MELIA ARGEIA

MELIA ARGEIA was the Okeanid-nymph ancestress of the royal houses of Argos, Sikyon (Sicyon) and Thebes. She was the wife of the river-god Inakhos (Inachus) and the mother of Phoroneus, first king of Argos, Aigieleus (Aegialeus), first king of Sikyon, and the nymph Io. Their descendants, through Io, resettled Greece after the Great Deluge--with Danaus founding the city of Argos in the Peloponnese and Kadmos (Cadmus) the city of Thebes in Boiotia.

Melia was perhaps identified with Melia, the nymph of the Ismenian spring of Thebes loved by Apollon, and Ismene, the eponymous nymph of the Ismenian spring.

PARENTS

[1.1] OKEANOS (Apollodorus 2.1, Hyginus Fab 143)

OFFSPRING

[1.1] PHORONEUS, AIGIALEUS (by Inakhos) (Apollodorus 2.1)
[1.2] PHORONEUS, IO (by Inakhos) (Hyginus Fabulae 143 & 145)

ENCYCLOPEDIA

ME′LIA (Melia), a nymph, a daughter of Oceanus, became by Inachus the mother of Phoroneus and Aegialeus or Pegeus. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 1; Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 920.)

ARGEIA (Argeia). Argeia also occurs as the name of several mythical personages, as the wife of Inachus and mother of Io. (Hygin. Fab. 145; comp. Apollod. ii. 1. § 3.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

ALTERNATE NAMES

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 1 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"By Melia, daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus), he [Inakhos (Inachus)] had sons named Phoroneus and Aegialeus."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 143 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Inachus, son of Oceanus, begat Phoroneus by his sister Argia."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 145 :
"From Inachus and Argia, Io."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.

ROMAN

• Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.