Argus Panoptes
In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes (Ἄργος Πανόπτης) or Argos, guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and son of Arestor, 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 Titan 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.”
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:
And set a watcher upon her, great and strong Argos, 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 CE 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. According to Ovid, to commemorate her faithful watchman, Hera had the hundred eyes of Argus preserved forever, in a peacock’s tail.
The myth makes the closest connection of Argos, the neatherd, with the bull. In the Library of pseudo-Apollodorus, “Argos killed the bull that ravagedArcadia, then clothed himself in its skin.”
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. Hera’s defining task for Argus was to guard the white heifer Io from Zeus, keeping her chained to the sacred olive tree at the Argive Heraion. 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. Hermes, disguised as a shepherd, first put all of Argus’s eyes asleep with spoken charms, then slew him by hitting him with a stone, the first stain of bloodshed among the new generation of gods.
The sacrifice of Argos liberated Io to wander the earth distracted by a gadfly sent by Hera.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Mercury and Argos - Velazquez
Argos (or Argus) was a Greek hero, who had only one eye (another version gives him four eyes, yet another one gives him many eyes). He fulfilled many labors: freed Arcadia from a gigantic bull, killed Satyr, who harmed Arcadians, slew Echidna, the monstrous daughter of Tartarus. Hera employed him to watch over the white heifer Io, of whom she was jealous. Thanks to his many eyes he could watch Io day and night. Zeus asked Hermes (Mercury) for help. Having put Argos to sleep by magic, Hermes slew him. Willing to give immortality to her faithful servant, Hera moved his many eyes to the tail of peacock, sacred bird of Argos.
(Source: hoocher.com)
Argos Panoptes
ARGOS PANOPTES was a hundred-eyed giant who lived in the region of Argolis in the Peloponnese.
Once when Zeus was consorting with the Nymph Io, his wife Hera arrived on the scene. The god quickly transformed his lover into a white heifer, but the goddess was not deceived. She demanded the animal for a gift and set Argos Panoptes as its guard.
Zeus sent Hermes to surreptitiously rescue his lover. The god first tried to lull the giant to sleep with his music, but failing that, slew him with his sword. It was from this endeavour that he earned his familiar title Argeiphontes (literally “the slayer of Argos”).
Hera rewarded Argos for his service by placing his hundred eyes on the tail of her sacred bird, the peacock.
(Source: theoi.com)
