Karl Agathon
Karl C. Agathon (callsign "Helo") is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.
Appearances
Background
Agathon is an Electronic Countermeasures Officer, part of a two-person Colonial Raptor crew based on the Battlestar Galactica, and is paired with Sharon "Boomer" Valerii before the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies. Unlike other major characters such as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace or Gaius Baltar, the series reveals little about Agathon's life before the events of the series. It is confirmed Helo is a Caprican, which is partly why he and Starbuck knew each other.
The (unofficial) backstory Tahmoh Penikett and Katee Sackhoff came up with to explain a comment from Thrace in "Scattered" that she and Helo "go way back" is the two were old friends for a long time who most likely attended the academy together as cadets and as "drinking buddies."
Miniseries
During the Cylon attack, Agathon and Sharon's Raptor is damaged, he takes a shrapnel hit in the leg and they are forced to land on Caprica. While making repairs, they are mobbed by a group of survivors desperate to get off the planet. A lottery is used to decide who will be allowed to escape due to the Raptor's limited space. The injured Agathon sacrifices his own seat to allow Dr. Gaius Baltar, discovered in the crowd, to survive. Boomer lifts off with refugees aboard and Helo is left on the nuked and occupied Caprica with only a med kit and sidearm.
Agathon
Agathon (/ˈæɡəˌθɒn/; Greek: Ἀγάθων, gen.: Ἀγάθωνος; c. 448 – c. 400 BC) was an Athenian tragic poet whose works have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in 416. He is also a prominent character in Aristophanes' comedy the Thesmophoriazusae.
Life and career
Agathon was the son of Tisamenus, and the lifelong companion of Pausanias, with whom he appears in both the Symposium and Plato's Protagoras. Together with Pausanias, he later moved to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedon, who was recruiting playwrights; it is here that he probably died around 401 BC. Agathon introduced certain innovations into the Greek theater: Aristotle tells us in the Poetics (1456a) that the characters and plot of his Anthos were original and not, following Athenian dramatic orthodoxy, borrowed from mythological subjects. Agathon was also the first playwright to write choral parts which were apparently independent from the main plot of his plays.
Agathon (name)
Agathon (Anc. Gr. Ἀγάθων) is a given name.
Russian name
In Russian, in 1924–1930, the name "Агато́н" (Agaton) was included into various Soviet calendars, which included the new and often artificially created names promoting the new Soviet realities and encouraging the break with the tradition of using the names in the Synodal Menologia. The name is a Westernized form of the more traditional name Agafon.
Classical antiquity
Agathon (son of Philotas)
Agathon (in Greek Aγαθων; lived 4th century BC) was the son of the Macedonian Philotas and the brother of Parmenion and Asander. He was given as a hostage to Antigonus in 313 BC, by his brother Asander, who was satrap of Caria, but was taken back again by Asander in a few days. Agathon had a son, named Asander, who is mentioned in a Greek inscription.
References
Notes
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "article name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
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