{{short description|Ancient Greek mythological epithet}} {{For|the German religious leader sometimes known as "Brother Agonius"|Michael Wohlfahrt}} '''Agonius''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀγώνιος}}) or '''Enagonius''' (Εναγώνιος) was an epithet of several gods in Greek mythology (or a distinct deity).<ref name="DGRBM">{{Cite encyclopedia | last = Schmitz | first = Leonhard | contribution = Agonius | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | volume = 1 | pages = 75 | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | place = Boston | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0084.html }}</ref> Aeschylus and Sophocles use it of Apollo and Zeus,<ref>Aeschylus, ''Agamemnon'' 513</ref><ref>Sophocles, ''Trachinian Women'' 26</ref> and apparently in the sense of helpers in struggles and contests,<ref>Comp. Eustathius on Homer, ''Iliad'' p. 1335</ref> or possibly as the protectors of soldiers.<ref>{{cite book | last = McClintock | first = John | authorlink = John McClintock (theologian) | title = Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature | publisher = Harper & Bros. | year = 1889 | location = New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/cyclopaediabibl03mcclgoog/page/n78 66]–67 | url = https://archive.org/details/cyclopaediabibl03mcclgoog }}</ref> But Agonius is more especially used as an epithet of Hermes, who presides over all kinds of solemn contests ({{lang|grc|ἀγῶνες}}), such as the Agonalia.<ref>Pausanias, 5.14.7; Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' vi. 133, with the scholia</ref> Classical scholar William Warde Fowler thought it likely the deity or the epithets were merely inventions of the pontifices.<ref>{{cite book | last = Fowler | first = William Warde | authorlink = William Warde Fowler | title = The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic: An Introduction to the Study of the Religion of the Romans | publisher = Macmillan & Co. | year = 1908 | location = London | pages = [https://archive.org/details/romanfestivalsp02fowlgoog/page/n293 281] | url = https://archive.org/details/romanfestivalsp02fowlgoog }}</ref>
According to a 19th-century catalog of Greek and Roman art in the Vatican Palace, there was in that building a statue considered by the museum's curator to be that of Hermes Enagonius, dated to the time of Lysippos, although other critics have variously believed the statue to depict Heracles, Theseus or Meleager.<ref>{{cite book | last = Massi | first = H. J. | title = Compendious Description of the Museums of Ancient Sculpture, Greek and Roman, in the Vatican Palace | publisher = Vatican typography | year = 1890 | location = Rome | pages = 76 | url = https://archive.org/details/compendiousdesc01vatigoog }}</ref>
"Agonius" was also the original name of the Quirinal Hill in Rome.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lemprière | first = John | authorlink = John Lemprière | title = Bibliotheca Classica: Or, A Dictionary of All the Principal Names and Terms | publisher = W. E. Dean | year = 1839 | location = New York | pages = 270 | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_D6QPAAAAYAAJ }}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
== References ==
* Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 2. ''Agamemnon'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0004 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0003 Greek text available from the same website]. * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library] *Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Pindar, ''Odes'' translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] * Pindar, ''The Odes of Pindar'' including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0161 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Sophocles, ''The Trachiniae of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0196 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] * Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes'' with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0195 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
{{SmithDGRBM|article=Agonius}}
Category:Epithets of Apollo Category:Epithets of Zeus Category:Epithets of Hermes
{{Greek-myth-stub}}