Agis
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
Could not find Agidi in Logeion dictionaries.
Agidi Proper-name noun: masculine dative singular of Agis
- A king of Sparta, murdered by his own subjects, Cic. Off. 2, 23, 80; cf. Plut. Agis.—
- II Brother of Agesilaus and son of Archidamus, Nep. Ages. 1, 4.—
- III A Lycian, Verg. A. 10, 751.
(Ἄγις), king of Sparta, son of Eurysthenes, began to reign, it is said, about B. C. 1032. (Müller, Dor. vol. ii. p. 511, transl.) According to Eusebius (Chron. i. p. 166) he reigned only one year; according to Apollodorus, as it appears, about 31 years. During the reign of Eurysthenes, the conquered people were admitted to an equality of political rights with the Dorians. Agis deprived them of these, and reduced them to the condition of subjects to the Spartans. The inhabitants of the town of Helos attempted to shake off the yoke, but they were subdued, and gave rise and name to the class called Helots. (Ephor. apud Strab. viii. p. 364.) To his reign was referred the colony which went to Crete under Pollis and Delphus. (Conon. Narr. 36.) From him the kings of that line were called Ἀγιδαι. His colleague was Sous. (Paus. 3.2.1.) [C.P.M]
the 17th of the Eurypontid line (beginning with Procles), succeeded his father Archidamus, B. C. 427, and reigned a little more than 28 years. In the summer of B. C. 426, he led an army of Peloponnesians and their allies as far as the isthmus, with the intention of invading Attica; but they were deterred from advancing farther by a succession of earthquakes which happened when they had got so far. (Thuc. 3.89.) In the spring of the following year he led an army into Attica, but quitted it fifteen days after he had entered it. (Thuc. 4.2, 6.) In B. C. 419, the Argives, at the instigation of Alciblades, attacked Epidaurus; and Agis with the whole force of Lacedaemon set out at the same time and marched to the frontier city, Leuctra. No one, Thucydides tells us, knew the purpose of this expedition. It was probably to make a diversion in favour of Epidaurus. (Thirlwall, vol. iii. p. 342.) At Leuctra the aspect of the sacrifices deterred him from proceeding. He therefore led his troops back, and sent round notice to the allies to be ready for an expedition at the end of the sacred month of the Carnean festival; and when the Argives repeated their attack on Epidaurus, the Spartans again marched to the frontier town, Caryae, and again turned back, professedly on account of the aspect of the victims. In the middle of the following summer (B. C. 418) the Epidaurians being still hard pressed by the Argives, the Laccdaemonians with their whole force and some allies, under the command of Agis, invaded Argolis. By a skilful manoeuvre he succeeded in intercepting the Argives, and posted his army advantageously between them and the city. But just as the battle was about to begin, Thrasyllus, one of the Argive generals, and Alciphron came to Agis and prevailed on him to conclude a truce for four months. Agis, without disclosing his motives, drew off his army. On his return he was severely censured for having thus thrown away the opportunity of reducing Argos, especially as the Argives had seized the opportunity afforded by his return and taken Orchomenos. It was proposed to pull down his house, and inflict on him a fine of 100,000 drachmae. But on his earnest entreaty they contented themselves with appointing a council of war, consisting of 10 Spartans, without whom he was not to lead an army out of the city. (Thuc. 5.54, 57, &c.) Shortly afterwards they received intelligence from Tegea, that, if not promptly succoured, the party favourable to Sparta in that city would be compelled to give way. The Spartans immediately sent their whole force under the command of Agis. He restored tranquillity at Tegea, and then marched to Mantincia. By turning the waters so as to flood the lands of Mantineia, he succeeded in drawing the army of the Mantineans and Athenians down to the level ground. A battle ensued, in which the Spartans were victorious. This was one of the most important battles ever fought between Grecian states. (Thuc. 5.71_73.) In B. C. 417, when news reached Sparta of the counter-revolution at Argos, in which the oligarchical and Spartan faction was overthrown, an army was sent there under Agis. He was unable to restore the defeated party, but he destroyed the long walls which the Argives had begun to carry down to the sea, and took Hysiae. (Thuc. 5.83.) In the spring of B. C. 413, Agis entered Attica with a Peloponnesian army, and fortified Deceleia, a steep eminence about 15 miles northeast of Athens (Thuc. 7.19, 27); and in the winter of the same year, after the news of the disastrous fate of the Sicilian expedition had reached Greece, he marched northwards to levy contributions on the allies of Sparta, for the purpose of constructing a fleet. While at Deceleia he acted in a great measure independently of the Spartan government, and received embassies as well from the disaffected allies of the Athenians, as from the Boeotians and other allies of Sparta. (Thuc. 8.3, 5.) He seems to have remained at Deceleia till the end of the Peloponnesian war. In 411, during the administration of the Four Hundred, he made an unsuccessful attempt on Athens itself. (Thuc. 8.71.) In B. C. 401, the command of the war against