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Argus Panoptes

October 15, 2023

For other uses, see Argus (Greek myth).

Argus or Argos Panoptes (Ancient Greek: Ἄργος Πανόπτης, "All-seeing Argos") is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology.

Drawing of an image from a 5th-century BC Athenian red figure vase depicting Hermes slaying the giant Argus Panoptes. Note the eyes covering Argus' body. Io as a cow stands in the background.

Mythology Edit

 
Mercury and Argus, by Jacob Jordaens, c. 1620 – Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
 
Juno receiving the eyes of Argus from Mercury by Hendrik Goltzius (1615), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Argus Panoptes (Ἄργος Πανόπτης) was the guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and the son of Arestor. According to Asclepiades, Argus Panoptes was a son of Inachus, and according to Cercops he was a son of Argus and Ismene, daughter of Asopus. Acusilaus says that he was earth-born (authochthon), born from Gaia.[1] Probably Mycene[2] (in another version the son of Gaia[3]) was a primordial giant whose epithet Panoptes, "all-seeing", led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred eyes. The epithet Panoptes was applied to the god of the Sun, Helios, and was taken up as an epithet by Zeus, Zeus Panoptes. "In a way," Walter Burkert observes, "the power and order of Argos the city are embodied in Argos the neatherd, lord of the herd and lord of the land, whose name itself is the name of the land."[4]

 
Hermes and Argus [it]: Velázquez renders the theme of stealth and murder in modern dress, 1659 (Prado)

The epithet Panoptes, reflecting his mythic role, set by Hera as a very effective watchman of Io, was described in a fragment of a lost poem Aigimios, attributed to Hesiod:[5]

And set a watcher upon her, great and strong Argus, who with four eyes looks every way. And the goddess stirred in him unwearying strength: sleep never fell upon his eyes; but he kept sure watch always.

In the 5th century and later, Argus' wakeful alertness was explained for an increasingly literal culture as his having so many eyes that only a few of the eyes would sleep at a time: there were always eyes still awake. In the 2nd century AD Pausanias noted at Argos, in the temple of Zeus Larissaios, an archaic image of Zeus with a third eye in the center of his forehead, allegedly Priam's Zeus Herkeios purloined from Troy.[6]

Argus was Hera's servant. His great service to the Olympian pantheon was to slay the chthonic serpent-legged monster Echidna as she slept in her cave.[7] Hera's defining task for Argus was to guard the white heifer Io from Zeus, who was attracted to her, keeping her chained to the sacred olive tree at the Argive Heraion.[8] She required someone who had at least a hundred eyes spread out, always watching in all directions, someone who would stay awake despite being asleep. Argos was meant to be the perfect guardian.[9] She charged him to "Tether this cow safely to an olive-tree at Nemea". Hera knew that the heifer was in reality Io, one of the many nymphs Zeus was coupling with to establish a new order. To free Io, Zeus had Argus slain by Hermes. The messenger of the Olympian gods, disguised as a shepherd, first put all of Argus' eyes asleep with spoken charms, then slew him. Some versions say that Hermes used his wand to close Argus' eyes permanently, while other versions say that Hermes simply hurled a stone at Argus. Either way, Argus' death was the first stain of bloodshed among the new generation of gods.[10] After beheading Argus, Hermes acquired the epithet Argeiphontes or “Argus-slayer”.[3]

The sacrifice of Argus liberated Io and allowed her to wander the earth, although tormented by a gadfly sent by Hera, until she reached the Ionian Sea, named after her, from where she swam to Egypt and gave birth to a love child of Zeus, according to some versions of the myth.

According to Ovid, Argus had a hundred eyes.[11] Hera had Argus' hundred eyes preserved forever in a peacock's tail so as to immortalise her faithful watchman.[12] In another version, Hera transformed the whole of Argus into a peacock.[13][14]

The myth makes the closest connection of Argus, the neatherd, with the bull. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Argus, "being exceedingly strong ... killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia and clad himself in its hide".[15]

Eponyms Edit

Argus Panoptes is referenced in the scientific names of at least eight animals, each of which bears a pattern of eye spots: reptiles Cnemaspis argus, Eremias argus, Sibon argus, Sphaerodactylus argus, and the Argus monitor Varanus panoptes;[16][17] the pheasant Argusianus argus; the fish Cephalopholis argus and the cowry Arestorides argus.

