Inachus

Inachus was the river of Argos and, in the other tradition, the first king of the Argolid. He is the father of Phoroneus and, in the tragedians, of Io. As a river he judged with Cephisus and Asterion the dispute between Poseidon and Hera over the land of Argos, and lost his water when Poseidon was defeated.

Parents and Family

Apollodorus says that Oceanus and Tethys had a son Inachus, after whom a river in Argos is called (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.1). By Melia, daughter of Oceanus, he had two sons, Phoroneus and Aegialeus. Aegialeus died childless, and the whole country was called Aegialia; Phoroneus, who reigned over the whole land afterwards called the Peloponnese, was the father of Apis and Niobe (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.1). Niobe bore Argus to Zeus, the first mortal woman with whom Zeus lay (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.1).

Inachus and Io

Apollodorus lists several fathers for Io: Iasus, son of Argus; Piren, according to Hesiod and Acusilaus; and Inachus, according to Castor and many of the tragedians (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.3). The tragedians do call her Inachus’ daughter. In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Io is the “Inachian maiden” (Prometheus Bound 590) and tells how, after repeated oracles, a clear message came to her father Inachus to drive her from home (Prometheus Bound 663–672). Herodotus also records the Persian version in which Io, daughter of Inachus, was carried off by Phoenician traders (Herodotus 1.1). Zeus turned her into a cow, and Hera set the watcher Argus over her (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.3).

Inachus the River and the King

Pausanias gives the two traditions side by side. In the oldest account of the Argolid, Inachus was a king who named the river after himself and sacrificed to Hera (Pausanias 2.15.4). In another, Phoroneus was the first inhabitant of the land and Inachus, his father, was not a man but the river itself (Pausanias 2.15.5). Phoroneus was the first to gather the scattered inhabitants into a community, and the place in which they first gathered was named the City of Phoroneus (Pausanias 2.15.5). In Aeschylus’ Suppliants, King Pelasgus says that the Nile does not breed a race like the race of Inachus, meaning the Argives (Suppliants 497), and in the Libation Bearers Orestes offers a lock of hair to Inachus as thanks for his upbringing (Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 6).

The Judgement between Poseidon and Hera

According to Pausanias, Inachus, together with the rivers Cephisus and Asterion, judged between Poseidon and Hera for possession of the land. They decided that it belonged to Hera, and Poseidon made their water disappear. For this reason none of the three rivers has any water except after rain, and in summer their streams are dry except at Lerna (Pausanias 2.15.5).

Inachus Sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.1.1, 2.1.3; Pausanias 2.15.4–5; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 590, 663–672, Suppliants 497, Libation Bearers 6; Herodotus 1.1.

See Also: Poseidon, Hera, Cephissus, Oceanus, Tethys, Io, Phoroneus, Argos