Tradition / Region: Greek mythology
Alternate Names: Argus
Category: Dog
The Myth
Argos was the hunting dog of Odysseus, king of Ithaca.
He had been bred as a strong and swift hound, and while Odysseus was still young, the dog was raised with care and trained for the hunt. Though the king departed for the Trojan War before they could hunt together, Argos grew into a fine dog. In those days he was used by other young men to track deer, wild goats, and hares, and none could outrun him.
But Odysseus did not return when the war ended. Years passed, and then more years still. Believing their master dead, the household fell into disorder. Servants grew careless, and the palace filled with arrogant suitors seeking the hand of Odysseus’s wife, Penelope.
With no one left to care for him, Argos was cast aside. Once a proud hunting dog, he was left to lie neglected outside the palace. Old age overtook him, and he lay upon heaps of dung near the gates, his body weak, his fur matted, and parasites clinging to him. There he waited, barely able to move.
Twenty years after he had left home, Odysseus at last returned to Ithaca. The goddess Athena disguised him as an old beggar so that he might enter his own house unseen and judge the situation within.
As he approached the palace with the swineherd Eumaeus, Argos lay nearby. Though nearly blind and too weak to rise, the dog heard the voice of his master. At once he knew him.
Argos dropped his ears and began to wag his tail. He tried to rise, but his strength failed him, and he could only stretch out where he lay.
Odysseus saw the dog and knew him as well. Yet he dared not show recognition, for fear of revealing himself too soon. Turning his face aside so that Eumaeus would not see, he wiped away a tear.
He asked the swineherd about the dog, speaking as though he were a stranger. Eumaeus told him that the animal had once belonged to Odysseus and had been unmatched in the hunt, but since the king had gone to Troy, no one had cared for him.
As they spoke, the two men went inside the palace.
Argos, having seen his master return at last, closed his eyes. His watch was over. There, at the gate of the house he had guarded all his life, the faithful dog died.
Gallery
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Argos (dog). In Wikipedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_(dog)
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
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Political / Social Readings
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