Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/93

Rh AGO'NIUS (Ἀγώνιος), a surname or epithet of several gods. Aeschylus (Aesch. Ag. 513) and Sophocles (Soph. Trach. 26) use it of Apollo and Zeus, and apparently in the sense of helpers in struggles and contests. (Comp. Eustath. ad Il. p. 1335.) But Agonius is more especially used as a surname of Hermes, who presides over all kinds of solemn contests. (Ἀγώνες, Paus. 5.14.7; Pind. O. 6.133, with the Schol.)

AGORA'CRITUS (Ἀγοράκριτος), a famous statuary and sculptor, born in the island of Paros, who flourished from about Ol. 85 to Ol. 88. (Plin. Nat. 36.5. s. 4.) He was the favourite pupil of Phidias (Paus. 9.34.1), who is even said by Pliny to have inscribed some of his own works with the name of his disciple. Only four of his productions are mentioned, viz. a statue of Zeus and one of the Itonian Athene in the temple of that goddess at Athens (Paus. l.c.); a statue, probably of Cybele, in the temple of the Great Goddess at Athens (Plin. l.c.); and the Rhamnusian Nemesis. Respecting this last work there has been a great deal of discussion. The account which Pliny gives of it is, that Agoracritus contended with Alcamenes (another distinguished disciple of Phidias) in making a statue of Venus ; and that the Athenians, through an undue partiality towards their countryman, awarded the victory to Alcamenes. Agoracritus, indignant at his defeat, made some slight alterations so as to change his Venus into a Nemesis, and sold it to the people of Rhamnus, on condition that it should not be set up in Athens. Pausanias (1.33.2), without saying a word about Agoracritus, says that the Rhamnusian Nemesis was the work of Phidias, and was made out of the block of Parian marble which the Persians under Datis and Artaphernes brought with then for the purpose of setting up a trophy. (See Theætetus and Parmenio, Anthol. Gr. Planud. 4.12, 221, 222.) This account however has been rejected as involving a confusion of the ideas connected by the Greeks with the goddess Nemesis. The statue moreover was not of Parian, but of Pentelic marble. ( Unedited Antiquities of Attica, p. 43.) Strabo (ix. p.396), Tzetzes (Chiliad. 7.154), Suidas and Photius give other variations in speaking of this statue. It seems generally agreed that Pliny's account of the matter is right in the main; and there have been various dissertations on the way in which a statue of Venus could have been changed into one of Nemesis. (Winckelmann, Sämmtliche Werke von J. Eiselein, vol. v. p. 364 ; Zoega, Abhandlungen, pp. 56-62; K. O. Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, p. 102.)

AGORAEA and AGORAEUS (Ἀγοραία and Ἀγοραῖος), are epithets given to several divinities who were considered as the protectors of the assemblies of the people in the ἀγορά, such as Zeus (Paus. 3.11.8, 5.15.3), Athena (3.11.8), Artemis (5.15.3), and Hermes. (1.15.1, 2.9.7, 9.17.1.) As Hermes was the god of commerce, this surname seems to have reference to the ἀγορά as the market-place.

AGRAEUS (Ἀγραῖος), the hunter, a surname of Apollo. After he had killed the lion of Cithaeron, a temple was erected to him by Alcathous at Megara under the name of Apollo Agraeus. (Paus. 1.41.4; Eustath. ad Il. p. 361.)

AGRAULOS or AGRAULE (Ἄγραυλος or Ἀγραυλή). 1. A daughter of Actaeus, the first king of Athens. By her husband, Cecrops, she became the mother of Erysichthon, Agraulos, Herse, and Pandrosos. (Apollod. 3.14.2 ; Palus. 1.2.5.)

2. A daughter of Cecrops and Agraulos, and mother of Alcippe by Ares. This Agraulos is an important personage in the stories of Attica, and there were three different legends about her. 1. According to 1lausanias (1.18.2) and Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 166), Athena gave to her and her sisters Erichlthonius in a chest, with the express command not to open it. But Agraulos and Herse could not control their curiosity, land opened it; where-upon they were seized with madness at the sight of Erichlithonius, and threw themselves from the steep rock of the Acropolis, or according to Hyginus into the sea. 2. According to Ovid (Ov. Met. 2.710, &c.), Agraulos and her sister survived their opening the chest, and the former, who had instigated her sister to open it, was punished in this manner. Hermes came to Athens during the celebration of the Panathenaea, and fell in love with Herse. Athena made Agraulos so jealous of her sister, that she even attempted to prevent the god entering the house of Herse. But, indignant at such presumption, he changed Agraulos into a stone.

3. The third legend represents Agraulos in a totally different light. Athens was at one time involved in a long-protracted war, and an oracle declared that it would cease, if some one would sacrifice himself for the good of his country. Agraulos came forward and threw herself down the Acropolis. The Athenians, in gratitude for this, built her a temple on the Acropolis, in which it subsequently became customary for the young Athenians, on receiving their first suit of armour, to take an oath that they would always defend their country to the last. (Suid. and Hesych. s. v. Ἀγραυλος; Ulpian, ad Demosth. de fals. leg.; Hdt. 8.53; Plut. Alc. 15; Philochorus, Fragm. p. 18, ed. Siebelis.) One of the Attic δῆμοι (Agraule) derived its name from this heroine, and a festival and mysteries were celebrated at Athens in honour of her. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀγραυλή ; Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 89); Dict. of Ant. p. 30a.) According to Porphyry (De Abstin. ab animal. 1.2), she was also worshipped in Cyprus, where human sacrifices were offered to her down to a very late time.

AGRESPHON (Ἀγρέσφων), a Greek grammarian menitioned by Suidas. (s. v. Ἀπολλώνιος.) He wrote a work Περὶ Ὁμωνύμων concerning persons of the same name). He cannot have lived earlier than the reign of Hadrian, as in his work he spoke of an Apollonius who lived in the time of that emperor.

AGREUS (Ἀγρεύς), a hunter, occurs as a surname of Pan and Aristaeus. (Pind. P. 9.115; Apollon. 3.507; Diod. 4.81; Hesych. sub voce Salmas. ad Solin. p. 81.)

AGRI'COLA, GNAEUS JULIUS, is one of the most remarkable men whom we meet with in the times of the first twelve emperors of Rome, for his extraordinary ability as a general, his great powers, shewn in his government of Britain, and borne witness to by the deep and universal feeling excited in Rome by his death (Tac. Agric. 43), his singular integrity, and the esteem and love which he commanded in all the private relations of life. His life of 55 years (from June 13th, A. D. 37,