The aim of the present study is to offer a new solution, based on the functional and etymological correspondences between Greek Ἀγαμέμνων and Vedic Agní-.
3.1
The most important common feature connecting both mythological personages is their relation to fire. The Vedic theonym Agní- has as its primary appellative function the straightforward meaning of ‘fire’. The relation of Agamemnon to fire (cf. also Gantz 1977) is best expressed by Aeschylus in his tragedy Agamem- non, where he put in the mouth of Clytaemestra, the wife of Agamemnon, the description of the grandiose chain of beacon fires informing the Argive people about the fall of Ilium after ten years of war (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 281–316, transl. Weir Smyth):
Ἥφαιστος Ἴδης λαμπρὸν ἐκπέμπων σέλας. φρυκτὸς δὲ φρυκτὸν δεῦρ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἀγγάρου πυρὸς ἔπεμπεν: Ἴδη μὲν πρὸς Ἑρμαῖον λέπας Λήμνου: μέγαν δὲ πανὸν ἐκ νήσου τρίτον Ἀθῷον αἶπος Ζηνὸς ἐξεδέξατο,285 ὑπερτελής τε, πόντον ὥστε νωτίσαι, ἰσχὺς πορευτοῦ λαμπάδος πρὸς ἡδονὴν †πεύκη τὸ χρυσοφεγγές, ὥς τις ἥλιος, σέλας παραγγείλασα Μακίστου σκοπαῖς: ὁδ᾽ οὔτι μέλλων οὐδ᾽ ἀφρασμόνως ὕπνῳ 290νικώμενος παρῆκεν ἀγγέλου μέρος:
ἑκὰς δὲ φρυκτοῦ φῶς ἐπ᾽ Εὐρίπου ῥοὰς Μεσσαπίου φύλαξι σημαίνει μολόν. οἱδ᾽
ἀντέλαμψαν καὶ παρήγγειλαν πρόσωγραίας ἐρείκης θωμὸν ἅψαντες πυρί. 295 σθένουσα λαμπὰς δ᾽ οὐδέπω μαυρουμένη, ὑπερθοροῦσα πεδίον Ἀσωποῦ, δίκην φαιδρᾶς σελήνης, πρὸς Κιθαιρῶνος λέπας ἤγειρεν ἄλλην ἐκδοχὴν πομποῦ πυρός. φάος δὲ τηλέπομπον οὐκ ἠναίνετο 300 φρουρὰ πλέον καίουσα τῶν εἰρημένων: λίμνην δ᾽ ὑπὲρ Γοργῶπιν ἔσκηψεν φά- ος: ὄρος τ᾽ ἐπ᾽ Αἰγίπλαγκτον ἐξικνούμενον ὤτρυνε θεσμὸν μὴ χρονίζεσθαι πυρός. πέμπουσι
δ᾽ ἀνδαίοντες ἀφθόνῳ μένει 305 φλογὸς μέγαν πώγωνα, καὶ Σαρωνικοῦ πορθμοῦ κάτοπτον πρῶν᾽ ὑπερβάλλειν πρόσω φλέγουσαν: ἔστ᾽ ἔσκηψεν εὖτ᾽ ἀφίκετο Ἀραχναῖον αἶπος, ἀστυγείτονας σκοπάς: κἄπειτ᾽ Ἀτρειδῶν ἐς τόδε σκήπτει στέγος 310 φάος τόδ᾽ οὐκ ἄπαππον Ἰδαίου πυρός. τοιοίδε τοί μοι λαμπαδηφόρων νόμοι, ἄλλος παρ᾽ ἄλλου διαδοχαῖς πληρού- μενοι: νικᾷ δ᾽ ὁ πρῶτος καὶ τελευταῖος δραμών. τέκμαρ τοιοῦτον σύμβολόν τέ σοι λέγω 315 ἀνδρὸς παραγγείλαντος ἐκ Τροίας ἐμοί.
