Agenor

2 3 4 5 6

1. A son of Poseidon and Libya, king of Phoenicia, and twin-brother of Belus. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 4.) He married Telephassa, by whom he became the father of Cadmus, Phoenix, Cylix, Thasus, Phineus, and according to some of Europa also.

After his daughter Europa had been carried off by Zeus, Agenor sent out his sons in search of her, and enjoined them not to return without their sister.

As Europa was not to be found, none of them returned, and all settled in foreign countries.

Virgil (Aen. i. 338) calls Carthage the city of Agenor, by which he alludes to the descent of Dido from Agenor. Buttmann (Mytholog. i. p. 232.) points out that the genuine Phoenician name of Agenor was Chnas, which is the same as Canaan, and upon these facts he builds the hypothesis that Agenor or Chnas is the same as the Canaan in the books of Moses.

2. A son of Jasus, and father of Argus Panoptes, king of Argos. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 2.) Hellanicus (Fragm. p. 47, ed. Sturz.) states that Agenor was a son of Phoroneus, and brother of Jasus and Pe-lasgus, and that after their father's death, the two elder brothers divided his dominions between themselves in such a manner, that Pelasgus received the country about the river Erasmus, and built Larissa, and Jasus the country about Elis. After the death of these two, Agenor, the young­est, invaded their dominions, and thus became king of Argos.

3. The son and successor of Triopas, in the kingdom of Argos. He belonged to the house of Phoroneus, and was father of Crotopus. (Paus. ii. 16. § 1; Hygin. Fab. 145.)

4. A son of Pleuron and Xanthippe, and grand­son of Aetolus. Epicaste, the daughter of Calydon, became by him the mother of Porthaon and Demonice. (Apollod. i. 7. § 7.) According to Pausanias (iii. 13. § 5), Thestius, the father of Leda, is likewise a son of this Agenor.

5. A son of Phegeus, king of Psophis, in Arca­dia. He was brother of Pronous and Arsinoe, who was married to Alcmaeon, but was abandoned by him. When Alcmaeon wanted to 'give the celebrated necklace and peplus of Harmonia to his second wife Calirrhoe, the daughter of Achelous, he was slain by Agenor and Pronous at the instigation of Phegeus. But when the two brothers came to Delphi, where they intended to dedicate the necklace and peplus, they were killed by Amphoterus and Acarnan, the sons of Alcmaeon and Calirrhoe. (Apollod. iii. 7. § 5.) Pausanias (viii. 24. § 4), who relates the same story, calls the children of Phegeus, Temenus, Axion, and Alphesiboea.

6. A son of the Trojan Antenor and Theano, the priestess of Athena. He appears in the Iliad as one of the bravest among the Trojans, and is one of their leaders in the attack upon the fortifications of the Greeks. (iv. 467, xii. 93, xiv. 425.) He even ventures to fight with Achilles, who is wounded by him. (xxi. 570.) Apollo rescued him in a cloud from the anger of Achilles, and then assumed himself the appearance of Agenor, by which means he drew Achilles away from the walls of Troy, and afforded to the fugitive Trojans a safe retreat to the city.

According to Pausanias (x. 27. § 1) Agenor was slain by Neoptolemus, and was represented by Polygnotus in the great painting in the Lesche of Delphi.