Agis

Gentle and priestly Agis is a Megaran, from a town that was, in this period, generally pro-Spartan. Megarans were renowned in antiquity as founders of colonies and builders of temples, and they were said to “build as if they are to live forever; they live as if they are to die tomorrow.” I chose to make Agis a pious man and a poet, who can quote vast parts of the Iliad and Odyssey.

It is worth noting that the Iliad was the textbook of male behavior and virtue in the Hellenistic Age. Alexander carried a copy in a golden casket on campaign, and desired above all things to be a modern Achilles. Classical Greek men with any degree of education would quote the Iliad on a daily, even hourly basis; and it was often the subject of debate, or used to cap an argument, even about military tactics (not unlike some people’s modern use of the Bible.)