Argus (king of Argos)
In Greek mythology, Argus (/ˈɑːrɡəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄργος Argos) was the king and eponym of Argos.
Family
He was a son of Zeus and Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus, and is possibly the brother of Pelasgus.[1] Argus married either Evadne, the daughter of Strymon and Neaera, or Peitho the Oceanid, and had by her six sons: Criasus, Ecbasus, Iasus, Peiranthus (or Peiras, Peirasus, Peiren), Epidaurus and Tiryns (said by Pausanias to be the namesake of the city Tiryns).[2] According to Pausanias, yet another son of Argus was the Argive Phorbas (elsewhere his grandson through Criasus).[3] While Cercops speaks of Argus Panoptes as the son of Argus and Ismene.
| Relation | Name | Sources | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scholia on Homer | Hesiod | Cercops | Scholia on Euripides | Herodotus | Apollodorus | Hyginus | Pausanias | |||
| Parents | Apis | ✓ | ||||||||
| Zeus | ✓ | |||||||||
| Zeus and Niobe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||
| Sibling | Pelasgus | ✓ | ||||||||
| Wife | Ismene | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||
| Peitho | ✓ | |||||||||
| Evadne | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Children | Epidaurus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Argus Panoptes | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Iasus | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Ecbasus | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Piras | ✓ | |||||||||
| Criasus | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Peranthus | ✓ | |||||||||
| Peirasus | ✓ | |||||||||
| Phorbas | ✓ | |||||||||
| Tiryns | ✓ | |||||||||
Reign
Argus succeeded to his maternal grandfather's power over Peloponnese, naming the kingdom after himself.[3] A scholiast on Homer calls Argus the son and successor of Apis.[4] Jerome and Eusebius, citing the now-lost history of Castor of Rhodes, also agree in making Argus the successor of Apis, and son of Zeus and Niobe, and give the length of his reign over "Argeia" (Argos) as 70 years.
The tomb of Argus in Argos was shown as late as the times of Pausanias,[5] who also made mention of a grove sacred to Argus in Lacedaemon where some from the Argive army took refuge after being defeated by Cleomenes I, and were subsequently burned to death therein.[6]
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Apis |
King of Argos | Succeeded by Criasus |
| ARGUS' CHRONOLOGY OF REIGN ACCORDING TO VARIOUS SOURCES | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings of Argos | Regnal Years | Castor | Regnal Years | Syncellus | Regnal Years | Apollodorus | Hyginus | Tatian | Pausanias | ||
| Precessor | 1622 | 35 winters & summers | Apis | 1619.5 | 35 winters & summers | Apis | 1625 | Apis | -do- | -do- | -do- |
| Argus | 1604.5 | 70 winters & summers | Argus | 1602 | 70 winters & summers | Argus | 1600 | Argus | -do- | -do- | -do- |
| Successor | 1569.5 | 54 winters & summers | Criasus | 1567 | 54 winters & summers | Criasus | 1575 | Criasos or Peiras | Peranthus | Criasus | Peirasus or Phorbas |
References
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.1. This apparently matches his biography in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women; cf. West (1985, p. 76).
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2. 1. 2; Hyginus, Fabulae, 145; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 25. 8 (for Tiryns); scholia on Euripides, Phoenician Women, 1116, on Orestes, 932
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 16. 1
- Scholia on Iliad, 1. 115
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 22. 5
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3. 4. 1.
Sources
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
- West, M.L. (1985), The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins, Oxford, ISBN 0198140347.