- Agamedes
In
Greek mythology , Agamedes (Greek: polytonic|Ἀγαμήδης) was a son ofErginus (or, according to some traditions, the son of Stymphalus and grandson ofArcas ). [Pausanias , viii. 4. § 5, 5. § 3] He was father ofCercyon byEpicaste , who also brought to him a stepson,Trophonius , who was by some believed to be a son ofApollo . According to others, Agamedes was a son of Apollo andEpicaste , or ofZeus andIocaste , and father of Trophonius. In the most common accounts, Trophonius was his brother.Citation
last = Schmitz
first = Leonhard
author-link =
contribution = Agamedes
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 1
pages = 57
publisher =
place = Boston
year = 1870
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0066.html ]The two brothers are said to have distinguished themselves as architects, especially in building temples and palaces. They built
Apollo 's temple housing the oracle ofDelphi . [Pausanias ix. 37- § 3] [Strabo , ix. p. 421.] A tradition mentioned by Cicero states that Agamedes and Trophonius, after having built this temple, prayed to the god to grant them in reward for their labor what was best for men. [Cicero , "Tusculanae Quaestiones " i. 47] The oracle told the brothers to do whatsoever they wished for six days and, on the seventh, their greatest wish would be granted. They did and were found dead on the seventh day. The saying "those whom the gods love die young" comes from this story.They also built a treasury of
Hyprieus , king of Hyria inBoeotia . Thescholiast onAristophanes gives a somewhat different account from Charax of Pergamum, ["Nub". 508] and makes them build the treasury for KingAugeas . The story about this treasury inPausanias bears a great resemblance to that whichHerodotus relates of the treasury of the Egyptian king Rhampsinitus. [Herodotus , ii. 121] 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 anybody perceiving it. Agamedes and Trophonius 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 caught in one of these snares, and Trophonius cut off his head to keep Agamedes's identity secret.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. [
Pausanias ix. 39. § 4]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 Müller has rendered it very probable that the tradition took its rise among the
Minyans , was transferred from them toAugeas , and was known in Greece long before the reign ofPsammetichus , during which the intercourse between the two countries was opened.References
ources
*SmithDGRBM
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