Hephaestus, from Ida speeding forth his brilliant blaze. Beacon passed beacon on to us by courier-flame: Ida, to the Hermaean crag in Lemnos; to the mighty blaze upon the island succeeded, third, [285] the summit of Athos sacred to Zeus; and, soaring high aloft so as to leap across the sea, the flame, travelling joyously onward in its strength the pinewood torch, its golden-beamed light, as another sun, passing the message on to the watchtow- ers of Macistus. [290] He, delaying not nor carelessly overcome by sleep, did not neglect his part as messenger. Far over Euripus’ stream came the beacon-light and signalled to the watchmen on Messapion. They, kindling a heap of [295] withered heather, lit up their an- swering blaze and sped the message on. The flame, now gathering strength and in no way dimmed, like a radiant moon overleaped the plain of Asopus to Cithaeron’s ridges, and roused another relay of missive fire. [300] Nor did the warders there disdain the far-flung light, but made a blaze higher than their commands. Across Gorgopus’ water shot the light, reached the mount of Aegiplanctus, and urged the ordinance of fire to make no de- lay. [305] Kindling high with unstinted force a mighty beard of flame, they sped it forward so that, as it blazed, it passed even the headland that looks upon the Saronic gulf; until it swooped down when it reached the lookout, near to our city, upon the peak of Arachnae- us; and [310] next upon this roof of the Atreidae it leapt, this very fire not undescended from the Idaean flame. Such are the torch-bearers I have arranged, completing the course in succession one to the other; and the victor is he who ran both first and last. [315] This is the kind of proof and token I give you, the message of my husband from Troy to me.
It is remarkable that Agni is also mentioned in connection with ‘beacon’ — he is asked for his beacon to protect people from narrow straits (e.g. RV 1.36.14):
ūrdhvó naḥ pāhy áṃhaso ní ketúnā / víśvaṃ sám atríṇaṃ daha
Upright, protect us from narrow straits with your beacon. Burn up every devourer. (transl.
Jamison/Brereton)
Already Homer used the metaphor about Agamemnon’s eyes like blazing fire, as in Il. 2.101–104:
ἤτοι ὅ γ᾽ ὣς εἰπὼν κατ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἕζετο: τοῖσι δ᾽ ἀνέστη ἥρως Ἀτρεΐδης εὐρὺ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων ἀχνύμενος: μένεος δὲ μέγα φρένες ἀμφιμέλαιναι πίμπλαντ᾽, ὄσσε δέ οἱ πυρὶ λαμπετόωντι ἐΐκτην:
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When he had thus spoken he sat down, and among them arose the warrior, son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, deeply troubled. With rage his black heart was wholly filled, and his eyes were like blazing fire. (transl. Murray)
3.1.1
If agní- is derivable from *H1egni-/*H1/2/3ogni- or *n̥gni-/*H1/2/3n̥gni-, in the Greek name one would expect a compatible counterpart. The first component Ἀγαo is derivable from *H2egn̥-, compatible with the pre-Aryan variant *H2ogni-, but
*H2engno/*H2n̥gno would also lead to *angno and after the following nasal dis- similation to *agno, cf. Greek ἰγνύη ‘hollow of the knee, ham’ <*H1en-ĝnu-;
ἴγνητες ‘native’ <*H1en-ĝneH1-to (Beekes 2010, 576). But there are examples showing that *H1n̥Co can also change into Greek aCo, as in Greek ἄκαρος ‘brain’
[Etymologicum Magnum 45.13] <*H1n̥-k̂r̥H2o- vs. ἔγκαρος ‘brain’ [Lycophron {320–280 BCE}, Alexandra 1104; Alcaeus Messenius {197 BCE}] <*H1en-k̂r̥H2o- and ἴγκρος · ἐγκέφαλος [Hesychius] <*H1en-k̂ro- (Nussbaum 1986, 72–73; Beekes 2010, 49–50). This means that the name is also derivable from *H1n̥gno. The choice from thinkable variants could be determined by cognates in other Indo- European languages:
− Nuristani: Waigali ã́ı̄́ ‘fire’ (Turner 1966, #55).
− Iranian: Young Avestan proper name Dāštāγni-, maybe also Old Per- sian/Median Ag-nu-par-nu in the cuneiform transcription (EWAI I, 44);
Yazghulami aγnág ‘a white stone (= flint?)’ <*agni̯akā-, besides wúγn ‘black’
= *‘burnt’ <*au̯a-agn(i̯)a- (ESIJ I, 86).
− Anatolian: Hittite theonym dA-ak-ni-iš was probably borrowed from Mitanni- Aryan.
− Italic: Latin ignis ‘fire’, besides unique inscriptional ingnis < *engni- <
*H1n̥gni- (Schrijver 1991, 63–64, 416).
− Balto-Slavic*ungni-: Old Lithuanian ungnis [Bretkun], Lithuanian ugnìs f., East (Zietala) ùgnis m, ùgnė; Latvian uguns f. & m. (i-stem), uguns m. (io- stem), dial. (Tamian) uginš ‘fire’; Slavic *ognь & *ogńь m. ‘fire’ < *H1n̥gni- (Derksen 2015, 478).
Especially with regard to the Latin data it is possible to choose the protoform
*H1n̥gno as compatible with all actually attested forms.
