Ageleia

Ageleia or Ageleis (Gr. polytonic|Ἀγελεία or polytonic|Ἀγεληῖς) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, of somewhat obscure defintion, mostly playing off the meaning of the Greek words "ago" (polytonic|ἄγω), the verb for leading or doing, and "leia" (polytonic|λεία), a noun meaning "plunder" or "spoils", particularly herds of cattle. [cite book | last = Liddell | first = Henry | authorlink = Henry Liddell | coauthors = Robert Scott | title = A Greek-English Lexicon | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 1996 | location = Oxford | pages = 1034 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-19-864226-1] [cite book | last = O'Neill | first = John | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Night of the Gods: An Inquiry Into Cosmic and Cosmogonic Mythology | publisher = Bernard Quaritch | date = 1893 | location = London | pages = 386 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=HRsXAAAAYAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

To some writers, it is the name by which she is designated as the leader or protectress of the people, as a herder protects his cattle.Citation | last = Schmitz | first = Leonhard | author-link = | contribution = Ageleia | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | volume = 1 | pages = 68 | publisher = | place = Boston | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0077.html ] [Homer, "Iliad" iv. 128, v. 765, vi. 269, xv. 213] [Homer, "Odyssey" iii. 378, &c.] In other sources, the name is taken more literally, and "Athena Ageleia" is the "pillager" [cite book | last = Homer | first = | authorlink = Homer | coauthors = George Chapman, trans. | title = The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets | publisher = Charles Knight & Co. | date = 1843 | location = London | pages = 104 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=zTYRAAAAIAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn = ] or "she who carries off the spoils". [cite book | last = Westcott | first = William Wynn | authorlink = William Wynn Westcott | coauthors = | title = Numbers: Their Occult Power and Mystic Virtue | publisher = Theosophical Publishing Society | date = 1890 | location = | pages = 32 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=CooMAAAAYAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

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