View source for Ageladas

{{Short description|6th or 5th-century BC Greek sculptor}}
'''Ageladas''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|æ|dʒ|ə|ˈ|l|eɪ|d|ə|s}} ({{langx|grc|Ἀγελάδας}} ''Agelā́dās'') or '''Hagelaedas''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|æ|dʒ|ə|ˈ|l|iː|d|ə|s}} ({{langx|grc|Ἁγελᾴδας}} ''Hagelā́idās'')<ref name="DGRBM">{{Citation | last = Mason  | first = Charles Peter  | contribution = Ageladas  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William| title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 67  | place = Boston  | year = 1867  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0076.html }}</ref> was a celebrated [[Greeks|Greek]] ([[Argos, Peloponnese|Argive]]) sculptor, who flourished in the latter part of the 6th and the early part of the 5th century BC.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' vi. 8. § 4, vii. 24. § 2, x. 10. § 3</ref>

Ageladas' fame is enhanced by his having been the instructor of the three great masters, [[Phidias]],<ref>[[Suda]] ''s.v.''</ref><ref>[[Scholiast]] ''ad [[Aristophanes|Arist.]] Ran.'' 504</ref><ref>[[John Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' vii. 154, viii. 191—-for the names {{lang|grc|Ἐλάδου}} and {{lang|grc|Γελάδου}} are unquestionably merely corruptions of {{lang|grc|Ἀγελάδου}}, as was first observed by [[Johannes Meursius]], with whom [[Johann Joachim Winckelmann]], [[Friedrich Thiersch]], and Müller agree</ref> [[Myron]], and [[Polykleitos]].<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' xxxiv. 8, s. 19</ref>  The determination of the period when Ageladas flourished has given rise to a great deal of discussion, owing to the apparently contradictory statements of the writers who mention his name.  [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that Ageladas cast a statue of Cleosthenes (who gained a victory in the chariot-race in the 66th [[Olympiad]]) with the chariot, horses, and charioteer placed at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' vi. 10. §2</ref>

Also at Olympia, there were  statues by Ageladas of [[Timasitheus of Delphi]] and Anochus of [[Taranto|Tarentum]].  Timasitheus was put to death by the Athenians for his participation in the attempt to overthrow the tyrant [[Isagoras]] during the 68th Olympiad in 507.  According to [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]], Anochus was a victor in the games of the 65th Olympiad.  Therefore, if Ageladas was born about 540, he may very well have been the instructor of Phidias.  On the other hand, Pliny says that Ageladas, with Polykleitos, [[Phradmon]], and Myron, flourished in the 87th Olympiad.  This agrees with the statement of the [[scholiast]] on Aristophanes, that at [[Malta#History|Melite]] there was a statue of [[Heracles]] ({{lang|grc|Ἡρακλῆς ἀλεξίκακος}}), the work of Ageladas the Argive, which was set up during the great pestilence at the 87th Olympiad.

To these authorities must be added a passage of Pausanias,<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' iv. 33. § 3</ref> where he speaks of a statue of [[Zeus]] made by Ageladas for the [[Messenia]]ns of [[Naupactus]].  This must have been after the year 455, when the Messenians were allowed by the [[Athens|Athenians]] to settle at Naupactus.

In order to reconcile these conflicting statements, it has been argued that [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]'s date is wrong and that the statue of Heracles had been made by Ageladas long before it was set up at Melite.  Other scholars think that Pliny's date is correct, but that Ageladas did not make the statues of the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic]] victors mentioned by Pausanias until many years after their victories.  Given that the dates of those individuals' victories are so nearly the same, this could be argued as being a very extraordinary coincidence.

The most probable solution of the difficulty is that proposed by [[Friedrich Thiersch]], who thinks that there were two artists of this name: one an Argive, the instructor of Phidias, born about 540; the other a native of [[Sicyon]], who flourished at the date assigned by Pliny and was confused by the scholiast on Aristophanes with his more illustrious Argive namesake.  Thiersch supports this hypothesis by an able criticism of a passage of Pausanias.<ref>v. 24. § 1</ref>

Other scholars assume that there were two artists with the name of Ageladas, but both were Argives.  Ageladas the Argive executed one of a group of three [[Muse]]s, representing respectively the presiding geniuses of the [[diatonic]], [[chromatic]] and [[enharmonic]] styles of [[Music of ancient Greece|Greek music]].  [[Canachus]] and [[Aristocles (sculptors)|Aristocles of Sicyon]] made the other two.<ref>[[Antipater of Sidon]] ''Greek Anthology'' 16.220</ref><ref>[[Friedrich Thiersch]], ''Epoch, d. bild. Kunst.'' pp. 158–164</ref>

He may have been the teacher of the sculptor [[Ascarus]].

==References==
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*{{SmithDGRBM|title = Ageladas}}

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[[Category:6th-century BC Greek sculptors]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Greek sculptors]]
[[Category:Ancient Argives]]