10. -HERE -THE HERyEOX gj mankind, who had before him lived altogether isolated, the first notiou and habits of social existence, and even the first knowl- edge of fire : his dominion extended over the whole Peloponne- sus. His tomb at Argos, and seemingly also the place called the Phoronic city, in which he formed the first settlement of man- kind, were still shown in the days of Pausanias. 1 The offspring of Phoroneus, by the nymph Teledike, were Apis and Niobe. Apis, a harsh ruler, was put to death by Thelxion and Telchin, having given to Peloponnesus the name of Apia : 2 he was suc- ceeded byArgos, the son of his sister Niobe by the god Zeus. From this sovereign Peloponnesus was denominated Argos. By his wife Evadne, daughter of Strymon, 3 he had four sons, Ekba- sus, Peiras, Epidaurus, and Kriasus. Ekbasus was succeeded by his son Agenor, and he again by his son Argos Panoptes, a Stromat i. p. 321. ^opuvr/ef, a synonym for Argeians; Theocrit. Idyll. xxv. 200. 1 Apollodor. ii. 1, 1 ; Pausan. ii. 15, 5; 19. 5 ; 20, 3.
- Apis in ^Eschylus is totally different: larpofiavTif or medical charmer,
son of Apollo, who comes across the gulf from Naupactus, purifies the ter- ritory of Argos from noxious monsters, and gives to it the name of Apia (jEschyl. Suppl. 265). Compare Steph. Byz. v. 'A.mri ; Soph. (Edip. Colon. 1303. The name 'Am'a for Peloponnesus remains still a mystery, even after the attempt of Buttmann (Lexilogus, s. 19) to throw light upon it. Eusebius asserts that Niobe was the wife of Inachus and mother- of Pho- roneus, and pointedly contradicts those who call her daughter of Phoroneus (j>acrl 6e Tivef Nto/?7?v $opuveu flvai Bvyarepa, onsp OVK u?.J7$ef (Chronic, p. 23, ed. Scalig.) : his positive tone is curious, upon such a matter. Hellanicus in his Argolica stated that Phoroneus had three sons, Pelasgus, lasus and Agenor, who at the death of their father divided his possessions by lot. Pelasgus acquired the country near the river Erasinus, and built the citadel of Larissa : lasus obtained the portion near to Elis. After their decease, the younger brother Age"nor invaded and conquered the country, at the head of a large body of horse. It was from these three persons that Argos derived three epithets which are attached to it in the Homeric poems "Apyof ne^aoyinbv, 'aaov, 'ImrofloTov (Hellanik. Fr. 38, ed. Didot j Phavorin. v. "Apyof ). This is a specimen of the way in which legendary persons as well as legendary everts were got up to furnish an explanation of Homeric epithets : we may remark as singular, that Hellanicus seems to apply HefaaytKov 'Apyof to a portion of Peloponnesus, while the Homeric Catalogue applies it to Thessaly. 3 Apollod. 1. c. The mention of Strymon seems connected with .Sschylus, Suppl. 255.