The first nasal is confirmed by such forms as Vedic áṅgāra- ‘coal’; Ashkun aṅgā́, Dameli aṅgar ‘fire’, etc.; Sogdian ’nk’yr /angēr/ ‘hearth’, Yaghnobi inkir
‘id.’; ?Old Irish aingel ‘fire, light’, ?Middle Welsh {first 14th–15th cent.} engyl
‘fire’ (GPC); Lithuanian anglìs, Latvian ùogle and ùogls f.; Old Church Slavonic ǫglь ‘coal’ (EWAI I, 48; Turner 1966, #125; Gharib 1995, #1061; Vendryes 1960, A–36; Derksen 2015, 55; Pokorny 1959, 779). Persian angišt ‘charcoal, wood coal’
and Ossetic Iron zyng, Digor zing ‘burnt coal, fire’ (*uz-anga-; see Abaev IV, 322–
23;ESIJ I, 168), together with the Old Irish gloss ong ‘fire, hearth’ (Vendryes 1959, A–36; 1960, O–25), indicate the root *Hong-. The Celtic data exclude the reconstruction of the labiovelar *gṷ, proposed e.g. by Derksen (2015, 478).
3.2
The second component could be derived from the verb μιμνήσκω ‘I remind, put or call in mind, remember, make mention’, etc., pf. μέμνημαι, subj. μέμνωμαι (similarly already de Saussure 1881, 432 and Fick 1894, 400, cited above). The name was probably formed by the suffix -μων, gen. -μóνoς, cf. ἡγεμών ‘leader, guide’, εὐ-θήμων ‘well-arranged; setting in order’, etc. (Brugmann 2.1., 239–240, 300; Janda 2005, 134–139). The whole compound *H1n̥gn̥-menmōn would mean
‘reminding by fire’, probably with regard to Agamenon’s chain of beacon fires, signalizing the conquest of Troy.
4
There are also other common features, connecting the Vedic god Agni and the Greek hero Agamemnon:
4.1 Light
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 522–523:
ἥκει γὰρ ὑμῖν φῶς ἐν εὐφρόνῃ φέρων καὶ τοῖσ δ᾽ ἅπασι κοινὸν Ἀγαμέμνων ἄναξ.
For bearing light in darkness to you and to all assembled here alike, he has returned — Agamemnon, our king. (transl. Weir Smyth)
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RV 1.36.3:
mahás te sató ví caranty arcáyo / diví spr̥śanti bʰānávaḥ
Since you are great, your flames range widely; your radiant beams touch heaven. (transl.
Jamison/Brereton) RV 1.69.1:
vedʰā́ ádr̥pto agnír vijānánn ū́dʰar ná gónāṃ svā́dmā pitūnā́m / jáne ná śéva āhū́ryaḥ sán mádʰye níṣatto raṇvó duroṇé The blazing one, blazing bright like the lover of Dawn,
has filled the two conjoined {word-halves}, like the light of heaven. (transl. Jamison and Brereton)
Let us mention that in both Greek and Vedic there are used continuants of the root *bheH2- ‘to shine, light’ (LIV 68–69).
4.2 Wealth
Homer, Il. 2.100–108:
… ἀνὰ δὲ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων
ἔστη σκῆπτρον ἔχων τὸ μὲν Ἥφαιστος κάμε τεύχων.
Ἥφαιστος μὲν δῶκε Διὶ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι, αὐτὰρ ἄρα Ζεὺς δῶκε διακτόρῳ ἀργεϊφόντῃ:
Ἑρμείας δὲ ἄναξ δῶκεν Πέλοπι πληξίππῳ, αὐτὰρ ὃ αὖτε Πέλοψ δῶκ᾽ Ἀτρέϊ ποιμένι λαῶν, Ἀτρεὺς δὲ θνῄσκων ἔλιπεν πολύαρνι Θυέστῃ, αὐτὰρ ὃ αὖτε Θυέστ᾽ Ἀγαμέμνονι λεῖπε φορῆναι, πολλῇσιν νήσοισι καὶ Ἄργεϊ παντὶ ἀνάσσειν.
