ARGOS, the capital, and an inland town, of Argolis or ARGIA. It had different surnames; as Acbai-cum from the country, or an ancient people, (Homer); Hippium, from its breed of horſes; and Inachium, from the river Inachus, which runs by, or from Inachus the founder of the kingdom, whose name was alſo given to the river. The Argives related, that this was one of the river-gods who adjudged the country to Juno, when ſhe contended for it with Neptune, which deity in return made their water to vanish; the reaſon why the Inachus flowed only after rain, and was dry in ſummer. The ſource was a ſpring, not copious, on a mountain in Arcadia, and the river ſerved there as a boundary between the Argives and Mantineans.
Ancient Argos ſtood chiefly on a flat. The ſprings were near the ſurface; and it abounded in wells, which were ſaid to have been invented by the daughters of Danaus. This early perſonage lived in the acropolis or citadel, which was named Lariſſa, and accounted moderately ſtrong. On the aſcent was a temple of Apollo on the ridge, which in the ſecond century continued the ſeat of an oracle. The woman who prophieſied was debarred from commerce with the male ſex. A lamb was ſacrificed in the night monthly; when, on taſting of the blood, ſhe became poſſeſſed with the divinity. Farther on was a ſtadium, where the Argives celebrated games in honour of Neméan Jupiter and of Juno. On the top was a temple of Jupiter, without a roof, the ſtatue off the pedieſtal. In the temple of Minerva there, among other curious articles, was a wooden Jupiter, with an eye more than common, having one in the forehead. This ſtatue, it was ſaid, was once placed in a court of the palace of Priam, who ſled as a ſuppliant to the altar before it, when Troy was ſacked. In this city was alſo the brazen tower in which Danaé, being confined there by her father, was deſlowered by Jupiter.
Argos retains its original name and ſituation, ſtanding near the mountains which are the boundary of the plain, with Napoli and the ſea in view before it. The ſhining houſes are whitened with lime or plaſter. Churches, mud-built cottages and walls, with gardens and open areas, are interſperſed, and the town is of conſiderable extent. Above the other buildings towers a very handſome moſque ſhaded with ſolemn cypreſſes; and behind is a lofty hill, brown and naked, of a conical form, the ſummit crowned with a neglected caſtle. The deſolations of time and war have effaced the old city. We look in vain (ſays Mr Chandler) for veſtiges of its numerous ediſices, the theatre, the gymnaſium, the temples, and monuments, which it once
boſted, contending even with Athens in antiquity and in favours conſecrated by the gods.