Phoroneus and Aigialeus: in the mythology of their particular areas each would be seen as the local earth-born ‘first man’, Phoroneus in Argos, and Aigialeus in Aigialeia to the north of Argos (in the region of Sicyon; compare his position in the local genealogies as reported by P. 2. 5. 5). Here they are absorbed into a broader genealogical scheme.

was called Sarapis: the cult of Sarapis, which was encouraged by the Hellenistic kings of Egypt, developed from the cult of Apis, the sacred bull worshipped at Memphis. The Argive Apis is here identified with the Egyptian Apis, and thence with Sarapis, who became the chief god in the cult of the Egyptian gods as celebrated outside Egypt.

Pelasgos: the ‘first man’ in Arcadia, in the central Peloponnese; that he was born from the earth was the local tradition. Ap. will return to Pelasgos and the mythology of Arcadia on p. 114.

Pelasgians: also used in a more general sense to refer to the aboriginal inhabitants of various parts of Greece, notably Thessaly.

calling the Peloponnese Argos: this continues a pattern in which regional names are said to have originated as names for the whole Peloponnese. (According to the context, the name Argos can refer either to the Argolid, as a region in the north-east Peloponnese, or to Argos, as the main city within it.)

eyes all over his body: as with the hydra’s heads, the numbers vary according to the fancy of the author. That he had eyes ‘all over’ may have been wrongly inferred from his title Panoptes. In Pherecydes (sc. Eur. Phoen. 1116) he had only a single extra eye, on the back of his head, granted to him by Hera, who also made him sleepless.

Echidna: a fearsome monster and progenitor of monsters, who lived in a cave in a hollow of the earth and feasted on raw flesh, see Theog. 295 ff.

Peiren: a son of the first Argos and Evadne; he can be identified with Peiras two paragraphs previously.

Zeus seduced Io: for all the following, cf. Aesch. Suppliants291 ff; there Io is transformed by Hera. See also [Aesch.] PV561 ff. and Ov. Met. 1. 583 ff.

betrayed by Hierax: otherwise unknown. Since hieraxmeans a hawk, perhaps associated with a transformation story (as with another Hierax in AL 3).

Argeiphontes: an ancient title (e.g. Od. 8. 338) of uncertain origin, here interpreted as meaning ‘Argos-slayer’.

Ionian Gulf: the Adriatic; for this explanation of its name, cf. [Aesch.] PV 836 ff.

Bosporos: ‘the cow’s strait’, or ‘ox ford’; a valid etymology.

Hera asked the Curetes . . . discovered Epaphos: as Ap. remarks, the Greeks identified Io with the Egyptian goddess Isis, and the present story is based on the tale of Isis’ search for the lost Osiris; for a Greek account of the latter, see Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris355 ff. Osiris was washed ashore at Byblos. In view of the Curetes’ previous services to him, p. 28, it seems ungrateful of Zeus to kill them.

until later: see pp. 96 ff. for Agenor and the Cretan/Theban line.

Belos: the name is derived from the Phoenician Baal, strictly a god, but often taken by the Greeks to be an early eastern king.

Melampodes: ‘Blackfeet’, an epithet for the Egyptians found in late authors only.

the first man to do so: but the Argo, p. 49, was more commonly regarded as the first ship (which is why it was turned into a constellation by Athene, Catast. 35). In either case, the ship was built with Athene’s help.

Gelanor. . . surrendered the throne to him: according to P. 2. 16. 1, Gelanor, son of Sthenelas, was a great-grandson of Agenor, Io’s uncle (or on p. 58, her great-grandfather); and Danaos too had a legitimate claim as a descendant of Io. Pausanias gives the local tradition (P. 2. 19. 3 f.). The Argives found their claims so evenly balanced that they deferred the decision until the following day; and early the next morning, a wolf attacked a herd of cattle grazing outside the walls and killed the bull. So the Argives ceded the throne to Danaos, taking this to be a sign from the gods (with the wolf representing Danaos, the outsider). And Danaos, believing that Apollo had sent the wolf, founded the most important cult in the city of Argos, that of Apollo Lycaios (‘Wolfish’ Apollo).

After he . . . Danaans after himself: included with the preceding lines in sc. Il. 1. 42, as part of a citation from the second book of Apollodorus; not accepted by all editors.

Poseidon . . . belonged to Hera: see p. 130 for a similar dispute at Athens; these were in effect contests for special cultic honours from the inhabitants. For further details, see P. 2. 15. 5; this explains why the Argive rivers (including the Inachos) run dry in summer, except at Lerna.

Lerna: there was a stream there called Amymone, p. 74, cf. P. 2. 37. 1. Lerna has more sinister associations as the home of the hydra, p. 74.

Hypermnestra . . . spared Lynceus: they will be the ancestors of the Argive royal line thereafter. See also P. 2. 25. 4 and 2. 19. 6.

they were purified: but in late sources the Danaids are listed amongst those who suffer punishment in Hades (e.g. Ov. Met. 4. 462, Horace Odes3. 11. 28 ff.), where they attempt endlessly to fill perforated vessels with water.

at an athletic contest: see Pind. Pyth. 9. 112 ff.

Amymone bore. . . in that very manner: Nauplios was conceived at Lerna, p. 61. Since Nauplios’ activities as a wrecker took place so much later (after the Trojan War, see p. 159), this would mean that he lived to an improbable age; some resolved the problem by claiming that the wrecker was a descendant of the Nauplios born to Amymone (in AR 1. 134 ff., he is a great-great-great-grandson). Seneca records that he was cast into the deep (Medea658 f.), but nothing is known of the exact circumstances.

Homer calk Anteia: in Il. 6. 160; on Stheneboia see also p. 64, and p. 115 where she is said to have been the daughter of Apheidas, an Arcadian.

fortified. . . by the Cyclopes: imagining that the monumental architecture of the Mycenaeans was beyond the power of man, the Greeks supposed that the fortifications of Tiryns and their like must be the work of giants or ‘Cyclopes’ (cf. P. 2. 25. 7). In view of the popular origin of this tradition, there is little point in asking exactly who these Cyclopes were, but the ancient mythographers (e.g. sc. Theog. 139) thought that they should be distinguished from the primordial Hesiodic Cyclopes on p. 27, and also from the primitive pastoral Cyclopes of Homer, p. 165.