A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

. AGAMEDE. '

AGAMEMNON. 57

Origen replied. This letter is extant, and has
been published, together with Origen's answer, by
Wetstein, Basle, 1674, 4to. It is also contained
in De la Rue's edition of Origen. Africanus also
"wrote a letter to Aristeides on the genealogies of
Christ in Matthew and Luke (Phot. Bibl. 34;
Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi. 23), of which some extracts
are given by Eusebius. (i. 7.)
There is another work attributed to Africanus,
entitled Kea-roi, that is, embroidered girdles, so
called from the celebrated Keero's of Aphrodite.
Some modern writers suppose this work to have
been written by some one else, but it can scarcely
be d )ubted that it was written by the same Africanus, since it is expressly mentioned among his
other writings by Photius (1. c.), Suidas (1. c.),
Syncellus (1. c.), and Eusebius. (vi. 23.) The
number of books of which it consisted, is stated
variously. Suidas mentions twenty-four, Photius
fourteen, and Syncellus nine. It treated of a vast
variety of subjects-medicine, agriculture, natural
history, the military art, &c., and seems to have
been a kind of common-place book, in which the
author entered the results of his reading Some
of the books are said to exist still in manuscript.
(Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. pp. 240, &c.)
Some extracts from them are published by Thevenot in the " Mathematici Veteres," Paris, 1693,
fo., and also in the Geoponica of Cassianus Bassus.
(Needham, Prolegom. ad Geopon.) The part relating to the military art was translated into
French by Guichard in the third volume of " Mimoires crit. et hist. sur plusieurs Points d'Antiquites militaires," Berl. 1774. Compare Dureau
de la Malle, " Poliorcetique des Anciens," Paris,
1819, 8vo.
AFRICA'NUS, T. SE'XTIUS, a Roman of
noble rank, was deterred by Agrippina from marrying Silana. In A. D. 62, he took the census in
the provinces of Gaul, together with Q. Volusius
and Trebellius Maximus. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 19,
xiv. 46.) His name occurs in a fragment of the
Fratres Arvales. (Gruter, p. 119.) There was a
T. Sextius Africanus consul with Trajan in A. D.
112, who was probably a descendant of the one
mentioned above.
AGA'CLYTUS ('AyacAvTds), the author of a
"work about Olympia (Trepi 'OAhvriaas), which is
referred to by Suidas and Photius. (s. v. K4EAhLAGA'LLIAS. [AGALLIC.]
AGALLIS ('Ayaxhis) of Corcyra, a female
grammarian, who wrote upon Homer. (Athen. i.
p. 14, d.) Some have supposed from two passages
in Suidas (s. v. 'AvdyaAALs and 'OpXYo-r), that
we ought to read Anagallis in this passage of
Athenaeus. The scholiast upon Homer and Eustathius (ad II. xviii. 491) mention a grammarian
of the name of Agallias, a pupil of Aristophanes
the grammarian, also a Corcyraean and a commentator upon Homer, who may be the same as Agallis or perhaps her father.
AGAME'DE ('A-yawd8). 1. A daughter of
Augeias and wife of Mulius, who, according to
Homer (II. xi. 739), was acquainted with the healing powers of all the plants that grow upon the
earth. Hyginus (Fab. 157) makes her the mother
of Belus, Actor, and Dictys, by Poseidon.
2. A daughter of Macaria, from whom Agamede,
a place in Lesbos, was believed to have derived its
tame. (Steph. Byz. s. v. 'AayapAq.) [L. S.]

"AGAME'DES ('Ayac3as), a son of Stymphalus
and great-grandson of Arcas. (Paus. viii. 4. ~ 5, 5.
~ 3.) HIe was father of Cercyon by Epicaste, who
also brought to him a step-son, Trophonius, who
was by some believed to be a son of Apollo. According to others, Agamedes was a son of Apollo
and Epicaste, or of Zeus and locaste, and father of
Trophonius. The most common story however is,
that he was a son of Erginus, king of Orchomenus,
and brother of Trophonius. These two brothers are
said to have distinguished themselves as architects,
especially in building temples and palaces. Among
others, they built a temple of Apollo at Delphi, and
a treasury of Hyrieus, king of Ilyria in Boeotia.
(Paus. ix. 37. ~ 3; Strab. ix. p. 421.) The scholiast
on Aristophanes (Nub. 508) gives a somewhat different account from Charax, and makes them build the
treasury for king Augeias. The story about this
treasury in Pausanias bears a great resemblance to
that which H-erodotus (ii. 121) relates of the treasury
of the Egyptian king Rhampsinitus. In the construction of the treasury of Hyrieus, Agamedes and
Trophonius contrived to place one stone in such a
manner, that it could be taken away outside, and
thus formed an entrance to the treasury, without
any body perceiving it. Agamedes and Trophonius
now constantly robbed the treasury; and the king,
seeing that locks and seals were uninjured while his
treasures were constantly decreasing, set traps to
catch the thief. Agamedes was thus ensnared, and
Trophonius cut off his head to avert the discovery.
After this, Trophonius was immediately swallowed
up by the earth. On this spot there was afterwards,
in the grove of Lebadeia, the so-called cave of Agamedes with a column by the side of it. Here also
was the oracle of Trophonius, and those who consulted it first offered a ram to Agamedes and invoked him. (Paus. ix. 39. ~ 4; compare Diet. of
Ant. p. 673.) A tradition mentioned by Cicero
(Tusc. Quaest. i. 47; comp. Plut. De consol. ad
Apollon. 14), states that Agamedes and Trophonius, after having built the temple of Apollo at
Delphi, prayed to the god to grant them in reward
for their labour what was best for men. The god
promised to do so on a certain day, and when the
day came, the two brothers died. The question as
to whether the story about the Egyptian treasury
is derived from Greece, or whether the Greek story
was an importation from Egypt, has been answered
by modern scholars in both ways; but Miller
(Orch/om. p. 94, &c.) has rendered it very probable
that the tradition took its rise among the Minyans,
was transferred from them to Augeias, and was
known in Greece long before the reign of Psamnmitichus, during which the intercourse between the
two countries was opened. [L. S.]
AGAMEMNON ('Ayaug'Jcov). 1. A son of
Pleisthenes and grandson of Atreus, king of Mycenae, in whose house Agamemnon and Menelaus
were educated after the death of their father.
(Apollod. iii. 2. ~ 2; Schol. ad Eurip. Or. 5; Schol.
ad Iliad. ii. 249.) Homer and several other writers
call him a son of Atreus, grandson of Pelops, and
great-grandson of Tantalus. (Hom. II. xi. 131;
Eurip. Ielen. 396; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 147; Hygin.
Fab. 97.) His mother was, according to most accounts, Aerope; but some call Eriphyle the wife
of Pleisthenes and the mother of Agamemnon.
Besides his brother Menelaus, he had a sister, who
is called Anaxibia, Cyndragora, or Astyocheia.
(Schol. Eurip. Or. 5;.. Hygin. Fab. 17.) Aga