Argos

Argos, reputed the oldest city in Greece, stood 3 miles from the sea in the north-east peninsula of the Peloponnesus, figures largely in the mythological ages, and was the nucleus of a kingdom of which in Homer's time Mycenæ (q.v.) was the capital. From it all the Greeks were known as Argives. After the Dorian invasion (see GREECE) Argos still remained, under the Dorians, the chief state in the Peloponnesus, but decayed from the 7th century B.C., till in 495 Sparta robbed it of supremacy and influence. It sided with Athens in the Peloponnesian war, joined the Achaean league in 243 B.C., and it and its territory, known as Argolis, became part of the Roman province of Achaia in 146. Argolis is still the name of the peninsula of the Morea, lying between the bays of Naulplia and Ægina. Together with Corinth, it forms one of the thirteen provinces of the kingdom of Greece, with an area of 1442 sq. m., and a pop. of 144,836. In the plain of Argos was the Lernean marsh, home of the Hydra slain by Hercules. It is surrounded by mountains (summits 6000 ft.), which also gird the coast. The modern and prosperous town of Argos, the capital, is built on the site of the ancient city, 7 miles from Naulplia (q.v.), and has still remains of its cyclopean walls and its rock-hewn amphitheatre. Pop. 9814.