Acragas
Acragas (Gr. Ακράγας) was an engraver, or silversmith, spoken of by Pliny the Elder. It is not known either when or where he was born. Pliny says that Acragas, Boethus and Mys were considered but little inferior to Mentor, an artist of great note in the same profession; and that works of all three were in existence in his day, preserved in different temples in the island of Rhodes.
Also recorded as Akragas
Acragas
Jebulon · CC0
- Occupation
- sculptor, silversmith, engraver and chaser.
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Documentary summary
Acragas (Gr. Ακράγας) was an engraver, or silversmith, spoken of by Pliny the Elder. It is not known either when or where he was born. Pliny says that Acragas, Boethus and Mys were considered but little inferior to Mentor, an artist of great note in the same profession; and that works of all three were in existence in his day, preserved in different temples in the island of Rhodes.
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Identity
Those of Acragas, who was especially famed for his representations of hunting scenes on cups, were in the temple of Bacchus at Rhodes, and consisted of cups with figures of Bacchae and Centaurs graved on them. If the language of Pliny justifies us in inferring that the three artists whom he classes together lived at the same time, that would fix the age of Acragas in the latter part of the fifth century BC, as Mys was a contemporary of Phidias.
Acragas is recorded with the occupation silversmith. Recorded with the occupation sculptor. Recorded with the occupation engraver. Recorded with the occupation chaser. Recorded as sculptor, silversmith, engraver and chaser.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.«Proximi ab eo [Mentore] in admiratione Acragas et Boëthus et Mys fuere. Exstant omnium opera hodie in insula Rhodiorum, Boëthi apud Lindiam Minervam, Acragantis in templo Liberi patris in ipsa Rhodo Centauros Bacchasque caelati scyphi, Myos in eadem aede Silenos et Cupidines. Acragantis et venatio in scyphis magnam famem habuit.» (Plinio il Vecchio, Naturalis Historia, XXXIII, 155, o 12, 55).
- 2.Naturalis Historia, XXXIV, 84, o 8, 19.
- 3.L'archeologo e accademico Paolo Enrico Arias, , suggerisce che «il nome potrebbe essere messo in relazione con la sua patria (Akragas è il nome antico di Agrigento)», se non proprio «inventato» come sostenuto invece da Théodore Reinach, e ne colloca l'attività «non prima, certamente, del IV secolo a.C. inoltrato».
- 4.Giorgio Vasari, Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, edizione del 1568, II, XXXIX.
- 5.Stefano Ticozzi. Dizionario degli architetti, scultori, pittori, intagliatori in rame ed in pietra, coniatori di medaglie, musaicisti, niellatori, intarsiatori d'ogni eta e d'ogni nazione. Gaetano Schiepatti. vol. 1º. 1830.
- 6.Riflessi di Roma. Impero Romano e Barbari del Baltico (catalogo della mostra tenutasi a Milano, AltriMusei a Porta Romana, 1º marzo - 2 giugno 1997). L'Erma di Bretschneider. 1997. 88-7062-961-9.
- 7.Da identificare con il Mys pliniano.
- 8.Bernardo Quaranta. Di quattordici vasi d'argento disotterrati in Pompei nel MDCCCXXXV ed ora messi in mostra nel Real Museo Borbonico. Cioffi. 1837.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Achille PaceEngraver
- Achille VianelliEngraver
- Achille-Louis MartinetEngraver
- Achille-Louis-Joseph SirouyEngraver
- Ad DekkersEngraver
- Ad ReinhardtEngraver
- Ada Matilda ShrimptonEngraver
- Ada Vorhaus GabrielEngraver
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