Inachus
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
- the first king of Argos, father of Io and Phoroneus, Hor. C. 2, 3, 21; 3, 19, 1; Verg. A. 7, 372; Lact. 1, 11, 20. Also, a river in Argolis named for king Inachus, now Banitza, Plin. 4, 5, 9, § 17; Ov. M. 1, 583;; 642 sq.; Verg. A. 7, 792; Stat. Th. 4, 119.—
- II Derivv.
- A Īnăchĭus, a, um, adj., Inachian; poet. also, i. q. Argive or Grecian: juvenca, i.e. Io, Verg. G. 3, 153; hence also: bos, i.e. Isis, identified with Io, Ov. F. 3, 658: ira, i.e. of Juno against Io, Petr. 139, 2: Argi (governed by Inachus, or on the river Inachus), Verg. A. 7, 286: undae, i.e. of the river Inachus, Val. Fl. 4, 397; but also of the Lernean Sea (of Lerna, near Argos), Luc. 4, 634: rex, i.e. Adrastus, king of Argos, Stat. Th. 2, 145: litus, i. e. Argolic or Grecian, Ov. F. 5, 656: urbes, Verg. A. 11, 286: natae, Val. Fl. 8, 148: Linus (as the son of the Argive Psamathe), Prop. 2, 13 (3, 4), 8: Perseus (as the son of the Argive Danaë), Claud. in Ruf. 1, 278. —
- B Īnă-chus, a, um, adj., the same: pubes, i.e. Grecian, Stat. Th. 8, 363. —
- C Īnăchĭ-des, ae, m., a male descendant of Inachus; so Perseus (cf. in the preced.), Ov. M. 4, 720; Epaphus (as the son of Io), id. ib. 1, 753; in plur., the Argives, Stat. Th. 3, 365. — Īnăchis, ĭdis, f., Inachian; or subst., a female descendant of Inachus: ripae, i.e. of the river Inachus, Ov. M. 1, 640: Acrisione (as the daughter of the Argive Danaë), Verg. Cat. 11, 33.— Subst., of lo, Prop. 2, 33 (3, 31), 4; Ov. F. 1, 454; id. M. 1, 611; identified with Isis (v. above, under Inachius), id. ib. 9, 687.—In plur.: Īnăchĭdes, um, female Argives, Claud. B. G. 407.
(Ἴναχος), a river god and king of Argos, is described as a son of Oceanus and Tethys. By a Melian nymph, a daughter of Oceanus, or, according to others, by his sister Argeia, he became the father of Phoroneus and Aegialeus, to whom others add Io, Argos Panoptes, and Phegeus or Pegeus. (Apollod. 2.1. §§ 1, 3; Hyg. Fab. 143, 145; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 177; Schol. ad Eurip. Or. 920, 1239; Ov. Met. 1.583, &c., 640, &c., Amor. 3.6, 25; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. 3.153.) Inachus is the most ancient god or hero of Argos. The river Inachus is said to have received its name from the fact of Inachus throwing himself into it, at the time when Zeus, enraged at the reproaches which Inachus made on account of the treatment of Io, sent a fury to pursue him. (Plut. de Fluv. 18.) The river had before borne the name of Carmanor or Haliacmon; and as Inachus was the first ruler and priest at Argos, the country is frequently called the land of Inachus. (Eur. Orest. 932; Dionys. A. R. 1.25; Hyg. Fab. 143.) In the dispute between Poseidon and Hera about the possession of Argos, Inachus decided in favour of Hera, and hence it was said that Poseidon deprived him and the two other judges, Asterion and Cephissus, of their water, so that they became dry except in rainy seasons. (Paus. 2.15.4, &c.; comp. Apollod. 2.1.4.) The ancients themselves made several attempts to explain the stories about Inachus: sometimes they looked upon him as a native of Argos, who after the flood of Deucalion led the Argives from the mountains into the plains, and confined the waters within their proper channels; and sometimes they regarded him as an immigrant who had come across the sea as the leader of an Egyptian or Libyan colony, and had united the Pelasgians, whom he found scattered on the banks of the Inachus. (Schol.ad Eurip. Or. 920, 932; Sophocl. apud Dionys. l.c.) [L.S]
I´NACHUS (Ἴναχος),
1.A river of the Argeia. [ARGOS 200b.]
2.A river in the territory of Argos Amphilochicum. [ARGOS AMPHILOCH., 208b.]
(Ἴναχος). A son of Oceanus and Tethys, and father of Io. He was said to have founded the kingdom of Argos, and was succeeded by his son Phoroneus, B.C. 1807. Inachus is said, in the old legend, to have given his name to the principal river of Argolis. Hence, probably, he was described as the son of Oceanus, the common parent of all rivers. They who make Inachus to have come into Greece from beyond the sea regard his name as a Greek form for the Oriental term Enak, denoting “great” or “powerful,” and this last as the base of the Greek ἄναξ, “a king.” The foreign origin of Inachus, however, or, rather, his actual existence, is very problematical. According to the mythological writers, Inachus became the father of Io by his sister, the ocean-nymph Melia (Apollod.ii.1.1), and he is also described as the father of Aegialeus, Argus, and Rhegeus.
(Ἴναχος). (1) A river of Argolis, flowing at the foot of the Acropolis of Argos, and emptying into the Bay of Nauplia. Its real source was in Mount Lyrceus, on the confines of Arcadia; but the poets, who delighted in fiction, imagined it to be a branch of the Inachus of Amphilochia, which, after mingling with the Acheloüs, passed under ground, and reappeared in Argolis.
(2) A river of the Amphilochian district in Acarnania.
- Paus. 2.15.5, Paus. 2.18.3, Paus. 8.6.6, Apollod. 1.9.28
- its springs: Paus. 2.25.3, Paus. 8.6.6
- arbitrates between Poseidon and Hera: Paus. 2.15.5, Paus. 2.22.4
- has no water except after rain: Paus. 2.15.5
- father of Io: Paus. 1.25.1, Paus. 3.18.13, Apollod. 2.1.1, Hdt. 1.1, of Mycene: Paus. 2.16.4, and of Phoroneus: Paus. 2.15.5
- king of Argolis, gives his name to river Inachus: Apollod. 1.9.28, Paus. 2.15.4
- the family of: Apollod. 1.9.28, Apollod. 3.1.1
- father of Io: Apollod. 2.1.1, Hdt. 1.1
- and of Argus, according to Asclepiades: Apollod. 2.1.3
- testifies that Argos belongs to Hera: Apollod. 2.1.4