was a grammarian of the same name, to whom some extant letters of Isidore of Pelusium are addressed. Some have thought him to be the Agathodaemon in question. Heeren, however, considers the delineator of the maps to have been a contemporary of Ptolemy, who (8.1, 2) mentions certain maps or tables (πίνακες), which agree in number and arrangement with those of Agathodaemon in the MSS. Various errors having in the course of time crept into the copies of the maps of Agathodaemon, Nicolaus Donis, a Benedictine monk, who flourished about A. D. 1470, restored and corrected them, substituting Latin for Greek names. His maps are appended to the Ebnerian MS. of Ptolemy. They are the same in number and nearly the same in order with those of Agathodaemon. (Heeren, Commentatio de Fontibus Geograph. Ptolemaei Tabularumque iis annexarum ; Raidel, Commentatio critico-litcraria de Cl. Ptolemaei Geographia ejusque codicibus, p. 7.)

 A′GATHON the son of the Macedonian Philotas, and the brother of Parmenion and Asander, was given as a hostage to Antigonus in B. C. 313, by his brother Asander, who was satrap of Caria, but was taken back again by Asander in a few days. (Diod. xix. 75.) Agathon had a son, named Asander, who is mentioned in a Greek inscription. (Böckh, Corp. Inscr. 105.)

 A′GATHON, an Athenian tragic poet, was born about B. C. 447, and sprung from a rich and respectable family. He was consequently contemporary with Socrates and Alcibiades and the other distinguished characters of their age, with many of whom he was on terms of intimate acquaintance. Amongst these was his friend Euripides. He was remarkable for the handsomeness of his person and his various accomplishments. (Plat. Protag. p. 156, b.) He gained his first victory at the Lenaean festival in B. C. 416, when 