Argus Panoptes

Argus Panoptes, “Argus the All-seeing”, was the many-eyed herdsman whom Hera set to guard the heifer Io, the girl Zeus had loved and changed into a cow. Ancient writers give him eyes over his whole body, and say Hermes killed him, so that Hermes is called Argeiphontes. In Ovid’s version, Hera then set his eyes in the tail of the peacock.

Who Was Argus Panoptes?

Argus was a being of enormous strength and unusual body, not one of the Giants (the Gigantes) who fought the gods. Apollodorus says that Argus “the All-seeing” “had eyes in the whole of his body” and that, being exceedingly strong, he killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia and clothed himself in its hide. Aeschylus calls him “earth-born” and a herdsman (Prometheus Bound 567–569, 677–679; Suppliants 304–305). He is best known for one task, guarding Io for Hera.

Family and Background

The sources do not agree on his parents. Pherecydes, quoted by Apollodorus, makes him a son of Arestor, and Ovid also calls him Arestor’s son (Metamorphoses 1.624). Others made him a son of Inachus, or of an earlier Argus and Ismene, daughter of Asopus; and Acusilaus said he was born from the earth (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.3). In Apollodorus’ own genealogy of the kings of Argos, he descends from Ecbasus through Agenor (Library 2.1.2).

Deeds Before Io

Apollodorus lists his earlier feats. He killed the bull that was ravaging Arcadia. When a satyr wronged the Arcadians and robbed them of their cattle, Argus withstood the satyr and killed him. He caught Echidna, the half-woman, half-serpent daughter of Tartarus and Earth who used to carry off passers-by, while she slept, and killed her. He also avenged the murder of Apis by putting the guilty to death (Library 2.1.2). The myths about Echidna herself are on her own page.

What Does the Name Panoptes Mean?

Panoptes is Greek for “all-seeing”. Aeschylus uses the word of him in the Suppliants (304), where the king asks about the “all-seeing lone herdsman” and is told it was Argus, the child of Earth, whom Hermes killed. Apollodorus also gives him this title (Library 2.1.2–3).

Did Argus Really Have a Hundred Eyes?

The number depends on the author. Ovid gives him a hundred eyes: “Argus had a head ringed with a hundred lights”, and two at a time took rest while the others kept watch (Metamorphoses 1.625–627). Aeschylus calls the herdsman “ten-thousand-eyed” (Prometheus Bound 569), and Apollodorus says only that he had eyes over his whole body. The popular figure of a hundred comes from Ovid, along with the idea that only some of the eyes slept at a time.

Io and the Anger of Hera

Zeus and Io

Apollodorus tells how Zeus seduced Io while she was a priestess of Hera. Hera found out, so Zeus touched Io and turned her into a white cow, and swore that he had not been with her (Library 2.1.3).

Io Transformed into a Heifer

In Ovid, Zeus senses Hera coming down to earth and changes Io into a shining heifer; Hera, pretending not to know where she came from, asks for the beautiful animal as a gift, and Zeus, afraid of arousing suspicion, gives her up (Metamorphoses 1.610–624). Io is called a daughter of Inachus by Aeschylus and Ovid; Apollodorus records that other writers made her daughter of Iasus or Piren.

Argus Set to Guard Io

A Hundred Eyes Never All Asleep

Hera took the cow and set Argus to watch her. According to Apollodorus, he tied her to an olive tree in the grove of the Mycenaeans (Library 2.1.3). Ovid describes how Argus let her graze by day and shut her up at night with a chain around her neck. Wherever he stood, he faced Io, and even when he turned away he had her before his eyes (Metamorphoses 1.628–631).

Io’s Days as a Captive Heifer

Io ate leaves and bitter grass and drank from muddy streams. When she tried to stretch out her arms to Argus in prayer she had none to stretch; when she tried to complain she only lowed. She went to the banks of the Inachus, where she was often used to play, and was frightened by her own horned reflection. Her father Inachus and her sisters did not know her until she traced her name with her hoof in the dust. Argus then led her away to other pastures, and himself took up a lookout on a high hilltop from which he could watch in every direction (Metamorphoses 1.632–667).

Hermes and the Death of Argus

Zeus Sends Hermes to Free Io

Zeus could no longer bear Io’s suffering and ordered Hermes, his son by Maia, to kill Argus (Metamorphoses 1.668–670). In Apollodorus, Zeus orders Hermes to steal the cow, but Hierax gave the plan away, and Hermes could not do it in secret (Library 2.1.3).

The Shepherd Who Lulled a Hundred Eyes

In Ovid’s telling Hermes puts aside his winged sandals and his cap, keeps only his sleep-bringing rod, and comes down as a shepherd driving goats and playing on a reed pipe. Argus invites him to sit on the rock beside him. Hermes talks all day and tries to lull the watching eyes with the pipes; Argus fights off sleep, so that even when some of his eyes closed the others kept watch. When Argus asks about the pipe, Hermes tells him the story of Pan and the nymph Syrinx, which turned into reeds (Metamorphoses 1.671–712). The tale of Pan and Syrinx belongs on the page of Pan.

How Hermes Killed Argus

When every eye was closed, Hermes stroked them with his rod to deepen the sleep, and then struck the nodding head with a curved sword (falcatus ensis) at the join of the neck, and hurled the body down the cliff (Metamorphoses 1.713–721). Apollodorus gives a different account: Hermes killed Argus “by the cast of a stone” (Library 2.1.3). Aeschylus, in the Suppliants (305), says only that Hermes killed him, calling Argus the child of Earth.

Because of this deed, Hermes is called Argeiphontes. Apollodorus explains the epithet as “slayer of Argus” (Library 2.1.3). The word is already used of Hermes in Homer and Hesiod (for example Iliad 2.103, Odyssey 1.38, Hesiod, Works and Days 84), though the poets do not themselves explain it.

Aftermath and Legacy

Hera’s Peacock and the Eyes Preserved

Ovid tells that Hera took up the eyes and set them in the tail of her bird, the peacock, filling it with starry jewels (Metamorphoses 1.722–723).

Io’s Fate After Argus

Freed from the guard, Io was not free of Hera. Hera sent a gadfly to torment her, and Io wandered through many lands until she reached Egypt, where she regained human form and gave birth to Epaphus by the Nile (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.3; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 561–886). In Aeschylus’ play Io cries out that the phantom of earth-born Argus still pursues her, coming up from the dead to hunt her along the shore (Prometheus Bound 567–573). The rest of her story belongs on Io’s page.

Misconceptions and Lesser-Known Facts

Argus Panoptes Is Not the Dog of Odysseus

Argos, the old dog who recognises Odysseus on his return and then dies (Homer, Odyssey 17.290–327), is a different figure. So is Argus the son of Phrixus, who on Athena’s advice built the ship Argo for Jason (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16); the name is common.

Argus Panoptes Sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.1.2–3 (Argus’ family, deeds, guarding of Io, killing by Hermes with a stone, the epithet Argeiphontes); Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.568–746 (especially 1.622–723: the hundred eyes, Hermes’ disguise, killing by a sword, the peacock); Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 561–573, 677–682 and Suppliants 291–310 (the earth-born herdsman, his many eyes, his death at the hands of Hermes); Homer, Iliad 2.103 and Hesiod, Works and Days 84 (Argeiphontes).

See Also: Hera, Zeus, Io, Hermes, Echidna, Inachus, Pan