Gallery Edit

Argus, Io and Hermes Edit

See also Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ Apollodorus, 2.1.3; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.112; Ovid Metamorphoses 1.623.
  2. ^ According to Pausanias, 2.16.3, Arestor was the consort of Mycene, the eponymous nymph of nearby Mycenae, while according to a scholiast on Homer's Odyssey, citing the Epic Cycle, Mycene and Arestor were the parents of Argus Panoptes, see Fowler, p. 236; Nostoi fr. 8* (West, pp. 160, 161) = Scholiast on the Odyssey 2.120.
  3. ^ a b Roman, Luke; Roman, Monica (2010). Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology. Infobase Publishing. p. 80. ISBN 9781438126395.
  4. ^ Walter Burkert, Homo Necans (1972) 1983:166-67.
  5. ^ Hesiodic Aigimios, fragment 294, reproduced in Merkelbach and West 1967 and noted in Burkert 1983:167 note 28.
  6. ^ Pausanias, 2.24.4 (noted by Burkert 1983:168 note 28).
  7. ^ Homer, Iliad ii.783; Hesiod, Theogony, 295ff; Apollodorus, 2.1.2).
  8. ^ Apollodorus, 2.1.4.
  9. ^ Beltrán, Carlos (December 2020). "Argos Panoptes and the distribution of points in the sphere". Teamco - University of Cantabria. from the original on 2020-12-14.
  10. ^ Hermes was tried, exonerated, and earned the epithet Argeiphontes, "killer of Argos".
  11. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.624.
  12. ^ Impelluso, p. 28; Jackson, p. 39. The peacock is an Eastern bird, unknown to Greeks before the time of the Greco-Persian Wars (Tortel, pp. 119-132).
  13. ^ Moschus 2.59
  14. ^ Arnott, W. Geoffrey (September 12, 2007). Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z. Routledge. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-415-23851-9.
  15. ^ Apollodorus, 2.1.2.
  16. ^ Shea, G.M.; Cogger, H.G. (1998). "Comment On The Proposed Conservation Of The Names Hydrosaurus gouldii Gray, 1838 and Varanus panoptes Storr, 1980 (Reptilia, Squamata) By The Designation Of A Neotype For Hydrosaurus Gouldii". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 55: 106–111. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.159.
  17. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Argus", p. 11).

References Edit

  • Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 1, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-674-99630-4. Online version at Harvard University Press.
  • Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0198147411.
  • Impelluso, Lucia, Gods and Heroes in Art, Getty Publications, 2003.
  • Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Tortel C., (2019), Sacralisé, diabolisé: le paon dans les religions de l'Asie à la Méditerranée, Geuthner, 2019. ISBN 978-2-7053-3987-6.
  • West, M. L., Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC. Edited and translated by Martin L. West. Loeb Classical Library No. 497. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003. Online version at Harvard University Press.

External links Edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argus Panoptes.
  • Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 250 images of Io and Argus)

