Agrius

For the genus of moths (family Sphingidae) see Agrius (genus).

Agrius or Agrios (Ancient Greek: Ἄγριος), in Greek mythology, is a name that may refer to:

• A son of Porthaon, king of Calydon in Aetolia, and Euryte; he was the brother of Oeneus (who succeeded his father as king of Calydon), Alcathous, Melas, Leucopeus, and Sterope.^[1] He was father of six sons, including Melanippus and Thersites, who overthrew Oeneus and gave the kingdom to their father. Agrius and his sons were themselves overthrown by Diomedes, who reinstated Oeneus as king. All the sons except Thersites were killed by Diomedes.^[2] The Bibliotheca places these events before the expedition of the Greeks against Troy, while Hyginus states that Diomedes, when he heard, after the fall of Troy, of the misfortune of his grandfather Oeneus, hastened back and expelled Agrius, who then committed suicide;^[3] according to others, Agrius and his sons were all slain by Diomedes.^[4][5]
• A son of Odysseus by Circe and a brother of Latinus and Telegonus, mentioned only in Hesiod's Theogony.^[6]
• One of the Giants, sons of Gaia. He, together with Thoon, was clubbed to death by Moirai with maces made from bronze, during the Gigantomachy, the battle of the Giants versus the Olympian gods.^[7]
• One of the Centaurs who Heracles fought with.^[8]
• One of the suitors of Penelope, from Dulichium.^[9]
• One of Actaeon's dogs.^[10]

The city of Agrinio, the largest city in Aetolia, took its name from Agrius.

References

1. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Agrius", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 82
2. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 7. § 10, 8. § 5, &c.
3. Hyginus, Fabluae 175, comp. 242 and Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 37
4. Comp. Pausanias, Description of Greece ii. 25. § 2
5. Ovid, Heroides 9. 153
6. Hesiod, Theogony 1011f
7. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 6. 2
8. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 5. 4
9. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, Epitome of Book IV, 7. 26
10. Hyginus, Fabulae, 181