Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 195

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Herodotus mentions in passing a group at SPARTA called the Agathoergi (“Doers of Good Deeds”), composed of the eldest five men who leave the Spartan CAVALRY service each year; for that next year, they serve the state on missions requiring TRAVEL outside SPARTA (1.67.5). This is the only extant ancient reference to such a group. The name did appear in lexicographers of the Roman era (e.g., Hesychius α 251); at some point in the Byzantine period, an explanation was added that the Agathoergi were selected “on the basis of manly excellence by (?) the EPHORS” (Suda s.v. ἀγαθοεργοί (A 115)). Whether this claim rested on any ancient evidence is uncertain, and the attempt to see this as a fragment of the fourth‐century BCE historian EPHORUS lacks support (Cunningham 2011; cf. BNJ 70 F239).

SEE ALSO: Lichas