Agias (Gr. Ἀγίας), the son of Agelochus and grandson of Tisamenus of Elea, was the Spartan seer of Lysander, who predicted that general's victory at the battle of Aegospotami in 404 BC.[1] Some ancient writers considered Agias' prediction—that Lysander would capture the entire fleet except for ten triremes (which fled to Corcyra)--to have been the cause of the victory more than a mere prediction.[2] Pausanias mentions seeing a bronze statue of Agias at the altar of Augustus in the marketplace in Sparta.[3] There was also a statue in Delphi of both Agias and Lysander, reputedly erected by Lysander, which has been partially recovered.[4]
- ^ Smith, William (1867). "Agias (1)". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 71.
- ^ Halliday, W. R. (1913). Greek Divination a Study of Its Methods and Principles. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7661-2883-5.
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece iii. 11. § 5
- ^ Flower, Michael Attyah (2007). The Seer in Ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-520-25229-5.