Then among them lord Agamemnon uprose, bearing in his hands the sceptre which He- phaestus had wrought with toil. Hephaestus gave it to king Zeus, son of Cronos, and Zeus gave it to the messenger Argeïphontes; and Hermes, the lord, gave it to Pelops, driver of horses, and Pelops in turn gave it to Atreus, shepherd of the host; and Atreus at his death left it to Thyestes, rich in flocks, and Thyestes again left it to Agamemnon to bear, that so he might be lord of many isles and of all Argos. (transl. Murray)
RV 1.60.4:
agnír bhuvad rayipátī rayīṇā́m
Agni has became wealth-lord of wealth. (transl. Jamison/Brereton) RV 1.70.5:
sá hí kṣapā́vām̐ agnī́ rayīṇā́ṃ dā́śa dyó asmā áraṃ sūktaíḥ / etā́ cikitvo bhū́mā ní pāhi devā́nāṃ jánma mártāṃś ca vidvā́n For Agni, the protector of riches on earth, does ritual service {for him}
who does ritual service for him {Agni} fittingly with good hymns. (transl. Jamison/Brereton) RV 1.72.1:
agnír bhuvad rayipátī rayīṇā́ṃ satrā́ cakrāṇó amŕ̥tāni víśvā
Agni has become the wealth-lord of wealth, making wholly his own all immortal things.
(transl. Jamison/Brereton)
4.3 Role in the wedding ritual
Hesiod, Catalogues of Women and Eoiae 68.13–15:
καί νύ κε δὴ Kάστωρ τε καὶ κρατερὸς Πολυδεύκης γαμβρὸν ποιήσαντο κατὰ κράτος· ἀλλ’
Ἀγαμέμνων γαμβρὸς ἐὼν ἐμνᾶτο κασιγνήτῳ Mενελάῳ
And truly Castor and strong Polydeuces would have made him their brother {lit. their kinsman by marriage}, but Agamemnon, who was his {Tyndareos’} son-in-law, wooed her {Helen} for his brother Menelaos. (transl. Evelyn-White)
RV 10.85.8–9:
sūryā́yā aśvínā varā́gnír āsīt purogaváḥ //
sómo vadhūyúr abhavad aśvínāstām ubhā́ varā́ / sūryā́ṃ yát pátye śáṃsantīm mánasā savitā́dadāt
The Aśvins were the wooers of Sūryā and Agni was the leader.
Soma was the bridegroom; the Aśvins were both wooers,
when Savitar gave Sūryā to her husband, as she pronounced {her vow}
with her {whole} mind. (transl. Jamison/Brereton)
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4.4 Comparison with “bull”
Homer, Il. 2.480–483:
ἠΰτε βοῦς ἀγέληφι μέγ᾽ ἔξοχος ἔπλετο πάντων ταῦρος: ὃ γάρ τε βόεσσι μεταπρέπει ἀγρομένῃσι:
τοῖον ἄρ᾽ Ἀτρεΐδην θῆκε Ζεὺς ἤματι κείνῳ ἐκπρεπέ᾽ ἐν πολλοῖσι καὶ ἔξοχον ἡρώεσσιν.
Even as a bull among the herd stands forth far the chiefest over all, for that he is pre- eminent among the gathering kine, even such did Zeus make Agamemnon on that day, pre-eminent among many, and chiefest amid warriors. (transl. Murray)
RV 1.31.5:
tvám agne vr̥ṣabháḥ puṣṭivárdhana údyatasruce bhavasi śravā́yyaḥ You, Agni, a bull increasing prosperity, should be celebrated by the {priest}
who holds up the offering spoon. (transl. Jamison/Brereton)
4.5 Universal king
Homer, Il. 3.455:
τοῖσι δὲ καὶ μετέειπεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων
Then the king of men, Agamemnon, spake among them, saying. (transl. Murray) Homer, Il. 3.178–79:
οὗτός γ᾽ Ἀτρεΐδης εὐρὺ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων, ἀμφότερον βασιλεύς τ᾽ ἀγαθὸς κρατερός τ᾽ αἰχμητής:
Yon man is the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, that is both a noble king and a valiant spearman. (transl. Murray) RV 3.55.4:
samānó rā́jā víbhr̥taḥ purutrā́ śáye śayā́su práyuto vánā́nu
The common king has been dispersed in many places; he lies in his resting places [= hearths] {spread out} for some distance along the (fire-)logs. (transl. Jamison/Brereton)
RV 1.36.2:
jánāso agníṃ dadhire sahovŕ̥dhaṃ / havíṣmanto vidhema te The people have installed Agni, the increaser of might.
Bringing oblations, we would do honor to you. (transl. Jamison/Brereton) RV 1.36.17:
agnír vavne suvī́ryam agníḥ káṇvāya saúbhagam
Agni gained good heroes en masse, and Agni good fortune for Kaṇva. (transl.
Jamison/Brereton) RV 1.36.18:
agnír nayan návavāstvam br̥hádrathaṃ / turvī́tiṃ dásyave sáhaḥ
Agni, our force against the Dasyu, led Navavāstva of the lofty chariots and Turvīti. (transl.
Jamison/Brereton)