The all-seeing guardian whom Hera set to watch Io in her heifer-form — eyes that never all slept at once — until Hermes lulled him with story and pipe and cut off his head; Juno set his eyes on the peacock's tail.1
When Zeus turned Io into a milk-white heifer to hide her from Hera, the queen asked the cow as a gift and set Argus Panoptes to watch — a guardian whose hundred eyes never all closed at once. Io fed on bitter herbs and bellowed where she once would speak.2
Mercury lulled Argus with story and pipe, then cut off his head; Juno set the hundred eyes on her peacock's tail and sent a gadfly to torment Io until the wanderings ended at the Nile.3
He must not be merged with Argus builder of the Argo (`argus-colchis`), Argus son of Arestor (`argus-arestor`), or the eponymous Argus of the city — the hundred-eyed watcher belongs to Io's heifer-wandering alone.4
The hundred-eyed guardian follows Io's heifer-wandering across regions until Hermes slays him — no fixed polis in our sources. Residence stays deferred.5
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story