(), a son of Stymphalus and great-grandson of
Arcas. (Paus. 8.4.5, 5.3.) He was
father of Cercyon by Epicaste, who also brought to him a step-son, Trophonius, who was by some
believed to be a son of Apollo. According to others, Agamedes was a son of Apollo and
Epicaste, or of Zeus and Iocaste, and father of Trophonius. The most common story however is,
that he was a son of Erginus, king of Orchomenus, and brother of Trophonius. These two
brothers are said to have distinguished themselves as architects, especially in building
temples and palaces. Among others, they built a temple of Apollo at Delphi, and a treasury of
Hyrieus, king of Hyria in Bocotia. (Paus. 9.37.3; Strab. ix. p.421.) The scholiast on Aristophanes (Aristoph. Cl. 508) gives a somewhat different account from
Charax, and makes them build the treasury for king Augeias. The story about this treasury in
Pausanias bears a great resemblance to that which Herodotus(2.121)
relates of the treasury of the Egyptian king Rhampsinitus. In the construction of the treasury
of Hyrieus, Agamedes and Trophonius contrived to place one stone in such a manner, that it
could be taken away outside, and thus formed an entrance to the treasury, without any body
perceiving it. Agamedes and Trophonius now constantly robbed the treasury; and the king,
seeing that locks and seals were uninjured while his treasures were constantly decreasing, set
traps to catch the thief. Agamnedes was thus ensnared, and Trophonius cut off his head to
avert the discovery. After this, Trophonius was immediately swallowed up by the earth. On this
spot there was afterwards, in the grove of Lebadeia, the so-called cave of Agamedes with a
column by the side of it. Here also was the oracle of Trophonius, and those who consulted it
first offered a ram to Agamedes and invoked him. (Paus. 9.39.4;
compare Dict. of Ant. p. 673.) A tradition mentioned by Cicero (Tusc. Quaest. 1.47; comp. Plut. De consol. ad Apollon.
14), states that Agamedes and Trophonius, after having built the temple of Apollo at Delphi,
prayed to the god to grant them in reward for their labour what was best for men. The god
promised to do so on a certain day, and when the day came, the two brothers died. The question
as to whether the story about the Egyptian treasury is derived from Greece, or whether the
Greek story was an importation from Egypt, has been answered by modern scholars in both ways;
but Müller (Orchom. p. 94, &c.) has rendered it very probable
that the tradition took its rise among the Minyans, was transferred from them to Augeias, and
was known in Greece long before the reign of Psammitichus, during which the intercourse
between the two countries was opened.