Elis was entrusted to Agis, who in the third year compelled the Eleans to sue for peace. As he was returning from Delphi, whither he had gone to consecrate a tenth of the spoil, he fell sick at Heraea in Arcadia, and died in the course of a few days after he reached Sparta. (Xen. Hell. 3.2.21, 3.3.1-4.) He left a son, Leotychides, who however was excluded from the throne, as there was sone suspicion with regard to his legitimacy. While Alcibiades was at Sparta he made Agis his implacable enemy. Later writers (Justin, 5.2 ; Plut. Alc. 23) assign as a reason, that the latter suspected him of having dishonoured his queen Timaea. It was probably at the suggestion of Agis, that orders were sent out to Astyochus to put him to death. Alcibiades however received timely notice, (according to some accounts from Timaea herself) and kept out of the reach of the Spartans. (Thuc. 8.12, 45; Plut. Lys. 22. Agesil. 3.) [C.P.M]
the elder son of Archidamus III., was the 20th king of the Eurypontid line. His reign was short, but eventful. He succeeded his father in B. C. 388. In B. C. 333, we find him going with a single trireme to the Persian commanders in the Aegean, Pharnabazus and Autophradates, to request money and an armament for carrying on hostile operations against Alexander in Greece. They gave him 30 talents and 10 triremes. The news of the battle of Issus, however, put a check upon their plans. He sent the galleys to his brother Agesilaus, with instructions to sail with them to Crete, that he might secure that island for the Spartan interest. In this he seems in a great measure to have succeeded. Two years afterwards (B. C. 331), the Greek states which were leagued together against Alexander, seized the opportunity of the disaster of Zopyrion and the revolt of the Thracians, to declare war against Macedonia. Agis was invested with the command, and with the Lacedaemonian troops, and a body of 8000 Greek mercenaries, who had been present at the battle of Issus, gained a decisive victory over a Macedonian army under Corragus. Having been joined by the other forces of the league he laid siege to Megalopolis. The city held out till Antipater came to its relief, when a battle ensued, in which Agis was defeated and killed. It happened about the time of the battle of Arbela. (Arrian, 2.13 ; Diod. 16.63, 68, 17.62; Aesch. c. Ctesiph. p. 77; Curt. 6.1; Justin, 12.1.) [C.P.M]
the elder son of Eudamidas II., was the 24th king of the Eurypontid line. He succeeded his father in B. C. 244, and reigned four years. In B. C. 243, after the liberation of Corinth by Aratus, the general of the Achaean league, Agis led an army against him, but was defeated. (Paus. 2.8.4.) The interest of his reign, however, is derived from events of a different kind. Through the influx of wealth and luxury, with their concomitant vices, the Spartans had greatly degenerated from the ancient simplicity and severity of manners. Not above 700 families of the genuine Spartan stock remained, and in consequence of the innovation introduced by Epitadeus, who procured a repeal of the law which secured to every Spartan head of a family an equal portion of land, the landed property had passed into the hands of a few individuals, of whom a great number were females, so that not above 100 Spartan families possessed estates, while the poor were burdened with debt. Agis, who from his earliest youth had shewn his attachment to the ancient discipline, undertook to reform these abuses, and re-establish the institutions of Lycurgus. For this end he determined to lay before the Spartan senate a proposition for the abolition of all debts and a new partition of the lands. Anotherpart of his plan was to give landed estates to the Perioeci. His schemes were warmly seconded by the poorer classes and the young men, and as strenuously opposed by the wealthy. He succeeded, however, in gaining over three very influential persons,--his uncle Agesilaus (a man of large property, but who, being deeply involved in debt, hoped to profit by the innovations of Agis), Lysander, and Mandrocleides. Having procured Lysander to be elected one of the ephors, he laid his plans before the senate. He proposed that the Spartan territory should be divided into two portions, one to consist of 4500 equal lots, to be divided amongst the Spartans, whose ranks were to be filled up by the admission of the most respectable of the Perioeci and strangers; the other to contain 15,000 equal lots, to be divided- amongst the Perioeci. The senate could not at first come to a decision on the matter. Lysander, therefore, convoked the assembly of the people, to whom Agis submitted his measure, and offered to make the first sacrifice, by giving up his lands and money, telling them that his mother and grandmother, who were possessed of great wealth, with all his relations and friends, would follow his example. His generosity drew down the applauses of the multitude. The opposite party, however, headed by Leonidas, the other king, who had formed his habits at the luxurious court of Seleucus, king of Syria, got the senate to reject the measure, though only by one vote. Agis now determined to rid himself of Leonidas. Lysander accordingly accused him of having violated the laws by marrying a stranger and living in a foreign land. Leonidas was deposed, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Cleombrotus, who