Agnias

Family: Africa · Role: king · First appears: The Sons Of Jacob At War With The Sons Of Esau

During Bela’s crowning among the sons of Esau, Agnias was king of Africa and had sent Bela as one of the warriors supporting them. He later welcomed Zepho after Zepho escaped from Egypt, appointing him commander-in-chief of his troops. Agnias then sought and won permission from the people of Kittim to marry Yaniah; after a campaign in which Lucus, Agnias’s brother, fought alongside him and Niblos, Lucus’s son and commander of the Sardinian troops, was killed by Turnus, Agnias and his allies routed Turnus’s army. Agnias went to Pozimana to marry Yaniah and returned with her to his African capital.

When Balaam’s divination showed the African army subdued by the Egyptians, Agnias abandoned that campaign. At this time, he brought Forma water for Yaniah and built her a palace using earth and stone from Kittim; she recovered from her illness. Later, Agnias invaded Kittim, where Zepho repulsed his troops and pursued them to Africa’s borders. On a second attempt, Agnias’s army was annihilated, and Zepho was chosen king by the people. Agnias gathered Africa’s inhabitants and ordered all males over ten to join the army on pain of death and confiscation; after Zepho prayed, half the African army fell in the first day’s battle, and Agnias was defeated again in the second, despite reinforcements. Samlah of Masrekah wished to support Agnias, described as an old ally of the Edomites, and punish Zepho for going to war with him.