Agias or Hagias () 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 ...

() was an

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

poet celebrated in antiquity as the author of ''

Nostoi The ''Nostoi'' ( ''Nóstoi'', '' nostos'' ), also known as ''Returns'' or ''Returns of the Greeks'', is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature. A part of the Epic Cycle, also known as Trojan cycle, it narrated the stories of the Achaean ...

'' (), an epic poem in five books on the history of the return of the Achaean heroes from

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

, which 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 (; , , sometimes referred to as Alexandra; ) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecy, prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is e ...

and the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

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

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''. 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 (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient 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. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, 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 Eumelus of Corinth ( ''Eumelos ho Korinthios''), of the clan of the Bacchiadae, is a semi-legendary early Greek poet to whom were attributed several epic poems as well as a celebrated '' prosodion'', the treasured processional anthem of Messeni ...

, Anticleides of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Cleidemus, and Lysimachus of Alexandria. Where the ''Nostoi'' is mentioned without a name, it was generally understood to have been the work of this Agias. His name was formerly written ''Augias'' through a mistake of the first editor of the ''Excerpta of Proclus''. This misreading was corrected by Friedrich Thiersch, from the

Codex Monacensis Codex Monacensis (plural ''Monacenses'') is the designation of several codices housed at the Bavarian State Library in Munich ( ). These include: * Codex Latinus Monacensis (clm), several related Vetus Latina manuscripts, ''Vetus Latina'' manuscrip ...

, 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 (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

and Pausanias, Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' i. 2. § 1 are only different forms of the same name.

References

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