Inăchus
（
Ἴναχος). A son of Oceanus and Tethys, and father of Io.
He was said to have founded the kingdom of Argos, and was succeeded by his son Phoroneus, B.C.
1807. Inachus is said, in the old legend, to have given his name to the principal river of
Argolis. Hence, probably, he was described as the son of Oceanus, the common parent of all
rivers. They who make Inachus to have come into Greece from beyond the sea regard his name as
a Greek form for the Oriental term
Enak, denoting “great”
or “powerful,” and this last as the base of the Greek
ἄναξ, “a king.” The foreign origin of Inachus,
however, or, rather, his actual existence, is very problematical. According to the
mythological writers, Inachus became the father of Io by his sister, the ocean-nymph Melia
(
Apollod. ii.1.1), and he is also described as the father of
Aegialeus, Argus, and Rhegeus.
