ARGUS, in Greek mythology, the son of Inachus, Agenor or Arestor, or, according to others, an earthborn hero (autochthon). From the number of eyes in his head or all over his body, he was called Panoptes (all-seeing). He was appointed by Hera to watch the cow into which Io (q.v.) had been transformed, but was slain by Hermes, who stoned him to death, or put him to sleep by playing on the flute and then cut off his head. His eyes were transferred by Hera to the tail of the peacock. Argus with his countless eyes originally denoted the starry heavens. (Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus 569, Ovid, Metam. i. 264.) Another ARGUS, the old dog of Odysseus, who recognized his master on his return to Ithaca, figures in one of the best-known incidents in Homer's Odyssey (xvii. 291-326).