October 15, 2023
argus, panoptes, other, uses, argus, greek, myth, argus, argos, panoptes, ancient, greek, Ἄργος, Πανόπτης, seeing, argos, many, eyed, giant, greek, mythology, drawing, image, from, century, athenian, figure, vase, depicting, hermes, slaying, giant, note, eyes,. For other uses see Argus Greek myth Argus or Argos Panoptes Ancient Greek Ἄrgos Panopths All seeing Argos is a many eyed giant in Greek mythology Drawing of an image from a 5th century BC Athenian red figure vase depicting Hermes slaying the giant Argus Panoptes Note the eyes covering Argus body Io as a cow stands in the background Contents 1 Mythology 2 Eponyms 3 Gallery 3 1 Argus Io and Hermes 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksMythology Edit nbsp Mercury and Argus by Jacob Jordaens c 1620 Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon nbsp Juno receiving the eyes of Argus from Mercury by Hendrik Goltzius 1615 Museum Boijmans Van BeuningenArgus Panoptes Ἄrgos Panopths was the guardian of the heifer nymph Io and the son of Arestor According to Asclepiades Argus Panoptes was a son of Inachus and according to Cercops he was a son of Argus and Ismene daughter of Asopus Acusilaus says that he was earth born authochthon born from Gaia 1 Probably Mycene 2 in another version the son of Gaia 3 was a primordial giant whose epithet Panoptes all seeing led to his being described with multiple often one hundred eyes The epithet Panoptes was applied to the god of the Sun Helios and was taken up as an epithet by Zeus Zeus Panoptes In a way Walter Burkert observes the power and order of Argos the city are embodied in Argos the neatherd lord of the herd and lord of the land whose name itself is the name of the land 4 nbsp Hermes and Argus it Velazquez renders the theme of stealth and murder in modern dress 1659 Prado The epithet Panoptes reflecting his mythic role set by Hera as a very effective watchman of Io was described in a fragment of a lost poem Aigimios attributed to Hesiod 5 And set a watcher upon her great and strong Argus who with four eyes looks every way And the goddess stirred in him unwearying strength sleep never fell upon his eyes but he kept sure watch always In the 5th century and later Argus wakeful alertness was explained for an increasingly literal culture as his having so many eyes that only a few of the eyes would sleep at a time there were always eyes still awake In the 2nd century AD Pausanias noted at Argos in the temple of Zeus Larissaios an archaic image of Zeus with a third eye in the center of his forehead allegedly Priam s Zeus Herkeios purloined from Troy 6 Argus was Hera s servant His great service to the Olympian pantheon was to slay the chthonic serpent legged monster Echidna as she slept in her cave 7 Hera s defining task for Argus was to guard the white heifer Io from Zeus who was attracted to her keeping her chained to the sacred olive tree at the Argive Heraion 8 She required someone who had at least a hundred eyes spread out always watching in all directions someone who would stay awake despite being asleep Argos was meant to be the perfect guardian 9 She charged him to Tether this cow safely to an olive tree at Nemea Hera knew that the heifer was in reality Io one of the many nymphs Zeus was coupling with to establish a new order To free Io Zeus had Argus slain by Hermes The messenger of the Olympian gods disguised as a shepherd first put all of Argus eyes asleep with spoken charms then slew him Some versions say that Hermes used his wand to close Argus eyes permanently while other versions say that Hermes simply hurled a stone at Argus Either way Argus death was the first stain of bloodshed among the new generation of gods 10 After beheading Argus Hermes acquired the epithet Argeiphontes or Argus slayer 3 The sacrifice of Argus liberated Io and allowed her to wander the earth although tormented by a gadfly sent by Hera until she reached the Ionian Sea named after her from where she swam to Egypt and gave birth to a love child of Zeus according to some versions of the myth According to Ovid Argus had a hundred eyes 11 Hera had Argus hundred eyes preserved forever in a peacock s tail so as to immortalise her faithful watchman 12 In another version Hera transformed the whole of Argus into a peacock 13 14 The myth makes the closest connection of Argus the neatherd with the bull According to the mythographer Apollodorus Argus being exceedingly strong killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia and clad himself in its hide 15 Eponyms EditArgus Panoptes is referenced in the scientific names of at least eight animals each of which bears a pattern of eye spots reptiles Cnemaspis argus Eremias argus Sibon argus Sphaerodactylus argus and the Argus monitor Varanus panoptes 16 17 the pheasant Argusianus argus the fish Cephalopholis argus and the cowry Arestorides argus Gallery EditArgus Io and Hermes Edit nbsp Io wearing bovine horns watched over by Argos on Hera s orders antique fresco from Pompeii nbsp Io changed into a cow Mercury cuts of Argus s head by Bernard Picart 1733 nbsp Mercurius and Argus by Jan van de Velde 1615 1641 nbsp Mercury Lulling Argus to Sleep by Ubaldo Gandolfi c 1770 1775 nbsp Mercury About to Behead Argus by Ubaldo Gandolfi c 1770 1775 nbsp Mercury and Argus Alejandro de la Cruz 1773 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Petr Ivanov 1776 nbsp Argus Guarding Io Who Has Been Transformed into a White Heifer Jacopo Amigoni 18th century nbsp Mercury about to Kill Argus Having Lulled Him to Sleep by Jacopo Amigoni 18th century nbsp Merkur und Argus by Charles Andre van Loo 18th century nbsp Landscape with Mercury and Argus by Jan Both