The Seba library treats Argus in 9 passages, across 6 authors (including Edinger, Edward F., Abraham, Lyndy, Cicero, Marcus Tullius).
There is a Tarot deck which pictures the devil as Argus with many eyes all over his body. The Eye of God is thus usually experienced as that aspect of the Self which is the ‘adversary’ of the ego hence the sense of ordeal which usually accompanies the experience.
Edinger argues that Argus, as many-eyed devil, represents the omniscient Self-as-adversary whose gaze constitutes the ordeal of individuation.
, The Creation of Consciousness Jung’s Myth for Modern Man, 1984thesis
In Greek myth, the hundred eyes of Argus were transferred to the tail of the peacock by Hera. Mammon in Jonson’s The Alchemist lists ‘Argus eyes’ as one of the ‘abstract riddles of our stone’ (2.1.102-4). The multi-coloured stage of the peacock’s tail
Abraham identifies Argus’s hundred eyes as an alchemical emblem for the cauda pavonis, the iridescent multi-coloured stage of the opus, making Argus a symbol of visionary completeness in the transmutation process.
, A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, 1998thesis
Jonson, Ben (1572/3-1637): Adam; alembic; aludel; aqua regia; argent vive; Argus; ark; art and nature; athanor; aurum potabile; bain-marie; bath; bellows; bird; Bird of Hermes
Abraham’s index confirms that Argus functions as a recognised symbol within Jonson’s alchemical imagery, appearing alongside Mercurius, the dragon, and the caduceus as a node in the alchemical symbolic vocabulary.
, A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, 1998supporting
The fifth, worshipped by the people of Pheneus, is said to have killed Argus and consequently to have fled in exile to Egypt, where he gave the Egyptians their laws and letters.
Cicero records the tradition that Mercury’s slaying of Argus inaugurated civilisation by driving the god to Egypt, where he became lawgiver, linking the Argus-slaying to cultural transmission and the Hermetic tradition.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45supporting
Argos (ar’-gos): (2) Giant; appointed by Hera to guard Io and prevent Zeus from having sex with her. Killed by Hermes
Homer’s Iliad glossary establishes the foundational mythological identity of Argus as Hera’s all-seeing guardian over Io, subsequently slain by Hermes, anchoring the figure’s role as divine watchman.
, The Iliad, 2023supporting
the strong Slayer of Argus with the golden wand rapt me away. He carried me over many fields of mortal men and over much land untilled and unpossessed
The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite invokes Hermes as ‘Slayer of Argus,’ presenting the epithet Argeiphontes as a standing marker of Hermes’ defining act and his power to traverse boundaries.
, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, -700supporting
he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.
Hesiod’s Theogony uses ‘Slayer of Argus’ as Hermes’ formulaic epithet in the Pandora narrative, associating the Argus-killing with Hermes’ function as agent of cunning and deceptive knowledge.
, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, -700supporting
sets Argus to watch Io, 273, 287; keeps Eilithyia from aiding Leto
A Hesiodic index entry confirms Hera’s deployment of Argus as watcher over Io, situating the myth within the broader pattern of Hera’s jealous surveillance.
, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, -700aside
Argus, 1
Otto’s index registers Argus as a named figure within the discussion of Greek religion, though without developed analysis in the retrieved passage.
, The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek Religion, 1929aside