Argolis, a district of Peloponnesus, situated between Arcadia to the west, the Egean sea to the east, Laconia and the Sinus Argolicus to the south, and to the north the territory of Corinth and the Sinus Saronicus (Livy, Ptolemy); so called from Argos, the capital: Now Romania di Morea.

By the Greeks the people were called Argii, from Argi or Argos; by the Romans, Argivi, Argives. They were a colony who migrated, it is said, from Egypt, under the command of Inachus. Polemon and Ptolemy Mendesius, ancient Greek writers, inform us, that Inachus was contemporary with Amosis, who demolished Avaris, and expelled the shepherds out of Egypt. If, with some learned chronologers, we suppose Inachus to have begun to reform the Argives B.C. 1856, and to have died B.C. 1808, he must have been coeval with Amosis, who reigned in Upper Egypt 15 years before the expulsion of the shepherds, and 10 years after that event, which happened B.C. 1826. Inachus was styled the Son of the Ocean, because his origin was not known, or because he had come by sea into Greece. Before his arrival the inhabitants were rude and barbarous. These he united and civilized, and instructed in various arts. His son Phoroneus instituted the laws of government; and, on that account, has been called the first king in Argos, the first of men, and the father of mortals. The family of Inachus, after having kept possession of the