co-operated with Agis. Soon afterwards, however, Lysander's term of office expired, and the ephors of the following year were opposed to Agis, and designed to restore Leonidas. They brought an accusation against Lysander and Mandroclcides, of attempting to violate the laws. Alarmed at the turn events were taking, the two latter prevailed on the kings to depose the ephors by force and appoint others in their room. Leonidas, who had returned to the city, fled to Tegea, and in his flight was protected by Agis from the violence meditated against him by Agesilaus. The selfish avarice of the latter frustrated the plans of Agis, when there now seemed nothing to oppose the execution of them. He persuaded his nephew and Lysander that the most effectual way to secure the consent of the wealthy to the distribution of their lands, would be, to begin by cancelling the debts. Accordingly all bonds, registers, and securities were piled up in the market place and burnt. Agesilaus, having secured his own ends, contrived various pretexts for delaying the division of the lands. Meanwhile the Achaeans applied to Sparta for assistance against the Aetolians. Agis was accordingly sent at the head of an army. The cautious movements of Aratus gave Agis no opportunity of distinguishing himself in action, but he gained great credit by the excellent discipline he preserved among his troops. During his absence Agesilaus so incensed the poorer classes by his insolent conduct and the continued postponement of the division of the lands, that they made no opposition when the enemies of Agis openly brought back Leonidas and set him on the throne. Agis and Cleombrotus fled for sanctuary, the former to the temple of Athene Chalcioecus, the latter to the temple of Poseidon. Cleombrotus was suffered to go into exile. Agis was entrapped by some treacherous friends and thrown into prison. Leonidas immediately came with a band of mercenaries and secured the prison without, while the ephors entered it, and went through the mockery of a trial. When asked if he did not repent of what he had attempted, Agis replied, that he should never repent of so glorious a design, even in the face of death. He was condemned, and precipitately executed, the ephors fearing a rescue, as a great concourse of people had assembled round the prison gates. Agis, observing that one of his executioners was moved to tears, said, " Weep not for me: suffering, as I do, unjustly, I am in a happier case than my murderers." His mother Agesistrate and his grandmother were strangled on his body. Agis was the first king of Sparta who had been put to death by the ephors. Pausanias, who, however, is undoubtedly wrong, says (8.10.4, 27.9), that he fell in battle. His widow Agiatis was forcibly married by Leonidas to his son Cleomenes, but nevertheless they entertained for each other a mutual affection and esteem. (Plutarch, Agis, Cleomenes, Aratus ; Paus. 7.7.2.) [C.P.M]
(Ἄγις), a Greek poet, a native of Argos, and a contemporary of Alexander the Great, whom he accompanied on his Asiatic expedition. Curtius (8.5) as well as Arrian (Arr. Anab. 4.9) and Plutarch (De adulat. et amic. discrim. p. 60) describe him as one of the basest flatterers of the king. Curtius calls him " pessimorum carminum post Choerilum conditor," which probably refers rather to their flattering character than to their worth as poetry. The Greek Anthology (6.152) contains an epigram, which is probably the work of this flatterer. (Jacobs, Anthol. iii. p. 836; Zimmermann, Zeitschrift für die Alterth. 1841, p. 164.)
Athenaeus (xii. p. 516) mentions one Agis as the author of a work on the art of cooking (ὀψαρτυτικά). [L.S]
(Ἆγις). The name of several kings of Sparta. (1) The son of Eurysthenes, the founder of the family of the Agidae.
(2) Son of Archidamus II., reigned B.C. 427-398. He took an active part in the Peloponnesian War, and invaded Attica several times. While Alcibiades was at Sparta he was the guest of Agis , and is said to have seduced his wife Timaea (in consequence of which Leotychides, the son of Agis , was excluded from the throne as illegitimate).
(3) Son of Archidamus III., reigned B.C. 338-330. He attempted to overthrow the Macedonian power in Europe while Alexander the Great was in Asia, but was defeated and killed in battle by Antipater in the year 330.
(4) Son of Eudamidas II., reigned B.C. 244-240. He attempted to reestablish the institutions of Lycurgus, and to effect a thorough reform in the Spartan state; but he was resisted by his colleague Leonidas II. and the wealthy, was thrown into prison, and there put to death by command of the ephors, along with his mother and grandmother.
- Hdt. 6.65
- slain in battle with Antipater: Paus. 3.10.5
- king of Sparta: Paus. 3.8.1
- invades Elis: Paus. 3.8.3-5, Paus. 5.4.8, Paus. 6.2.3, Paus. 7.10.2
- invades Attica and builds fort at Decelea: Paus. 3.8.6
- proposes to destroy Athens: Paus. 3.8.6
- denies that Leotychides is his son: Paus. 3.8.7
- king of Sparta: Paus. 3.10.5
- besieges Megalopolis: Paus. 8.27.13, 14, Paus. 8.36.6
- captures Pellene, but is driven out by Aratus: Paus. 2.8.5, Paus. 7.7.3, Paus. 8.27.14
- defeated and slain at Mantinea: Paus. 6.2.4, Paus. 8.8.11, Paus. 8.10.5-8, Paus. 8.27.14
- Paus. 3.2.1
- the Agids, one of the Spartan royal houses, called after him: Paus. 3.2.1