c 1650 nbsp Mercury and Argus nbsp Argos wird von Hermes by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1794 1872 nbsp Mercury killing Argus by Nicolas Bertin 1700s nbsp Die Landschaft mit Merkur und Argus by Hieronymus Cock c 1558 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Jacob Jordaens and Jan Wildens c early 1640s nbsp Mercury Argus and Io by Abraham Bloemaert c 1592 nbsp Mercury and Argos by Abraham Hondius 2nd half of 17th century nbsp Mercury and Argus by Andrea Locatelli 1st half of 18th century nbsp Mercurius Argus and Io by Cornelis Bisschop 17th century nbsp Mercury and Argus by Follower of Claude Lorrain 17th century nbsp Mercury slaying Argus by Bonifazio Veronese nbsp Mercury and Argus by Rene Antoine Houasse c 1688 nbsp Mercury lulling Argus with his music by Circle of Cornelius van Poelenburgh c 1650 nbsp Argus Mercury and Io by Jacob van Campen c 1630 1640 nbsp Mercury Piping to Argus by Johann Carl Loth c 1655 60 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Jean Lemaire 1625 1640 nbsp Mercurio addormenta Argo suonando il flauto by Hendrick de Somer nbsp Mercury about to Kill Argus Having Lulled Him to Sleep by Jacopo Amigoni 1730 1732 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Carel Fabritius between c 1645 and c 1647 nbsp Mercury and Argos by Peter Paul Rubens 1636 1638 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Peter Paul Rubens between 1635 and 1638 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Pieter van Bloemen early 18th century nbsp Hermes is putting Argus s eyes asleep to free Io by Nikolay Koshelev 1864 nbsp Mercury and Argus by Jan van Kessel the Elder before 1679 nbsp Landscape with Mercury and Argus by Paul Bril 1606 nbsp Landscape with Mercury and Argus c 1570 nbsp Mercury Killing Argus by Hendrik Goltzius 1589 nbsp Mercury Putting Argus to Sleep by Hendrik Goltzius 16th or 17th century nbsp Mercury Killing Argus by Antonio Tempesta 1606 nbsp Illustrations to the Metamorphoses of Ovid Mercury Rescuing Io from Argus by Godfried Maes 1664 1700 nbsp Juno Hera commits Io to Argus Panoptes by Francesco de Mura 1696 1784 See also Edit nbsp Ancient Greece portal nbsp Myths portalNotes Edit Apollodorus 2 1 3 Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica 1 112 Ovid Metamorphoses 1 623 According to Pausanias 2 16 3 Arestor was the consort of Mycene the eponymous nymph of nearby Mycenae while according to a scholiast on Homer s Odyssey citing the Epic Cycle Mycene and Arestor were the parents of Argus Panoptes see Fowler p 236 Nostoi fr 8 West pp 160 161 Scholiast on the Odyssey 2 120 a b Roman Luke Roman Monica 2010 Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology Infobase Publishing p 80 ISBN 9781438126395 Walter Burkert Homo Necans 1972 1983 166 67 Hesiodic Aigimios fragment 294 reproduced in Merkelbach and West 1967 and noted in Burkert 1983 167 note 28 Pausanias 2 24 4 noted by Burkert 1983 168 note 28 Homer Iliad ii 783 Hesiod Theogony 295ff Apollodorus 2 1 2 Apollodorus 2 1 4 Beltran Carlos December 2020 Argos Panoptes and the distribution of points in the sphere Teamco University of Cantabria Archived from the original on 2020 12 14 Hermes was tried exonerated and earned the epithet Argeiphontes killer of Argos Ovid Metamorphoses 1 624 Impelluso p 28 Jackson p 39 The peacock is an Eastern bird unknown to Greeks before the time of the Greco Persian Wars Tortel pp 119 132 Moschus 2 59 Arnott W Geoffrey September 12 2007 Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z Routledge p 237 ISBN 978 0 415 23851 9 Apollodorus 2 1 2 Shea G M Cogger H G 1998 Comment On The Proposed Conservation Of The Names Hydrosaurus gouldii Gray 1838 and Varanus panoptes Storr 1980 Reptilia Squamata By The Designation Of A Neotype For Hydrosaurus Gouldii The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 55 106 111 doi 10 5962 bhl part 159 Beolens Bo Watkins Michael Grayson Michael 2011 The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press xiii 296 pp ISBN 978 1 4214 0135 5 Argus p 11 References EditApollodorus Apollodorus The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer F B A F R S in 2 Volumes Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1921 ISBN 0 674 99135 4 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica edited and translated by William H Race Loeb Classical Library No 1 Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press 2009 ISBN 978 0 674 99630 4 Online version at Harvard University Press Fowler R L 2013 Early Greek Mythography Volume 2 Commentary Oxford University Press 2013 ISBN 978 0198147411 Impelluso Lucia Gods and Heroes in Art Getty Publications 2003 Ovid Metamorphoses Brookes More Boston Cornhill Publishing Co 1922 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W H S Jones Litt D and H A Ormerod M A in 4 Volumes Cambridge MA Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1918 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Tortel C 2019 Sacralise diabolise le paon dans les religions de l Asie a la Mediterranee Geuthner 2019 ISBN 978 2 7053 3987 6 West M L Greek Epic Fragments From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC Edited and translated by Martin L West Loeb Classical Library No 497 Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press 2003 Online version at Harvard University Press External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argus Panoptes Warburg Institute Iconographic Database ca 250 images of Io and Argus Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Argus Panoptes amp oldid 1169156125, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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