Argus in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

（*)/Argos). 1. The third king of Argos, was a son of Zeus and Niobe. (Apollod. 2.1.1, &c.) A Scholiast (ad Hom. Il. 1.115) calls him a son of Apis, whom he succeeded in the kingdom of Argos. It is from this Argus that the country afterwards called Argolis and all Peloponnesus derived the name of Argos. (Hyg. Fab. 145; Paus. 2.16.1, 22.6, 34.5.) By Euadne, or according to others, by Peitho, he became the father of Jasus, Peiranthus or Peiras, Epidaurus, Criasus, and Tiryns. (Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 1151, 1147; ad Eurip. Orest. 1252, 1248, 930.) 2. Surnamed Panoptes. His parentage is stated differently, and his father is called Agenor, Arestor, Inachus, or Argus, whereas some accounts described him as an Autochthon. (Apollod. 2.1, 2, &c.; Ov. Met. 1.264.) He derived his surname, Panoptes, the all-seeing, from his possessing a hundred eyes, some of which were always awake. He was of superhuman strength, and after he had slain a fierce bull which ravaged Arcadia, a Satyr who robbed and violated persons, the serpent Echidna, which rendered the roads unsafe, and the murderers of Apis, who was according to some accounts his father, Hera appointed him guardian of the cow into which Io had been metamorphosed. (Comp. Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 1151, 1213.) Zeus commissioned Hermes to carry off the cow, and Hermes accomplished the task, according to some accounts, by stoning Argus to death, or according to others, by sending him to sleep by the sweetness of his play on the flute and then cutting off his head. Hera transplanted his eyes to the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird. (Aeschyl. Prom. ; Apollod. Ov. ll. cc.） 3. The builder of the Argo, the ship of the Argonauts, was according to Apollodorus (2.9. §§ 1, 16), a son of Phrixus. Apollonius Rhodius (1.112) calls him a son of Arestor, and others a son of Hestor or Polybus. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.4, ad Lycophr. 883; Hyg. Fab. 14; V. Fl. 1.39, who calls him a Thespian.) Argus, the son of Phrixus, was sent by Aeetes, his grandfather, after the death of Phrixus, to take possession of his inheritance in Greece. On his voyage thither he suffered shipwreck, was found by Jason in the island of Aretias, and carried back to Colchis. (Apollon. 2.1095, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 21.) Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 3) relates that after the death of Phrixus, Argus intended to flee with his brothers to Athamas. - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, William Smith, Ed.