Agias or Hagias ( el, ) was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

poet, whose name was formerly written ''Augias'' through a mistake of the first editor of the ''Excerpta of Proclus''. This misreading was corrected by

Friedrich Thiersch Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (17 June 178425 February 1860), was a German classical scholar and educationist. Biography He was born at Kirchscheidungen (now a part of Laucha an der Unstrut, Saxony-Anhalt). In 1809 he became professor at the ...

, from the

Codex Monacensis Codex Monacensis (plural ''Monacenses'') is the designation of several codices housed at the Bavarian State Library in Munich (german: München, link=no la, Monacum, link=no). These include: * Codex Latinus Monacensis (clm), several related Vetus ...

, which in one passage has "Agias", and in another "Hagias". The name itself does not occur in early Greek writers, unless it be supposed that the "Egias" or "Hegias" () in

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and ...

and

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, are only different forms of the same name. Agias was a native of

Troezen Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

, and the time at which he wrote appears to have been about the year 740 BC. His poem was celebrated in antiquity, under the name of ''

Nostoi The ''Nostoi'' ( el, Νόστοι, ''Nostoi'', "Returns"), also known as ''Returns'' or ''Returns of the Greeks'', is a lost Epic poetry, epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the Trojan cycle, which told the ent ...

'' (), i.e. the history of the return of the Achaean heroes from

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

, and consisted of five books. The poem began with the cause of the misfortunes which befell the Achaeans on their way home and after their arrival, that is, with the outrage committed upon

Cassandra Cassandra or Kassandra (; Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, , also , and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believe ...

and the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...

; and the whole poem filled up the space which was left between the work of the poet

Arctinus Arctinus of Miletus or Arctinus Milesius ( grc, Ἀρκτῖνος Μιλήσιος) was a Greek epic poet whose reputation is purely legendary, as none of his works survive. Traditionally dated between 775 BC and 741 BC, he was said to have been ...

and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

''. The ancients themselves appear to have been uncertain about the author of this poem, for they refer to it simply by the name of ''Nostoi'', and when they mention the author, they only call him "the writer of the ''Nostoi''" (). Hence some writers attributed the ''Nostoi'' to

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, while others call its author a Colophonian. Similar poems, and with the same title, were written by other poets also, such as Eumelus of Corinth,

Anticleides Anticlides of Athens (or Anticleides) ( grc, Ἀντικλείδης) lived after the time of Alexander the Great, and is frequently referred to by later writers. At least four works may be attributed to him; whether these works were all written by ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Cleidemus Cleidemus (; grc-gre, Κλείδημος ''Kleidēmos'') was a Greek author, perhaps of the fifth or fourth century BCE but definitely later than the battle of Plataea in 479 BCE, who produced a lost ''Atthis'' (Ἀτθίς), a local history of At ...

, and

Lysimachus of Alexandria Lysimachus of Alexandria (1st century BCE) was an Egyptian grammarian. According to Josephus in ''Against Apion'' (Book I, Chapter 34) he followed criticism of the traditional Jewish record of Moses and the Exodus found in the works of Manetho and C ...

Scholiast Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...

, ''on

Apollonius of Rhodes Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and t ...

'' i. 558 Where the ''Nostoi'' is mentioned without a name, it was generally understood to have been the work of this Agias.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agias 8th-century BC Greek people 8th-century BC poets Early Greek epic poets Ancient Troezenians