Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/300

Rh 282 ARGONAUTAE. mouth of the river Phasis. The Colchian king Aeetes promised to give up the golden fleece, if Jason alone would yoke to a plough two fire- breathing oxen with brazen feet, and sow the teeth of the dragon which had not been used by Cadmus at Thebes, and which he had received from Athena. The love of Medeia furnished Jason with means to resist fire and steel, on condition of his taking her as his wife ; and she taught him how he was to create feuds among and kill the warriors that were to spring up from the teeth of the dragon. While Jason was engaged upon his task, Aeetes formed plans for burning the ship Argo and for killing all the Greek heroes. But Meaeia's magic powers sent to sleep the dragon who guarded the golden fleece; and after Jason had t<iken possession of the treasure, he and his Argonauts, together with Medeia and her young brother Absyrtus, embarked by night and sailed away. Aeetes pursued them, but before he overtook them, Medeia murdered her brother, cut him into pieces, and threw his limbs overboard, that her father might be detained in his pursuit by collecting the limbs of his child. Aeetes at last returned home, but sent out a great number of Colchians, tlireatening them with the punishment intended for Medeia, if they returned without her. While the Colchians were dispersed in all directions, the Argonauts had already reached the mouth of the river Eridanus. But Zeus, in his anger at the murder of Absyrtus, raised a storm which cast the ship from its road. When driven on the Aljsyrtian islands, the ship began to speak, and declared that the anger of Zeus would not cease, unless they sailed towards Ausonia, and got purified by Circe. They now sjiiled along the coasts of the Ligyans and Celts, and through the sea of Sardinia, and continuing tlieir course along the coast of Tyrrhenia, they arrived in the island of Aeaea, where Circe purified them. When they were passing by the Sirens, Oqiheus siing to pre- vent the Argonauts being allured by them. Butes, however, swam to them, but Aphrodite carried him to Lilybaeum. Thetis and the Nereids con- ducted them through Scylla and Charybdis and between the whirling rocks (Trerpat irKa-yKTai) ; and sailing by the Trinacian island with its oxen of Helios, they came to the Phaeacian island of Corcyra, where they were received by Alcinous. In the meantime, some of the Colchians, not being able to discover the Argonauts, had settled at the foot of the Ceraunian mountains ; others occupied the Absyrtian islands near the coast of Illyricum ; and a third band overlook the Argonauts in the island of the Phaeacians. But as their hopes of recovering Medeia were deceived by Arete, the queen of Alcinous, they settled in the island, and the Argonauts continued their voyage. [Alcinous.] During the night, they were overtaken by a storm ; but Apollo sent brilliant flashes of lightning which enabled them to discover a neighbouring island, which they called Anaphe. Here they erected an altar to Apollo, and solemn rites were instituted, which continued to be observed down to very late times. Their attempt to land in Crete was pre- vented by Talus, who guarded the island, but was killed by the artifices of Medeia. From Crete they sailed to Aegina, and from thsnce between Euboea and Locris to lolcus. Respecting the events subsequent to their arrival in lolcus, see Aeson, Medeia, Jason, Pelias. ( Compare Schoeneraann, de Geograpliia ArgonaiUaruvi^ Got- ARGYRUS. tingen, 1788; Ukert, Geog. der Griech. u. Rom, i. 2. p. 320, &c. ; MUller, Orchom. pp. 164, &c., 267, &c.) The story of the Argonauts probably arose out of accounts of commercial enterprises which the wealthy Minyans made to the coasts of the Euxine. [L. S.] ARGUS ("ApToO- 1- The third king of Argos, was a son of Zeus and Niobe. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 1, &c.) A Scholiast {ad Horn. //. i. 1 15) 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 Pelopon- nesus derived the name of Argos. (Hygin. Fab. 145 ; Paus. ii. 16. § 1, 22. $ 6, 34. $ 5.) By Eu- adne, or according to others, by Peitho, he became the father of Jasus, Peiranthus or Peiras, Epi- daurus, Criasus, and Tiryns. (Schol. ad Eurip. Plioen, 1151, 1147 ; ad Eurip. Orest. 1252, 1248, 930.) 2. Surnamed Panoptes. His parentage is stated differently, and his father is called Agenor, Ares- tor, Inachus, or Argus, whereas some accounts de- scribed him as an Autochthon. (Apollod. ii. 1, 2, i*tc. ; Ov. Met. i. 264.) He derived his surname, Panoptes, the all-seeing, fiom 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 ac- counts his father, Hera appointed him guardian of the cow into which lo had been metamorphosed. (Comp. Schol. ad Eurip. Phoeti. 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 'ac- cording to others, by sending him to sleep by the sweetness of his play on the flute and then cutting oft' his head. Hera transplanted his eyes to the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird. (Aeschyl. Prom.; Apollod. Ov. 11. cc.) 3. The builder of the Argo, the ship of the Argo- nauts, was according to Apollodorus (ii. 9. ^^ 1, lc5), a son of Phrixus. Apollonius Rhodius (i. 112) calls him a son of Arestor, and others a son of Hestor or Polybus. (Schol. ad ApoUon. Rhod. i. 4, ad Lycophr. 883; Hygin. Fab. 14; Val. Flacc. i. 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 in- heritance in Greece. On his voyage thither he suffered shipwreck, was found by Jason in the island of Aretias, and carried back to Colchis. (ApoUon. Rhod. ii. 1095, &c. ; Hygin. Fab. 21.) Hyginus {Fab. 3) relates that after the death of Phrixus, Argus intended to flee with his brothers to Athamas. [L. S.] ARGYRA ('Ap7»pa), the nymph of a well in Achaia, was in love with a beautiful shepherd-b(ty, Selemnus, and visited him frequently, but when his youthful beauty vanished, she forsook him. The boy now pined away with grief, and Aphro- dite, moved to pit}', changed him into the river Selemnus. There was a popular belief in Achaia, that if an unhappy lover bathed in the water of this river, he would forget the grief of his love. (Paus. vii. 23. $ 2.) [L. S.] ARGYRUS, ISAAC, a Greek monk, who lived about ihe year a. d. 1373. He is the author of a considerable number of works, but only one of them has yet been published, viz. a work