Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/216

 ^00 ARGOLIS. sea .between the promontory Malea in Lacobia and the pronumtory Scyllaenm in Troezeniaf thus in- cladmg the Hermonicus Sinns. (Strab. viii. pp. 335, 368; PoL v. 91; PtoL iiL 16. § 10; Plin. iv. 5. 8. 9.^ ' A'RGOLIS. [Aroos.] ARGOS ( rh "Afryos : £ih. 'Apyeloj, Arglvns, and in the poets Argeoe), is sud by Strabo (viii. -^5 to the Latin word " ager." There were geveral pUces of the name of Argoe. Two are mentioned in Homw, who distinguishes them by the names of the " Pe< lasgic Argos " {rh IltKcurytKhy "Apyos, II. ii. 681), and the " Achaean Argos " (*A(ryos *Axauichy, IL bL 141. Od. iii. 251). The Pehisgic Argos was a town ^district in Thessaly. [Amos Pelaboi- CUM.] The Achaean Argos, or Argos simply, is Qsed by Homer in three different significations: 1. To in(Ucate the city of Argos where Diomedes reigned. (//. ii. 559, tL 224, xiv. 119.) 2. Aga- memnon's kingdom, of which Mycenae was the ca- pital. {II. i. 30, ii. 108, 287, in. 75, vi. 152.) 3. The whole of Peloponnesus, in opposition to Hellas, or Greece north ctf the Isthmus of Corinth (iea0* 'EAAoSa icol fi4(roy "ApyoSy Od. i. 344; comp. f^f"**"^: Od. iv. 726 ^ i t fai ' i ^ l, BOO ; Strab. viu. pp. 369, 370). In this sense Homer calls it the " lasian Argos " ("IwroK "ApyoSf Od. xviii. 246), from an ancient king lasus, son of Aigus and Evadne. (Apollod. ii. L § 2.) In consequence of this use of Argos, Homer frequently employs the word 'Apyciot to signify the whole body of the Greeks ; and the Roman poets, in imitation, use Argivi in the same manner. In the Greek writers Argos is used to signify both the territory of the city of Aigos, and more frequentiy the city itself. I. Argot, the districL Aboos, the territory of Aigos, called Aboous (^ *Ap7oAfj) by Herodotus (L 82), but more fre- quently by other Greek writers Abgeia {h ^Apyeia, Thuc. V. 75 ; Strab. viiL p. 371, et passim), — some- times Argolice {'h *Apyoudi, Strab. viii. p. 376). By the Greek writers these words were used to sig- niify only the territory of the city of Argos, which was bounded by the territories of Phlius, Gleonae, and Coorinth on the N. ; on the W. by that of £pi- daurus; on the S. by the Argolic gulf and Gynuria; and on the E. by Arcadia. The Romans, however, used the word Argolis in a more extended sense, in- cluding under that name not only the territories of Phlius and Cleonae on the N., but the whole act^ or peninsula between the Saronic and Argolic gulfs, which was divided in the times of Grecian indepen- dence into the districts of Epidauria, Troezenia, and Hermionis. Thus the Roman Argolis was bounded on the N. by Corintbia and Sicyonia; on the £. by the Saronic gulf and Myrtoum sea; on the S. by the Hermionic and Argolic gul& and by Cynuria; and on the W. by Arcadia. But at present we confine ourselves to the Argeia of the Greek writers, re- ferring to other articles for a description of the dis- tricts Included in the Roman Argolis. [Phuus; Gleonae; Epidaubus; Tboezen; Hermione; Cynuria.] The Argeia, or Argolis proper, extended from N. to S. from the frontiers of Phlius and Cleonae to the frontiers of Cynuria, in direct distance about 24 ARGOS. English Rliles. It was separated from Arcadia on the W. by Mts. Artemisium and Parthenium, and from the territory of Epidaums on the E. by Mt Arachnaenm. Lessa was a town oc the borders of Epidauria (Pans. iL 26. § 1); and from this town to the frontiers of Arcadia, the direct distance is about 28 English miles. These limits give about 524 square English miles for the toritory of Argos. (Clinton, F. H. vol. iL p. 424.) The phun in which the dty of Argos is situated is one of the laigest plains in the Peloponnesus, being 10 or 12 miles in length, and from 4 to 5 in width. It is shut m on three sides by mountains, and only open on the fourth to the sea, and is therefore called by Soj^ocles {Oed. Col 378) rh koI^^v" Apyos. This pkinwai very fertile in antiquity, and was celebrated fbr its excellent horses. i^AJrfos tirr66oTo», Horn. Jl il 287 ; Strab. viii. p. 388.) The eastern side is much higher than the western; and the former suffers as much from a deficiency, as the latter does from a superabundance of water. A recent traveller says that the streams (m the eastern part of the pbin " are all drunk up by the thirsty soil, on quitting their rocky beds for the deep arable Uind," — a fact which offers a palpable explanation of the epithet " very thirsty " {toX^I^iov) applied by Honier to the land of Argos. (77. iv. 171.) The western part of the plain, on tiie contrary, is watered by a nmnber of streams; and at the south-western ex- tremity of the plain near the s^ there is besides a large number of copious springs, which make Uiis part of the country a nuuish or morass. It was here that the marsh of Lema and the fathomless Alcy<Huan pool lay, where Hercules is said to have cooquered the Hydra. [Lerna.] It has been well observed by a modem writer that the ^dctoij (tf Hercules over this fifty-headed water-snake may be understood of a successful attempt of the ancient lords of the Argive plain to bring its marshy extremity into cultivation, by draining its sources and embanking its streams. (Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. ii. p. 194.) In the time of Aristotle {Meteor, i 14) this part of the plain was well-dnuned and fertile, but at the present day it is again covered with marshes. With respect to the present productions of the plain, we learn that the " dryer parts are covered with com; where the moisture is greater, cotton and vines are grown; and in the marshy parts, towards the sea, nee and kalamb<5kki." (Leake, Morea, vol. iL p. 348.) The two chief rivers in the plain of Argos are the Inachus and the Erasinus. The iNACHCsClvoxoy: jBamteo) rises, according to Pausanias (ii 25. § 3, viii. 6. § 6), in Mt. Arte- misium, on the borders of Arcadia, or, according to Strabo (viii. p. 370), in Mt. Lyrceium, a northem offshoot of Artemisium. Near its sources it receives a tributary called the Cephissus (Kij^io-o-ds), which rises in Mt. Lyrceium (Strab. ix. p. 424; Aelijn, V. H. ii. 33.) It flows in a south-easterly direction, E. of the dty of Argos, into the Argolic gulf. This river is of^en dry in tiie summer. Between it and the city of Argos is the mountain-torrent named CiiARADRua (Xe^poSpos: Xerid), which also rises in Mt. Artemisium, and which, firom its proximity to Argos, has been frequenUy mistaken for the Inachus by modem travellers. It flows over a wide gravelly bed, which is generally dry in the summer, whence its modem name of Xerid, or the Dry Biver. It flows into the Inachus a httle below Argos. It was on the banks of the Charadrus that the armies of Argos, on their return from military expeditions,