Agalwood

See EAGLE-WOOD. Ag'ama, the appellation given to a body of troops, in Macedonia, nearly equal to the Roman legion. Ag'amæ. [Gr. a , priv., and gamos , marriage.] ( Bot . ) A name given by some authors to the large division of the vegetable kingdom, called Flowerle or Cryptogamic plants. See CRYPTOGAM I A. Agamemnon, king of Mycense and Argos, son of Atreus and Eriphyle, brother of Menelaus and commander in-chief of the Grecian army at the siege of Troy. In the earliest and most credible authors, Homer and Hesiod, we find no trace of the long train of horrors which, according to later writers, laid waste the house of Pelops. (See ATREUS, PELOPS, TANTALUS, THYESTES.) A. and his brother were called Atride, from their father's name, according to the Grecian custom of giving to the son a patronymic name. He married Clytemnestra, sister of Helen. The Trojan war arose out of the abduction of Helen by Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy. It is commonly said, that a number of the princes of Greece having been drawn together as suitors by the extraordinary beauty of Helen, Tyndarus, exacted an oath from them, that on whomsoever the choice should fall, if the maid should be carried off, all the rest should unite to recover her; and that in virtue of this oath, the confederate princes a embled under the command of A. They were long detained in the bay of Aulis, in Bœotia, by a calm, occasioned by the anger of Diana (see IPHIGENIA), but finally arrived before Troy. During the siege of this town, protracted for ten years, A. appears superior to the other chiefs in battle and in council, and maintains, under all circumstances, the dignity of a commander. The most memorable event of the siege of Troy is the quarrel of A. and Achilles (see ACHILLES), the subject of the lead , in which the former placed himself very completely in the wrong. Returning from Troy, A. was treacherously murdered by his wife; who, during his absence, had formed an adulterous attachment with Ægisthus, son of his uncle Thyestes. This catastrophe is the subject of the Agamemnon of Æschylus, one of the most sublime compositions in the range of the Grecian drama. Orestes, son of A., then a child, was saved by the care of his tutor, and timely flight. After pa ing seven years in exile, he returned in secret, avenged his father's death by the slaughter of his mother and of Ægisthus, and recovered his paternal kingdom, which he ruled with honor. Agame'des and Trophonius, two architects who designed the entrance of the temple of Delphi, for which they demanded of the god whatever gift was most advantageous for a man to receive. Three days after, they were found dead in their beds. Agamenticus, in Maine , a mountain of York co., 4 miles from York Harbor. It affords pasture up to its summit, 673 feet above the sea-level, and is a seamark for the entrance of Piscataqua river. Lat. 43° 16′ N.; Lon. 70° 39' W. Ag'ama. (Gr. agama i , to wonder at.] ( Zool .) A gen. of lizards, distinguished by their short and thick body, covered with a lax skin, which is capable of being inflated with air at the will of the animal. They are frequently beset with spines, which are raised up when the skin is inflated, presenting a formidable array. Many of them are capable of changing the color of the skin. Different species of this genus are found in Asia, Africa, Australia, and America. The frilled Agama , a native of Australia, is a very extraordinary-looking animal. Around its neck, and covering its shoulders, it carries a frill, which, on the approach of danger, is elevated.